副總統投票後特朗普教育部長人選終獲確認
Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s controversial pick to be US education secretary, was confirmed in the job yesterday only after vice-president Mike Pence stepped in to cast an unprecedented tiebreaking vote in the Senate.
唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)提名的有爭議的美國教育部長人選貝齊?德沃斯(Betsy DeVos)昨日在美國副總統邁克?彭斯(Mike Pence)出面在參議院投出史無前例的決定性一票後，才終於得到確認。Ms DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor who critics say is an enemy of state schools, became Mr Trump’s most contentious cabinet nominee amid questions about her qualifications for the role and potential conflicts of interest stemming from her wealth.
德沃斯是共和黨的一位億萬富豪捐贈者，批評者稱她是公立學校的敵人。她的資格，以及她的財富所帶來的潛在利益衝突，都招致質疑，令她成爲特朗普最有爭議的內閣提名人。The need for Mr Pence to intervene signalled the potential fragility of the president’s support among a few of his party’s headstrong senators, who have already shown a willingness to speak out against his policies.
需要彭斯出面干預表明，對美國總統的支持在少數頑固的共和黨參議員那兒存在脆弱性，他們已經表明願意公開反對他的政策。
With the chamber deadlocked at 50-50 after two Republican senators voted against Ms DeVos, Mr Pence arrived on Capitol Hill to cast the deciding vote for her — the first time a vice-president has used his tiebreaking powers to confirm a cabinet secretary.
由於兩名共和黨參議員投票反對確認德沃斯，參議院投票陷入50對50的僵局，彭斯來到國會山爲她投出決定性的一票。這是美國副總統首次運用自己的決定權來確認一位內閣部長。
Ms DeVos’s nomination had turned into a proxy war for a broader debate in the US over the future of government-run schools and education funding.
對德沃斯的提名已成爲美國一場更廣泛辯論的“代理人戰爭”，其焦點問題是公立學校和教育經費的未來。The new education secretary has used her vast wealth to fund groups that advocate using public funds to pay tuition fees at private institutions such as charter schools, bankrolling a movement that critics say is undermining state schools.
這位新任教育部長曾利用自己龐大的財富資助一些團體，它們倡導使用公款支付特許學校之類私立機構的學費；批評者稱，她資助的運動在損害公立學校。Democrats fought bitterly to shoot down her nomination, arguing that she had never held a job in education and highlighting how she fumbled questions from lawmakers about policy issues in a confirmation hearing.
民主黨人激烈反對她的提名，稱她從未從事教育工作，並指出她在確認聽證會上笨拙地回答議員們提出的政策問題。Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, said that Ms DeVos was driven by an “extreme rightwing ideology” and wanted “to bring her anti-government, free-market-above-all philosophy to an education system that she has called nothing more than ‘an industry’.”
民主黨參議員帕蒂?默裏(Patty Murray)表示，德沃斯被“極右翼意識形態”驅使，想要“把她那套反政府的、自由市場至上的哲學運用到教育系統，而且她只把教育系統稱爲‘一個產業’”。The Republican senators who opposed Ms DeVos, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, said they were concerned she did not have sufficient experience with state schools, which are central to the education department’s mandate.
阿拉斯加州參議員麗莎?穆考斯基(Lisa Murkowski)、緬因州參議員蘇珊?柯林斯(Susan Collins)是共和黨內反對德沃斯的參議員，她們表示擔心她在公立學校上缺乏足夠經驗，而這種經驗是教育部職責的核心。Mr Trump was quick to tweet his congratulations to the new education secretary, who he has hailed as a “reformer”.
特朗普迅速在Twitter上向新任教育部長表示祝賀，稱讚她是一位“改革者”。
