More about Trump's team
- Senate confirms Alex Acosta as Trump's secretary of labor
- Lawmakers say Flynn did not inform U.S. government about payments from Turkey, Russia
- Senate confirms Sonny Perdue as agriculture secretary
- Gorsuch sworn into Supreme Court, restores conservative tilt
- Senate confirms Trump pick Neil Gorsuch to Supreme Court
- Senate Republicans invoke 'nuclear option' to overcome Democrats' filibuster of Supreme Court nominee
- Trump removes Bannon from National Security Council
- U.S. defense chief worries about 'reckless' North Korea actions
- U.S. defense chief worries about 'reckless' North Korea actions
- Michael Flynn in talks with Congress, wary of prosecution
- Top aide to President Donald Trump leaves administration
- David Friedman sworn in as Trump's ambassador to Israel
- Ivanka Trump to become official White House employee
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- Kushner, taking new White House role, faces rare scrutiny
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- Ivanka Trump, Education Secretary DeVos promote STEM careers
- Attorney General: Sanctuary cities are risking federal money
- Netanyahu welcomes new U.S. ambassador 'to Jerusalem'
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- Trump son-in-law's ties to Israel raise questions of bias
- Gorsuch hearings show him as careful, folksy, testy at times
- Trump SEC pick assures that his Wall St. work not problem
- AP Exclusive: U.S. probes banking of ex-Trump campaign chief
- Supreme Court nominee unscathed facing last day of hearings
- Lawmakers want details on Flynn's foreign contacts, payments
- High court nominee to face daylong questioning in Senate
- Tillerson to skip meeting of NATO foreign ministers
- High court nominee: I'll be unbiased or 'hang up the robe'
- First daughter Ivanka Trump gets West Wing office
- White House tries to distance Trump from campaign aides
- Senate hearings get underway on Trump Supreme Court pick
- Report: Trump adviser's husband picked for Justice post
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- Documents detail Flynn payments from Russian interests
- Senate votes to approve Trump's picks for key security posts
- Democrats say Trump's pick for trade post needs waiver
- Senate confirms Trump pick to head Medicare and Medicaid
- Key members of Trump's circle under scrutiny for Russia ties
- DeVos promotes school choice, local control
- Tillerson heads to Asia with North Korea tensions high
- Conway suggests surveillance of Trump went beyond phones
- Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a rising star in Trump's orbit
- Trump's choice for FDA has ties to Wall Street, drug makers
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeks resignations of 46 U.S. attorneys
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- HUD could face steep cuts, but Carson says numbers early
- EPA chief: Carbon dioxide not primary cause of warming
- AP Source: Huntsman offered job of ambassador to Russia
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- Former Trump security adviser Flynn admits Turkey lobbying
- Confirmation for Justice's No. 2 job occurs amid controversy
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- Ben Carson compares slavery to immigration to America
- DHS chief: Agency may separate parents, children at border
- Vice President Mike Pence jokes with 'enemy of the people' at Gridiron Dinner
- Six weeks later, senators question delay on agriculture pick
- Officials: Tillerson eyes State Department budget cut over 3 years
- Pence used a private email account to conduct state business
- New Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke ponies up to work at first day in office
- Sessions recuses himself from investigation into Russia's election meddling
- Senate confirms billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary
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- Sessions: U.S. to continue use of privately run prisons
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- Scott Pruitt confirmed by Senate to serve as EPA administrator
- Harward turns Trump down for national security adviser job
- Trump names Acosta as new choice to become labor secretary
- Senate hearings for Supreme Court pick to begin March 20
- Trump's pick for Israel ambassador faces rocky confirmation
- Senate to confirm Trump budget chief
- Andrew Puzder is withdrawing as Trump's nominee for labor secretary
- Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon on track to lead Small Business Administration
- Four GOP senators on the fence over Puzder for labor secretary
- National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigns amid Russia controversy
- Senate confirms former banker Mnuchin as Treasury secretary
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- Gorsuch returns 68-page questionnaire to Senate
- Gorsuch returns 68-page questionnaire to Senate
- Senate confirms Trump's health secretary
- Senate confirms Jeff Sessions to be attorney general
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- DeVos ekes out confirmation win as Pence casts historic vote
- Senate set to confirm education secretary by narrow margin
- Vice President Mike Pence says nominee Neil Gorsuch will join Supreme Court 'one way or the other'
- DeVos clears Senate hurdle toward becoming education secretary
- Seasoned spymaster named deputy CIA director
- Pelosi calls top Trump security adviser 'white supremacist'
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- Little heard in public, Bannon is quiet power in Oval Office
- 2 Republican senators won't support DeVos nomination
- Trump's national security adviser puts Iran 'on notice'
- Senate confirms Rex Tillerson as secretary of state
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- Union-backed Ronald Vitiello named to lead Border Patrol
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- Elaine Chao sworn in as transportation secretary
- Education nomination advances to full Senate
- DeVos may have used official's remarks without attribution
- GOP pushing Price, Sessions, DeVos a step toward Senate OK
- Labor secretary nominee's company outsourced jobs
- Amid criticism, Comey remaining as FBI director under Trump
- Former intelligence officer picked to lead Navy
- Senate committees approve several of Trump's Cabinet choices
- South Carolina Gov. Haley resigns to become U.S. ambassador to U.N.
