I hear that Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both Republicans who have decided to oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education, take a lot of money from teacher unions.
That's unusual for Republicans, but they're unusual Republicans. They're by no means conservative on many issues, and whenever an effort is underway to pass an important conservative legislative priority, these two are usually among the most nervous and hard-to-persuade Republican senators.
So if you want to know what's motivating Murkowski and Collins to break from their caucus and oppose the eminently qualified Mrs. DeVos for this post, it's a good idea to follow the money. One way to explain these senators' frequent reluctance to support conservative ideas is to simply observe that their teachers union masters are hostile to these ideas.
Fine. We all choose our priorities.
Sen. Collins is not up for re-election until 2020. Sen. Murkowski is not up until 2022. I'm reminded of when then-Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) had vowed to support repeal of the death tax as part of her campaign platform. Once she was elected, Harry Reid persuaded her that she could safely break her promise because it would be such a long time before she would have to stand again for re-election, and surely the voters would not remember her betrayal.
But I and other radio talk show hosts remembered what she did, and we made a point of reminding Louisiana voters what she did. Mary Landrieu is no longer a senator.
What I expect is that Betsy DeVos will be confirmed even without the support of these two wayward Republican senators. It might take a tiebreaking vote by Vice President Pence, but it will happen. If I'm wrong you can remind me of my prediction, but I think Mitch McConnell can hold the rest of the GOP caucus together on this.
What I also expect is that Betsy DeVos will be an outstanding Secretary of Education. I think she will institute reforms favored by President Trump, and our nation's children and families will be far better off as a result. Years down the road, people will consider the fuss over DeVos's nomination to be silly because they will see that she made a huge and positive difference.
And when Sens. Collins and Murkowski finally have to stand for re-election, and they hope the voters will forget that they listened to their teacher union masters and opposed one of the best Education Secretaries we've ever had, we will make sure the voters do not forget.
Remember, in 2010, Lisa Murkowski actually lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller--a real conservative--only to refuse to accept defeat and wage a write-in campaign to save her seat in the Senate. She succeeded, so congratulations to her, but if she was successfully primaried once, she can be successfully primaried again.
Sen. Collins is a more complicated case because Maine is a very deep blue state, and maybe a squishy moderate like her is the best Republicans can do. But maybe not. Maybe after President Trump's policies have time to take hold, even blue-state voters like those in Maine will realize he had the right priorities for America. And maybe they won't feel so good about the fact that their senators refused to back the very policies America needed.
I can't tell the future, but I can promise you this. If either Sen. Murkowski or Sen. Collins wins re-election in the future, it won't be because voters forgot that they opposed Betsy DeVos. Voters will remember.
