VP PENCE BREAKS TIE ON CONFIRMATION OF EDUCATION SECRETARY DEVOS|美教長人事案僵局 副總統首度介入獲過關

But natural disasters are not the only thing that worries many Americans today. President Donald Trump's choice of billionaire Betsy DeVos to be education secretary, a choice that angered many as her track record pinpoints her as a champion of privatizing the education system, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, but only after Vice President Mike Pence was called in to break a tie that threatened to defeat her. ==BETSY DEVOS U.S. Secretary of Education== So help me, God. Betsy DeVos had sworn in as the new U.S. Secretary of Education. President Trump's cabinet has another billionaire secretary. The Democrats were hoping to get more nays from Republicans. The vote turned out tie-breaking, 50 ayes and 50 nays. It was unprecedented that Vice-president Pence cast his vote as the Senate Speakers and confirmed the nomination. DeVos has become the first education secretary without having bipartisan supports. DeVos is the daughter-in-law of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos. She was the Chairperson of the Republican National Committee for Michigan State. The most controversial issue about DeVos is her opposition to the public school education; she advocates allocating resources to private schools. President expects DeVos to lead education reform and break bureaucracy. The nomination evoked backlash from teachers unions and civil groups. DeVos in the confirmation hearing showed her lack of knowledge on education management. Two Republican senators cast nay votes to her. ==PATTY MURRAY Democratic U.S. Senator (WA)== We have a nominee who's come forward, who's quite successful in private business, a billionaire herself, whose idea and vision for our nation's education comes from a private business perspective. And the senator from Michigan is absolutely right, our schools are not about profits. As to President Trump's Supreme Court justice nominee, the conservative Neil Gorsuch has been seeking supports from the Congress. Among the eight U.S. Supreme Court justices, four of them are conservative and another four are liberal. TRANSLATED BY：ANTHONY LIN ==美國教育部長 貝茜迪佛斯== 請上帝幫助我 美國新任教育部長貝茜迪佛斯，笑容滿面完成宣誓，成為川普富豪內閣中又一個億萬身家的部長。民主黨在一度發起24小時馬拉松發言，希望爭取共和黨議員倒戈，最後表決時出現贊成、反對各五十票的僵局，副總統彭斯破天荒以參議院議長身分投下贊成票，才通過本案，迪佛斯成為美國史上第一個沒有獲得兩黨支持的教育部長。 迪佛斯是安麗傳銷集團的少奶奶，曾任密西根州共和黨主席，最受爭議的是，她反對公立教育，主張把資源放在私立學校，川普認為她可以改革教育體系並打破官僚控制，但引起教師工會和民間團體反彈。在資格審查的聽證會上，迪佛斯對教育管理學的基本概念一問三不知，連共和黨都有兩名參議員對她投下反對票。 ==民主黨華盛頓州參議員 墨瑞== 我們的教育部長提名人 在私人商業領域很成功 本身就是億萬富豪 她對國家教育的願景 都出於經商的觀點 密西根州參議員說得很對 我們的學校並非營利單位 另一方面，川普提名的最高法院大法官人選，保守派色彩鮮明的戈薩奇，則在國會山莊密集拜會兩黨議員尋求支持。目前最高法院八位大法官，各有四名保守派與自由派。 記者 施慧中 報導