In their final stand against Betsy DeVos, Democrats spent Monday night on the Senate floor, bracing for the controversial cabinet nominee’s confirmation vote. The overnight protest was to no avail, however, as DeVos, President Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee, was confirmed. The vote was split 50-50 until Vice President Mike Pence broke the tie with a deciding vote. But DeVos will begin her post with intense opposition which, Democrats hope, will lead her to shift some of her more radical views to the mainstream. 

Critics of DeVos, a longtime Republican donor, say she will fail to be an advocate for public schools, and might even radically change the country’s education system to be more choice-based. DeVos has decades of experience in private education, and is a fervent supporter of charter schools and religious schools, but lacks experience, personally and professionally, in public education.

In a hearing a few weeks ago, DeVos displayed a basic misunderstanding of the federal law regarding public schools. Responding to a question about the federal law that requires public schools to provide equal opportunities to students with disabilities, DeVos said, “I think that is a matter that’s best left to the states.” Evidently, DeVos did not realize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is federal law, and is inherently not a state-level issue.

“Cabinet secretaries can’t be expected to know everything. But this is different,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor on Monday. “The nominee for secretary of education doesn’t know some of the most basic facts about education policy.”

Senate Dems protest to keep the failed status quo. Betsy DeVos is a reformer, and she is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids!

— President Trump (@POTUS) February 7, 2017

Monday’s overnight protest is the latest salvo in a weeks-long flurry of friction from Democrats, lawmakers and constituents, against Trump’s cabinet nominees, most pointedly focused on DeVos. Senators’ phones have been ringing seemingly nonstop, with concerned constituents pushing their representatives to oppose DeVos, and to do more to sway Republicans to their corner.

Two Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) did just that last week, when they said they would not support DeVos; one more Republican needed to join them in order to block the billionaire. But Collins and Murkowski represent states with vast rural communities, where parents rely on public schools to educate their children. School choice, for many parents in those states, is not an option.

“One thing is very clear: if she is confirmed, she would enter the job as the most controversial and embattled secretary in the history of this department,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) on the Senate floor on Monday. Murray is the top Democrat on the Senate committee that questioned DeVos in her confirmation hearing and, with voting along party lines, propelled her to a full Senate vote. “She would start her job with no credibility inside the agency she is supposed to lead,” Murray added.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency appeared before part of the Senate for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Pruitt, a former attorney general of Oklahoma, said he would like to shift some regulatory control from the federal government to the states. He purported that being pro-energy and pro-environment can be mutually exclusive. And while he acknowledged that climate change and human activity are linked, he questioned just how strong that causality is.

As attorney general, Pruitt advocated on behalf of states’ rights in the face of what he saw as federal overreach. In fact, Pruitt sued the EPA 14 times; he also led the 27-state lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. If he is confirmed as the next EPA chief, Pruitt could become involved in some of the lawsuits that he filed. In Wednesday’s hearing, Senate Democrats asked Pruitt if he would recuse himself from those lawsuits. He did not commit to doing so.

Scott Pruitt will not say whether he will agree to upholding California’s high vehicle pollution standards. That is unacceptable.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 18, 2017

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced Pruitt: “Yes, as attorney general, Scott fought the EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the outgoing administration on many fronts,” he said, “but all of these suits were brought to protect state and local interests from overzealous and activist agencies.” Outside the hearing room, protesters, some wearing pink hats and surgical masks, others donning oil rig gear, represented the dueling sides of the hearing itself: Democrats who questioned Pruitt’s ties to the energy industry, and Pruitt’s long-held disdain for environmental activists and what he sees as job-killing regulations.

“We must reject as a nation the false paradigm that if you’re pro-energy you’re anti-environment, and if you’re pro-environment you’re anti-energy,” Pruitt said during the hearing. In his opening remarks, Pruitt, who is often called a climate denier, clarified his stance on climate change: “Science tells us that the climate is changing and human activity in some manner impacts that change,” he said. “The human ability to measure with precision the extent of that impact is subject to continuing debate and dialogue, as well they should be.”

If we look at EPA’s major legacy rule – CPP, WOTUS, haze, CSPAR, tailoring rule – the agency is batting 0.00. #confirmpruitt

— Jim Inhofe (@jiminhofe) January 18, 2017

Pruitt’s hearing was on the same day the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report that said 2016 was earth’s hottest year on record, since at least 1880, when record keeping began. Though he made clear that the EPA under his watch would grant more power to state legislatures, Pruitt mentioned the Flint, Michigan water crisis as an instance when the federal agency failed to do enough.

