Dive Brief:

• U.S. Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos advanced out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Tuesday on a party-line vote, but Democrats still hope to jettison her nomination.
• CNN reports the committee vote was 12-11 in favor of sending DeVos’ confirmation to the full Senate, but Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said she may not vote for DeVos beyond the committee after being inundated by calls from Alaskans concerned about the nominee.
• The Washington Post reported Tuesday that DeVos included content lifted directly from uncited sources in her written responses to the 1,400 questions posed to her following her confirmation hearing, and Democrats have capitalized on the plagiarism allegations in advance of the full Senate vote.

Dive Insight:

DeVos has been heavily criticized by Democrats hoping to eliminate at least a few of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. She has been identified as being particularly vulnerable thanks to popular outrage over her qualifications for the position. While DeVos has donated her time and money extensively to education reform causes over the years, she has no experience in public schools, and much of her time and energy has focused on school choice that provides alternatives to the traditional public school sector.

Still, DeVos’ supporters — on the right and the left — argue she is getting undue scrutiny from Democrats in Congress. They defend her intentions and her experience as a school choice advocate and maintain that she would be a worthy advocate as secretary of education.