WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on developments in Congress (all times local):
12:05 p.m.
A Senate committee has approved Republican donor and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos for education
secretary, even as two GOP senators expressed some reservations.
After a heated debate Tuesday morning, senators on the Health, Education, Pensions and Labor Committee
have voted 12-11 along partisan lines to support DeVos’ nomination, sending it to the full Senate for
action.
But two prominent Republicans on the committee, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of
Alaska, are expressing their skepticism over DeVos. They say they are not yet sure whether they will
vote for her on the Senate floor.
Murkowski says DeVos has yet to prove that she deeply cares about America’s struggling schools and its
children. Murkowski says the nominee has not yet earned her full support.
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11:20 a.m.
The AFL-CIO is urging the Senate to reject President Trump’s pick for to lead the Labor Department.
Federation President Richard L. Trumka said in a letter to senators Tuesday that Andrew Puzder’s
nomination "betrays the promise (Trump) made to put working people first."
He added that Puzder’s record as CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., could risk government protections on
overtime and worker safety. He noted that Puzder is opposed to a big hike in the minimum wage and could
"torpedo" pay rules on certain federal contracts.
Puzder has said that "the right government policies can" produce more jobs and better wages.
His confirmation hearing is expected Feb. 7.
Democrats have widely panned Puzder’s nomination in similar terms. But Republicans control the Senate and
there’s no sign Puzder’s confirmation is imperiled.
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11:10 a.m.
Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state says she is disturbed that President Donald Trump has
removed the energy secretary from a permanent positon on the National Security Council. Trump removed
the energy chief as part of a shake-up that also ousted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and
the director of national intelligence.
Cantwell, the senior Democrat on the Senate energy panel, said the energy secretary has a key role in
safeguarding the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist,
played a crucial role in developing the 2015 agreement aimed at preventing Iran from developing a
nuclear weapon.
Cantwell said "now is not the time to remove the energy secretary" from the national security
post, noting that the Iran deal is "based so much on science."
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11 a.m.
Republican and Democratic senators are clashing over the nomination of charter school activist and
wealthy Republican donor Betsy DeVos as education secretary.
As the Senate Health, Education, Pensions and Labor Committee prepares to vote Tuesday on DeVos’
nomination, Chairman Lamar Alexander is lamenting Democrats’ fierce opposition to President Donald
Trump’s pick.
He says he respects his colleagues and doesn’t question their motives or votes but thinks "their
concerns are misplaced."
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington State, the top Democrat on the committee said it was clear that DeVos is
"the wrong choice."
Murray charged that DeVos has spent her family’s wealth to push "extreme anti-student ideology"
siphoning money away from public schools "toward taxpayer funded private school vouchers, with
little accountability, for just a few."
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10:44 a.m.
Senate Finance Committee votes to confirm President Donald Trump’s picks for health and Treasury
secretary are being indefinitely postponed after Democrats boycotted the meeting.
Democratic senators held an abruptly called briefing for reporters outside the hearing room. They said
they were demanding more information about the two nominees, GOP Georgia Rep. Tom Price to be Health
secretary and financier Steve Mnuchin to head the Treasury Department.
The Democrats cited separate newspaper reports about Price’s trading in a health company stock and
Mnuchin’s behavior involving foreclosures when he was a banker.
Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said he planned to reschedule the votes but did not say when. He
said Democrats "ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots."
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10:35 a.m.
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee says she’ll vote against President Donald Trump’s
nominee for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California says she can’t reconcile the independence required in the job
"with the partisanship this nominee has exhibited." Sessions was one of Trump’s earliest
supporters.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting Tuesday to vote on the nomination.
Feinstein also praised Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general who was fired by Trump Monday
after she publicly questioned the constitutionality of his refugee and immigration ban.
"That statement took a steel spine to stand up and say no," Feinstein said. "That is what
an attorney general must be willing and able to do."
Feinstein said she has "no confidence" Sessions would do that.
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10:20 a.m.
Attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions says he had no role in helping the White House draft an executive
order on refugees and immigration.
In responses to Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy about his involvement in writing executive orders, Sessions
wrote: "None. Neither I, nor any of my current staff, had such a role."
Leahy asked the question Jan. 25 in reference to orders involving immigration. Sessions returned the
written answers Monday.
The Judiciary panel is meeting to vote on Sessions’ nomination. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Charles Grassley defended the Alabama senator, who has been one of President Donald Trump’s strongest
supporters.
"It’s not clear to me why it would be a problem even if he had been involved," Grassley said.

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10 a.m.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has backed Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke for Interior
secretary and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for Energy secretary.
President Donald Trump’s nominees met little resistance in the panel Tuesday morning. The committee voted
16-6 for Zinke and 16-7 for Perry.
The nominations now go to the full Senate.