“In Flint, the EPA should have acted faster. With air quality, water quality across state lines, there is a role where EPA is important,” he said. Pruitt added that he does not know the science behind lead poisoning: “I haven’t looked at the scientific research,” he said.

In 2009, the EPA found that carbon emissions endanger humans and warm the planet. That ruling serves as the basis for subsequent emissions regulations, including Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Pruitt, who Democrats worry will scrap a number of regulations, said he would enforce that ruling. “It is there, and it needs to be enforced and respected,” he said. Pruitt is expected to pass a full Senate confirmation, as all 51 Republicans will likely support him; Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is also expected to support Pruitt.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) faced the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday for a confirmation hearing, kicking off a week of hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. In the hearing, Sessions, Trump’s selection for attorney general, denied allegations of racism, and highlighted a career spent defending civil rights and combating crime. Protesters, some of whom were dressed in the white-hooded garb of the Ku Klux Klan, repeatedly interrupted the hearing.

The hearing opened with prepared remarks from Sessions, 70, who highlighted his 14-year record arguing criminal cases as an attorney. He also lamented the recent rise in violent crime in America, and marked it as an issue he would tackle as attorney general. “Protecting the people of this country from crime, and especially from violent crime, is the high calling of the men and women of the Department of Justice,” he said. “Today, I am afraid, that has become more important than ever.”

Diverging Beliefs or Duty?

During the hearing, Sessions was adamant about the role of the Justice Department in upholding the nation’s laws, even when they diverged with his, or Trump’s, personal ideology. For example, as a senator, Sessions opposed same-sex marriage, but on Tuesday he said he would acknowledge the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that essentially legalized gay marriage. He also firmly opposed the idea of a Muslim immigration ban, but did say, as Trump has, that immigrants from countries with a history of terrorism could be barred from entering the country.

Weed Watch

In recent weeks, marijuana activists have vocally opposed Trump’s nomination of Sessions, who once said, “good people don’t smoke marijuana.” On Tuesday afternoon, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked Sessions if he would enforce the federal marijuana ban at the state level. “I won’t commit to never enforcing federal law but, absolutely, it’s a problem of resources for the federal government,” Sessions replied. He didn’t offer many specifics on how he’d address the issue, aside from saying he would use “good judgment.”

Allegations of Racism

Sessions, an early, ardent supporter of Trump, also sought to correct the “caricature” of him as a Southern racist. “You have a Southern name; you come from South Alabama, that sounds worse to some people,” he said. Since he was nominated as the nation’s top prosecutor in November, Sessions has come under fire for comments he has made over the years. As a federal attorney in the 1980s, Sessions said the KKK “were OK until I found out they smoked pot.” He also reportedly referred to Thomas Figures, an assistant federal attorney at the time, and a black man, as “boy.”

But Sessions denied harboring any sympathy for the Klan. “I abhor the Klan and what it represents and its hateful ideology,” he said in his opening remarks. He added: “I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it.”

What About Hillary?

On Hillary Clinton, who he vociferously denounced during the campaign, Sessions said he would not personally oversee any further investigations into her email server or foundation. Instead, he said, he would appoint a special prosecutor if the department decided to pursue her further. “We can never have a political dispute turn into a criminal dispute,” he said. “This country does not punish its political enemies but this country ensures that no one is above the law.”

Historic Dissension

And in an unprecedented move, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), along with Representative John Lewis (D-GA) and Representative Cedric Richmond (D-LA), testified against Sessions. “I do not take lightly the decision to testify against a Senate colleague,” said Booker, who some suspect will run for president in 2020. “But the immense powers of the Attorney General combined with the deeply troubling views of this nominee is a call to conscience.”

Among other views, Booker opposes  Sessions as the next attorney general for his “failure to defend the civil rights of women, minorities and LGBT Americans to his opposition to common sense, bipartisan immigration reform.” In February 2016, Booker said he was “blessed and honored” to partner with Sessions during a ceremony commemorating the 1965 Selma march.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Though he has toyed with a number of candidates with various levels of government experience in choosing the next secretary of state, in the end President-elect Donald Trump selected a man with a résumé more in line with his own. His pick is Rex Tillerson, the CEO of petroleum giant Exxon Mobil. Tillerson, 64, has no experience in public service–he is the model “outsider” that Trump has sought out in assembling his cabinet–and has spent his entire four-decade career with Exxon.

