Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s pick for secretary of education, faced a tough round of questioning Tuesday in her Senate confirmation hearing. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee grilled her for over three hours, but ultimately it voted 12 to 11 to approve the nomination. The Huffington Post reports:

The vote was split along party lines, with all 11 Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voting to reject DeVos, and all 12 of the committee’s Republicans voting to approve her. Next, DeVos faces a full Senate vote. Two Republican senators on the HELP Committee, Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), suggested that they were not sure how they would vote at that point.

Now, the nomination advances to the full Senate, where many Democrats remain firmly opposed to DeVos taking on the role of secretary of education. The Huffington Post continues:

DeVos has inspired staunch opposition from some Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups. Although her vote in committee was originally scheduled for last week, it was delayed so lawmakers would have more time to review the paperwork she filed with the Office of Government Ethics. DeVos answered questions during a committee hearing earlier this month, but in the past week, Democrats requested a second opportunity to question her amid new revelations about her vast financial entanglements. Their request was rejected.

Since DeVos’ hearing, Democrats submitted over 800 additional written questions to the nominee in an effort to get more details on her views. By Monday evening, DeVos had responded to all of the questions, but some Democrats complained that her answers were not sufficient and actually raised more questions. On Monday afternoon, Murray once again pressed for a postponement of the vote.

Also Tuesday, news broke that in responding to a questionnaire from senators DeVos “appears to have used several sentences and phrases from other sources without attribution.”

Watch the DeVos hearing in the video above.

—Posted by Emma Niles

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