Baldwin: ‘Pretty Tough’ Questions Of DeVos Coming In Confirmation Hearing

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin says she has concerns about education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos.

Baldwin sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which will hold a confirmation hearing Tuesday evening on President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist from Michigan.

Baldwin, a Democrat, said Monday she plans to ask “pretty tough” questions during the confirmation hearing.

“She has a long record with the voucher movement, with funding right-wing organizations,” Baldwin said. “She has investments in companies that have dealings with higher education.”

In Michigan, DeVos has advocated for school choice and charter schools, and school voucher advocates in Wisconsin are praising DeVos’s nomination to head the U.S. Department of Education.

If DeVos is confirmed, she will oversee a department with 4,400 employee and a $68 billion budget.

Baldwin said Americans need to know cabinet secretaries “are working for them, and not feathering their own nest.”

DeVos is the chairwoman of an investment management company and has submitted her financial records to the United States Office of Government Ethics.