As the nation’s top diplomat, Tillerson will have to reconcile the deep business ties he has formed with Russia. Under Tillerson’s leadership, Exxon agreed to billions of dollars worth of contracts with Rosneft, a Kremlin-backed oil outfit, to drill in Siberia and the Black Sea. Those deals were frozen, however, when the U.S. slapped heavy sanctions on Russia, after it intervened in Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014.

Last weekend, as Tillerson emerged as the leading candidate, a number of Republican senators expressed alarm over his extensive business dealings with Russia, whose hacks into the email servers of U.S. political operatives were done with the intention of aiding Trump, the CIA said. On Saturday, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), said Tillerson’s relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a matter of concern to me.” He added: “Vladimir Putin is a thug, bully and a murderer, and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying.”

McCain wasn’t the only senator to question Tillerson’s relationship to Russia, and it seems the business magnate is in for a tense Senate confirmation hearing. On Sunday, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), tweeted: “Being a ‘friend of Vladimir’ is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState.” Putin awarded Tillerson with the Order of Friendship in 2013. While that is not necessarily a rare honor, or even one that indicates an unusual personal relationship with Russia or Putin, it’s Tillerson’s business dealings, specifically the ones that hinge on U.S. sanctions being lifted, that most trouble his skeptics.

But for Trump, those same dealings seem to have attracted him to Tillerson. “He’s much more than a business executive; he’s a world-class player,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. “He knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia — for the company, not for himself.” Tweeting on Tuesday morning, Trump doubled down on his support of Tillerson’s massive network of business deals, which span six continents and 50 countries, including the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan and Qatar:

The thing I like best about Rex Tillerson is that he has vast experience at dealing successfully with all types of foreign governments.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2016

Tillerson, a native of Wichita Falls, Texas, has been at the fore of Exxon’s shift from being a company that denied climate change to one that cleaned up its practices and even advocated for a carbon tax. He also helped the company reduce its emissions. And in 2012, Tillerson played a key role in allowing openly gay children to join the Boy Scouts, an organization which he was a member of and remains actively engaged in.

Though he beat out Mitt Romney, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) for the position, Tillerson will likely face tough questioning from the Senate, and will have trouble getting confirmed if three or more Republicans vote to block him. Aside from Rubio and McCain, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also expressed concern about Trump’s appointee: “I expect the US-Russian relationship to be front and center in his confirmation process,” he said, adding that his Order of Friendship from Putin is “unnerving.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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President-elect Donald Trump took a significant step in fulfilling his promise to scale back the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, announcing Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the agency’s next leader. Pruitt, 48, has spent years waging legal battles against the agency he is now set to steer. In his six years as attorney general, Pruitt has been a consistent and vociferous critic of government overreach; President Obama’s environmental regulations have frequently been targets.

“For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn,” said a statement from Trump’s camp, adding that Pruitt will “reverse this trend and restore the EPA’s essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe.”

Pruitt, who has voiced his disdain for government overreach in editorials and in his work as attorney general, said he will run the agency in “protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses.” Working as the attorney general of Oklahoma, one of the country’s leading producers of oil and natural gas, Pruitt partnered with energy companies to fight Obama’s environmental regulations on things like greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution.

“There’s a mentality emanating from Washington today that says, ‘We know best,’” Pruitt said during his 2010 election campaign for attorney general. “It’s a one-size-fits-all strategy, a command-and-control kind of approach, and we’ve got to make sure we know how to respond to that.” He also has a cozy relationship with wealthy energy industry players: the CEO of Continental Energy was the co-chairmen of Pruitt’s 2013 re-election effort. 

Perhaps the most maligned target of Pruitt’s crusade against federal overreach is Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which imposed caps on emissions at power plants. Writing in the National Review on Obama’s key energy achievement in May, Pruitt said: “The checks and balances built into our system of government were simply ignored as inconvenient impediments to the president’s agenda,” referring to Obama’s executive action on the bill, which circumvented Congress. Oklahoma and 28 other states filed an anti-regulation suit against the act. The suit is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

A Kentucky native, Pruitt went to the University of Tulsa law school, started a private practice upon graduating in 1993, and five years later served in the Oklahoma State Senate, before running a successful campaign for attorney general in 2010. An avid baseball fan, Pruitt co-owned and managed the Oklahoma City Redhawks, a minor league baseball team, from 2003 to 2010.

