SHE'S IN – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:  Betsy DeVos has just been confirmed as secretary of education.   It took a historic tie-breaking vote  by the vice president to get her approved.   From Fox:

School choice advocate Betsy DeVos was narrowly confirmed Tuesday as the next education secretary despite deep opposition from teachers unions and other groups, after Vice President Pence intervened to cast a historic tie-breaking vote.

Pence’s vote marked the first time in American history a vice president has broken a tie on a Cabinet nominee’s Senate confirmation – and the first tie-breaking vote by a VP since 2008. Pence was compelled to cast the vote after two Republican senators – Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – joined all 48 Senate Democrats in opposing DeVos.

“The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed,” Pence said, stepping into his role as president of the Senate in a brief appearance on Capitol Hill.

With his support, DeVos was confirmed on a 51-50 vote.

The confirmation of the wealthy GOP donor will mark a sharp change in philosophy at the helm of federal education policy, given DeVos’ history boosting alternatives to public education.

“She’s led the most effective school reform movement of the last 30 years,” Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said moments earlier on the floor, shoring up DeVos's Republican support.

Democrats mounted an all-night speaking marathon railing against her nomination in the run-up to the vote, questioning her experience and ties to charter schools though their opposition combined with lobbying efforts by teachers unions were not enough to block her.

COMMENT:  This was the first time in American history that a vice president had to break a tie in a confirmation vote for a Cabinet appointee.  It shows the sheer fanaticism of the Democratic Party.  Democrats in the Senate are being forced by pressure from the left to oppose literally anything Trump proposes.  It is a madness.

Even Rahm Emanuel, the embattled mayor of Chicago, said today that Democrats must cool down and build a party, not just oppose.  He also cautioned that Democrats cannot expect to return to real national power for a long while.  But his words will probably be ignored by the revolutionary clique in control of the party.  They just want to run a movement.  Governing is too difficult.

February 7, 2017