Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I have come to the floor this afternoon to oppose the nomination of GEN Mitchell Zais, who has been nominated to serve as Secretary DeVos's Deputy Secretary at the Department of Education. I am opposing this nomination because those who work at the top of the Department of Education should be committed to its top priority, which is helping educate our next generation of students. They should not be focused on demonizing teachers or public schools or the Federal Government's role in public education, and they should not be promoting their extreme ideological agendas at the expense of our students.

We need a Department of Education with a positive vision for our neighborhood public schools that believes that everyone has the right to a high-quality public education no matter where they live or how they learn or how much money their parents make. That is what millions of parents and teachers and students stood up for during Secretary DeVos's confirmation hearing.

Despite the public rejection of her extreme ideology and her unprecedented tie-breaking confirmation vote by Vice President Pence, it is clear Secretary DeVos has led the Department of Education in the opposite direction. She has continued to push her privatization agenda, trying to siphon taxpayer funds away from our public schools. She has ignored key parts of our Nation's K-12 laws, refusing to hold States accountable for the success of our most vulnerable students. She has made it easier for predatory, for-profit companies to take advantage of students, rolling back protections for students and dismantling the unit that investigates claims of fraud and abuse. Time and again, she has failed to protect students' civil rights. She tried to shrink the Office of Civil Rights. She rolled back protections for transgender students. She rescinded guidance for schools on how to investigate claims of campus sexual assault.

With Secretary DeVos's ideological agenda steering this ship, it is clear to me that the Department of Education needs a strong and independent Deputy Secretary of Education to once again start putting students first. Unfortunately, General Zais made it clear that he would be proud to be Secretary DeVos's right-hand man and shares her position on a number of concerning issues. He agrees with Secretary DeVos's extreme privatization agenda to siphon taxpayer funds from our public schools. He largely opposes the Federal role in education and, like Secretary DeVos, seems to lack even an understanding of key issues important to public schools.

As the State superintendent of education, General Zais allowed his partisan ideology to hurt South Carolina students. He refused Federal funding that could have saved teachers' jobs--the only State to do that--and he objected to plans to expand access to universal pre-K, calling 5-year-olds ``too young to learn.'' That is a particularly shocking comment to those of us who understand the importance of the first 5 years for children's development.

I come to the floor today on behalf of millions of parents and students and teachers who so loudly objected to Secretary DeVos's agenda during her confirmation, and I ask my colleagues to vote against this nomination and not allow another DeVos-like nominee into the Department of Education.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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