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Washington – Before
voting
to
confirm
Betsy
DeVos
as
Secretary
of
Education,
U.S.
Senator
Tim
Scott
(R-SC)
spoke
on
the
Senate
floor
regarding
the
necessity
of
improving
our
nation’s
education
system.
DeVos
was
confirmed
by
the
Senate
51-50,
with
Vice
President
Mike
Pence
casting
the
tie-breaking
vote.
You
can
access
video
of
Senator
Scott’s
remarks
and
the
full
transcript
below.
You
can
watch
and
download
video
HERE.
Full
transcript:
Thank
you,
Mr.
President.
As
we
close
this
debate
on
Betsy
DeVos,
this
debate
should
really
be
about
public
education.
I
support
public
education.
Education
is
the
closest
thing
to
magic
in
America.
Let
me
say
that
again…Education
is
the
closest
thing
to
magic
in
America.
I
experienced
that
magic
as
a
kid
growing
up
in
a
single-parent
household,
mired
in
poverty,
disillusioned
about
life;
I
nearly
flunked
out
as
a
freshman.
I
thank
god
for
public
education.
But
far
too
many
kids,
too
many
millions
of
kids
today,
do
not
have
a
quality
educational
choice
in
their
communities.
And
what
does
that
mean?
There
is
a
high
correlation
between
incarceration,
high
unemployment,
and
lower
lifetime
incomes
for
those
students
who
do
not
have
quality
public
education.
This
nation,
the
greatest
nation
on
Earth,
has
afforded
a
kid
who
almost
dropped
out
of
high
school
to
become
a
United
States
senator.
Why?
Because
I
found
a
path
that
included
public
education
and
quality
public
education.
So
what
does
it
look
like
in
some
of
our
cities?
Let
me
give
you
an
example
in
Detroit.
In
English,
only
9%
of
African-American
kids
meet
standards
for
English.
13%
of
white
kids
meet
standards
or
exceeds
standards
in
English.
12.5%
of
Hispanic
kids
meet
or
exceed
standards
in
English
in
Detroit.
We
need
to
make
sure
that
every
child
in
every
zip
code
has
a
quality
choice.
The
secretary
of
education
cannot
--
cannot
privatize
education.
That
would
take
an
act
of
congress.
So,
yes,
we
should
have
a
passionate
debate
about
education
and,
yes,
we
should
make
sure
--
make
sure
--
that
the
focus
of
that
debate
is
on
the
kid.
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