Environmental groups and some lawmakers were unhappy with Trump’s latest cabinet appointment. “Scott Pruitt has a record of attacking the environmental protections that EPA is charged with enforcing. He has built his political career by trying to undermine EPA’s mission of environmental protection,” said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called Pruitt a “sad and dangerous” choice. “I will vigorously oppose this nomination,” he added. 

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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John Kelly, a retired Marine General and 45-year military veteran, will head the Department of Homeland Security under President-elect Trump, CBS News reported on Wednesday. An official announcement is expected in the next few days. Kelly, 66, most recently served in the Obama Administration as the head of the U.S. Southern Command, a unit that focuses on operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Kelly did not endorse Trump during the campaign. But he is a widely respected veteran with a deep resume, including experience with many countries the U.S. has had conflicts with over the past four decades, including Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also served as the special assistant to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s supreme allied commander for Europe, and served as an aide to former defense secretaries Leon Panetta and Robert Gates.

Kelly, known for his blunt demeanor, called domestic politics a “cesspool” in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine last summer. Though he said he would be willing to serve either Trump or Hillary Clinton, he said neither was “serious yet about the issues,” and expressed his dislike of campaign rhetoric. Kelly is the third general chosen for Trump’s cabinet, following Michael Flynn as national security advisor and James Mattis as defense secretary. A fourth general, David Petraeus, is a candidate for the secretary of state position.

As the head of DHS, a body that was enacted to combat terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Kelly will be charged with carrying out Trump’s vision in regard to illegal immigration. Like Trump, Kelly has said that the U.S.-Mexico border is porous, and is a vulnerable channel for drugs and weapons to pass through. Kelly has not supported Trump’s hardline stance on Muslims, however, saying U.S. troops “respect and even fight for the right of your neighbor to venerate any God he or she damn well pleases.”

He also has a fierce respect for the military, and has personal experience with the sacrifices service members make: Kelly’s oldest son Robert was killed while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2010. Days after his son’s death, Kelly delivered an impassioned speech in St. Louis. “Their struggle is your struggle,” he said, referring to U.S. soldiers. “If anyone thinks you can somehow thank them for their service, and not support the cause for which they fight—our country—these people are lying to themselves.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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During the Cincinnati stop of President-elect Donald Trump’s “thank you tour” on Thursday, he made the unofficial announcement that he will be selecting General James Mattis, a widely respected 40-year veteran of the Marines, to serve as his secretary of defense. An official announcement is expected to come Monday. Mattis, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first general to serve as defense secretary since George Marshall in 1950.

The blunt 66-year-old, nicknamed “Mad Dog” and “Warrior Monk,” most recently served as the head of the U.S. Central Command under President Barack Obama. He retired from that post in 2013, about five months before his service was through, which some speculated was the result of his disagreements with Obama on the president’s policy in the Middle East, specifically his nuclear pact with Iran. Mattis has spoken frequently about Iran and the danger it poses. He once said Iran is “the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.”

Mattis’ most recent rebuke of Obama’s “policy of disengagement in the Middle East” came at a Congressional hearing in 2015, when he told lawmakers the U.S. must “come out from our reactive crouch and take a firm, strategic stance in defense of our values.” And though he has expressed his disapproval of the Iran deal, he is not in favor of withdrawing from the commitment, and thinks the best path forward is cooperating with American allies.

Mattis is a widely respected general who was courted by both the Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns to speak at their respective political conventions. He declined both offers. Mattis is perhaps best known for his work in the Middle East following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He led the first forces into Afghanistan, and established the first U.S. base in the country.

“I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.”
General James #MadDog Mattis pic.twitter.com/W2QklT5F1N

— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) December 2, 2016

Mattis also led the sacking of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003 and the retaking of Fallujah in 2004. In a statement, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said Mattis is “without a doubt one of the finest military officers of his generation and an extraordinary leader who inspires a rare and special admiration of his troops.”

As a former general, Mattis does face obstacles in getting confirmed. Former members of the military must spend at least seven years out of service before being allowed to serve as defense secretary, according to federal law. Congress must pass a waiver allowing him to skirt that stipulation. And though the former general is widely regarded in Congress, at least one lawmaker opposes his confirmation.

In a statement on Thursday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and a member of the Armed Services Committee, said she would oppose a waiver. “Civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy,” she said, while adding she deeply respects Mattis’ service.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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