Trump's Education Sec. Pick Schools Bernie Sanders: 'There's Nothing in Life That's Free'

Andrew Mullins | January 18, 2017
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In case you haven't been glued to CSPAN for the past week and a half, the U.S. Senate has been slowly going through the process of confirming Donald Trump's cabinet nominees. Senate committee hearings are an important part of the America's system of checks and balances, and usually involve difficult, sometimes mind-numbing questions from Senators to selected cabinet nominees. Once the hearings are complete, and assuming no major controversies are uncovered (it's happened before), the decision to approve the nominees is sent to a full session of the Senate, where they are almost always confirmed.

This past week, Trump's Education Secretary pick, Betsy DeVos, was subject to hearings from the Senate Health and Education Committee (HELP Committee). Betsy DeVos is a wealthy conservative activist and education advocate, who has championed school choice issues, and worked to rebuild Detroit's charter school system. Since you can't really describe DeVos without using the words "wealthy" (read: "billionaire") and "school choice," her cabinet selection really ruffled the feathers of the HELP Committee's liberal Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine, Al Franken - and socialist Bernie Sanders.

You can watch DeVos' full hearing here, but one highlight you can't miss is when she was questioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders. Particularly, when Bernie Sanders asked her about "free" college:

Sanders: “In your statement, your prepared statement, you say, ‘Students should make informed choices about what kind of education they want to pursue post-high school, and have access to high-quality options.’

Some of us believe we should make public colleges and universities tuition-free, so that every young person in this country, regardless of income, does have that option. That's not the case today. Would you work with me and others to make public colleges and universities tuition-free, through federal and state efforts?

DeVos: Senator, I think that's a really interesting idea, and it's really great to consider and think about. But I think we also have to consider the fact that there's nothing in life that's truly free. Somebody's going to pay for it.

There were some other fireworks during this confrontation, but the part where Betsy DeVos calls out Bernie Sander's proposal for "free" college begins around the 1:40 mark.

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