- Former congressman Mike Pompeo sworn in as CIA director
- Senate panel narrowly backs Rex Tillerson for top diplomatic post
- Senate confirms Trump's picks for defense, homeland security
- Rick Perry says he regrets call to eliminate Energy Department
- Trump picks former Georgia governor as agriculture secretary
- Senate panel decisively approves James Mattis for defense secretary
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- Education secretary pick DeVos defends school choice during confirmation hearing
- Tennessee scientists urge Corker, Alexander to oppose Trump's EPA pick
- CIA nominee Mike Pompeo agrees Russia tried to interfere in election
- Top Trump aide in frequent contact with Russia's ambassador
- Trump's Pentagon pick cruises toward likely confirmation
- Trump's Pentagon pick receives strong support in first vote
- Black lawmakers say Sen. Jeff Sessions unfit to be attorney general
- Trump's pick for top diplomat takes tough line on Moscow
- I'd stand up to Trump as attorney general, Sessions tells senators
- Trump son-in-law Kushner to take senior White House role
- Haslam backs Trump's pick for U.S. Education Secretary
- Trump selects former Sen. Coats for top intelligence post
- Trump to name Nashville's Bill Hagerty ambassador to Japan
- Trump expected to name lawyer Robert Lighthizer as top trade rep
- Trump names Bush-era veteran and policy newcomer to posts
- Trumps pick for ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate
- Sen. Corker says he is 'more than reassured' about Tillerson's views on Russia
- Trump picks Florida Panthers owner as Army secretary
- Trump's pick for budget director has urged big spending cuts
- Trump salutes supporters in Florida, names budget director
- Former SEAL Zinke tapped for Interior secretary
- Perry would bring oil industry ties to Energy Department
- Trump announces selection of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state
- Trump expected to tap Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson secretary of State
- President-elect Donald Trump: Rudy Giuliani taking himself out of running for Cabinet post
- Trump expected to tap Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn for economic post
- Trump selects Tennessee business leader as labor secretary
- Trump picks WWE's Linda McMahon for Small Business Administration post
- Trump picks Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head EPA
- Trump taps retired four-star Gen. John Kelly to head Homeland Security
- HUD secretary nominee Ben Carson under fire for lack of experience
- Trump to nominate Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense
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- AP Source: Trump offers National Security Adviser job to Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn
- AP Source: Trump offers National Security Adviser job to Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn
- Corker: Giuliani, Bolton 'more likely' to get Trump nod as secretary of state
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- Amid signs of transition trouble, Trump huddles with Pence
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- Donald Trump names Reince Priebus, Stephen Bannon to senior White House roles
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- Corey Lewandowski, former Trump campaign manager, leaves CNN
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WASHINGTON - Education secretary pick Betsy DeVos said Tuesday that American parents must be able to send their children to high-quality schools, including charter, magnet and religious schools, if public schools are failing.
Responding to fierce criticism from teachers unions that the Republican donor and school choice activist is working against public education, DeVos told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that she will be "a strong advocate for great public schools."
"But," she added, "if a school is troubled, or unsafe, or not a good fit for a child - perhaps they have a special need that is going unmet - we should support a parent's right to enroll their child in a high-quality alternative."
Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary, expressed confidence that DeVos is an "excellent" choice for the job. "She is on the side of our children," he said.
But Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the top Democrat on the committee, said she was "extremely disappointed" that DeVos has not yet finalized her financial and ethics disclosures ahead of the hearing.
DeVos, 59, also said she will seek to address rising higher education costs and massive student debt, but also advance trade and vocational schools as well as community colleges because "craftsmanship is not a fallback - but a noble pursuit."
Another priority for DeVos will be weakening "burdensome" federal regulations and giving local communities greater control over education policies.
"President-elect Trump and I know it won't be Washington, D.C., that unlocks our nation's potential, nor a bigger bureaucracy, tougher mandates or a federal agency," DeVos said. "The answer is local control and listening to parents, students and teachers."
DeVos, the wife of Dick DeVos, the heir to the Amway marketing fortune, has spent more than two decades advocating for charter schools in her home state of Michigan, as well as promoting conservative religious values.
Labor unions, Democrats and civil rights groups have opposed her appointment. She and her family have donated millions of dollars to Republican politicians and groups over the years, including campaign contributions to several committee members.
Murray, in a statement, said she wants DeVos to answer questions about her "extensive financial entanglements and potential conflicts of interest" and also to provide additional information about her finances, calling her disclosures incomplete. The senator lamented that DeVos has spent her career and wealth "fighting to privatize public education and gut investments in public schools."
In a letter addressed to the committee, 38 prominent education groups and teachers' organizations expressed concern that DeVos' track record bodes ill for public education.
"Over the course of her career as a major campaign contributor, soft-money donor and lobbyist, DeVos has used her considerable wealth to influence legislation and the outcomes of elections to advance policies that have undermined public education and proved harmful to many of our most vulnerable students," the letter said.
LGBT groups also have protested Trump's choice of DeVos, saying she has funded conservative religious groups that promote what they consider to be traditional family values, including one organization that supports conversion therapy - counseling of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people with the aim of changing their sexual orientation.
In an apparent response to that criticism, DeVos said in her statement, "Every child in America deserves to be in a safe environment that is free from discrimination."
DeVos supporters, meanwhile, applauded her nomination. Eva Moskowitz, CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, said that American public education "is in deep crisis," with 35 countries outranking American schools in math and 20 in reading.
"I believe Betsy DeVos has the talent, commitment and leadership capacity to revitalize our public schools and deliver the promise of opportunity that excellent education provides, and I support her nomination as U.S. secretary of education," Moskowitz said in a statement.