Our Recusal Letter: Why 5 Senators Shouldn’t Be Able To Vote on DeVos
We’ve spent the last few weeks digging into Betsy DeVos’s political contributions and found that 21 senators, including 5 on the Senate HELP Committee, took over $200k from DeVos. We at Higher Ed, Not Debt believe that this constitutes a significant conflict of interest for the senators charged with voting on the nominee’s confirmation. That’s why we wrote this letter to demand that the 5 U.S. senators on the HELP committee that received political contributions from Betsy DeVos recuse themselves from voting on her confirmation.
Some of our partners and allies felt just as strongly, so we’ve included links to their letters of opposition, too. You can find them all below our letter.
PDF of Generation Progress Recusal Letter Here
January 12, 2017
Sen. Roy Blunt Sen. David Perdue
Sen. Richard Burr Sen. Rob Portman
Sen. Bill Cassidy Sen. Mike Rounds
Sen. Tom Cotton Sen. Marco Rubio
Sen. Steve Daines Sen. Tim Scott
Sen. Cory Gardner Sen. Dan Sullivan
Sen. Chuck Grassley Sen. John Thune
Sen. Ron Johnson Sen. Thom Tillis
Sen. John McCain Sen. Pat Toomey
Sen. Mitch McConnell Sen. Todd Young
Sen. Lisa MurkowskiDear Senators,
We are calling on you, recipients of campaign contributions from Betsy DeVos, to recuse yourself from voting on President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Ms. DeVos to serve as Secretary of Education. As a body entrusted with vetting this nominee and examining her views on public policy, the Senate must uphold the strongest ethical standards throughout the nomination process. As past recipients of contributions from DeVos, you must recuse yourself from her nomination, or risk imperiling the legitimacy of DeVos’s confirmation.
Ms. DeVos once wrote, “I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect something in return.”
Betsy DeVos and her family have made nearly $1 million in campaign contributions to 21 U.S. Senators who will have the opportunity to consider her nomination. In addition to these individual campaign contributions, DeVos and her family contributed $2.25 million during the fall campaign to the Senate Leadership Fund, and have also given $900,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. That comes out to a $4 million bid to influence you.
Of special concern is the fact that, in just the last two election cycles, DeVos and her family have given a quarter-million dollars in contributions to five members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP), who are tasked with vetting her nomination and will hold her confirmation hearing Wednesday. Sen. Bill Cassidy received $70,000, Sen. Tim Scott and Sen. Todd Young have each received close to $50,000, and Sens. Richard Burr and Lisa Murkowski each received about $43,000.
The plentiful contributions to many senators, combined with Ms. DeVos’ past statements, make it appear that DeVos expects your vote in exchange for her past financial support. This kind of pay-to-play, whether explicit or implied, cannot stand in the U.S. Senate. No one among the 21 senators to whom Ms. DeVos has contributed can make an unbiased decision about whether she is well-suited to protect the interests of America’s 56 million schoolchildren.
DeVos’s confirmation process must include fair and thorough evaluation of her merits by participating senators. As a past recipient of campaign contributions from Ms. DeVos, this cannot be achieved unless you recuse yourself from this process. We urge you to do so.
Donations from Betsy DeVos and family to Senators in the 115th Congress
Blunt, Roy $33,100
Burr, Richard $43,200 *HELP Committee Member
Cassidy, Bill $70,200 *HELP Committee Member
Cotton, Tom $26,000
Daines, Steve $46,800
Gardner, Cory $49,800
Grassley, Chuck $21,600
Johnson, Ron $48,600
McCain, John $50,600
McConnell, Mitch $36,400
Murkowski, Lisa $43,200 *HELP Committee Member
Perdue, David $23,400
Portman, Rob $51,000
Rounds, Mike $46,800
Rubio, Marco $98,300
Scott, Tim $49,200 *HELP Committee Member
Sullivan, Dan $23,400
Thune, John $17,500
Tillis, Thom $70,200
Toomey, Pat $60,050
Young, Todd $48,600 *HELP Committee Member
Total $957,950
HELP Total $254,400
Sincerely,
Generation Progress
Higher Ed, Not Debt
Student Debt Crisis
One Wisconsin Now
Campaign for America’s Future
CT Citizen Action Group
Education Opportunity Network
Public Higher Education Network
Democracy Matters
Public Citizen
The Rootstrikers Project, Demand Progress
Consumer Action
Franciscan Action Network
Center for Biological Diversity
Every Voice
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Family Equality Council
End Citizens United
Food & Water Watch
US Student Association
National Center for Transgender Equality
Feminist Majority Foundation
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
National Alliance of Black School Educators
SEIU’s Faculty Forward
Americans for Democratic Action
Money Out Voters In
Other Organizations With Concerns About Nominee Betsy DeVos
(Updated Jan. 30th, 2017)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Anti-Defamation League
Center for Inquiry
Civil Rights Roundtable
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc
Democrats for Education Reform
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
Educators 4 Excellence
End Citizens United Action Network and Every Voice
Every Voice
Generation Progress
National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)
National Center for Learning Disabilities
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Coalition for Public Education
National Council of Jewish Women
National Education Association
National Urban League
New Teacher Center
Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren
People for The American Way
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Southern Poverty Law Center
Student Debt Crisis
Teach For America & STAND for Children
Teach Plus and NAESP
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights