And What If DeVos Is Confirmed?

Abstract

So today is the big day: the Senate is expected to finally vote on Betsy DeVos\u27s nomination to become the next U.S. Secretary of Education, and Vice President Mike Pence is poised to break an expected tie in her favor. I doubt very much that aything other than the expected result is going to happen. After all, we live in an age when too many politicians pick their voters, not the other way around. My bet is that Collins and Murkowski were allowed to announce their votes against DeVos because the leadership had already conducted a tight whip count and felt confident that they had the votes to get DeVos through. Everything else has been theater. It\u27s been good theater, but it\u27s unlikely to change the outcome. [excerpt