--- title: Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary description: Betsy DeVos was confirmed Tuesday as President Trump's Education Secretary, bringing her rocky confirmation process to a historic end canonical: https://time.com/4662686/betsy-devos-education-secretary-tie-break/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-07T17:30:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:11:13.036Z article:section: Politics og:title: Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary After Historic Tie-Break by Mike Pence og:description: Pence is the first Vice President to break a tied vote for a Cabinet nominee og:url: https://time.com/4662686/betsy-devos-education-secretary-tie-break/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2baaf9c3b71a8a99/6988b918656a3f0e15bceadb/betsy-devos-confirmation-mike-pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Trump's Selection For Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Testifies During Her Senate Confirmation Hearing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary After Historic Tie-Break by Mike Pence twitter:description: Pence is the first Vice President to break a tied vote for a Cabinet nominee twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2baaf9c3b71a8a99/6988b918656a3f0e15bceadb/betsy-devos-confirmation-mike-pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary After Historic Tie-Break by Mike Pence > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 7, 2017 5:30 PM UTC  Betsy DeVos testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Jan. 17, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Betsy DeVos testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Jan. 17, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 7, 2017 5:30 PM UTC Billionaire philanthropist [Betsy DeVos](http://time.com/4606096/betsy-devos-schoolyard-rebel/) was confirmed Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary, bringing her [rocky confirmation process](http://time.com/4662085/betsy-devos-senate-vote-standoff/) to a historic conclusion. Vice President Mike Pence offered the 51st vote in favor of DeVos, making him the first U.S. Vice President ever to cast a tie-breaking vote for a Cabinet member. Even as other Cabinet nominees have faced opposition, DeVos became the subject of a particularly heated public campaign in recent weeks. Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski [announced last week](http://time.com/4657030/betsy-devos-opposition-susan-collins-lisa-murkowski/) that they would not vote for DeVos, bringing the vote to a 50-50 tie. In a [late-night standoff](http://time.com/4662085/betsy-devos-senate-vote-standoff/) on the Senate floor Monday, Democrats denounced DeVos and tried — unsuccessfully — to convince another Republican Senator to vote against her. DeVos, a school choice advocate, was heavily criticized after her confirmation hearing last month, when she [struggled to answer questions](http://time.com/4637642/betsy-devos-confirmation-education-policy/) about key issues in education policy. Protesters across the country have campaigned against her confirmation, organizing rallies and flooding lawmakers with tens of thousands of phone calls. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4662686/betsy-devos-education-secretary-tie-break/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4662686/betsy-devos-education-secretary-tie-break/"},"headline":"Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary After Historic Tie-Break by Mike Pence","datePublished":"2017-02-07T17:30:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:11:13.036Z","description":"Pence is the first Vice President to break a tied vote for a Cabinet nominee","url":"https://time.com/4662686/betsy-devos-education-secretary-tie-break/","keywords":["Congress","Education","White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2baaf9c3b71a8a99/6988b918656a3f0e15bceadb/betsy-devos-confirmation-mike-pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2baaf9c3b71a8a99/6988b918656a3f0e15bceadb/betsy-devos-confirmation-mike-pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump's Selection For Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Testifies During Her Senate Confirmation Hearing","caption":"Trump's Selection For Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Testifies During Her Senate Confirmation Hearing","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4662686/betsy-devos-education-secretary-tie-break/","name":"Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary After Historic Tie-Break by Mike Pence"}}]}] ```