The U.S. Senate's education committee on a party-line vote Wednesday advanced the nomination of Carlos Muñiz for general counsel at the Department of Education.
During a hearing last month, committee members questioned Muñiz, a former Florida deputy attorney general, about his role in investigating for-profit colleges in the state as well as his views on federal civil rights protections.
Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who serves as chairman of the committee, called Muñiz a "well-qualified candidate" for the general counsel job. "I look forward to him working with Secretary DeVos to implement the laws as Congress wrote them, including the law we passed fixing No Child Left Behind," Alexander said in a statement.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Muñiz had failed to assure the committee that he would "stand up to Betsy DeVos when she ignores the law."
"His record in the Florida attorney general's office is marked by example after example of shady for-profit colleges cheating students without any real accountability," Warren said in a statement. "And even after multiple opportunities -- including a follow-up letter after he refused to answer my written questions -- Mr. Muñiz still has not demonstrated a willingness to protect students. President Trump should withdraw his nomination."
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/10/19/senate-panel-confirms-education-dept-nominee