- The Washington Times - Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Sen. Al Franken delivered an address from the Senate floor on Wednesday which he said will be the first in a series of speeches prior to he officially resigns.

“I’m taking to the Senate floor to give the first of what will be a series of final speeches, this one focused on my work to improve education on behalf of Minnesotans and all Americans,” Mr. Franken, Minnesota Democrat, said.

Wednesday’s topic focused on the progress in public education from No Child Left Behind to the current issues, including a swipe at Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

“This administration seems to be outright hostile to the idea that we have responsibility to provide children with a quality public education,” Mr. Franken said. “Secretary DeVos is a serious threat to our public school system and a threat to the quality of education in this country overall.”

Ms. DeVos has been a controversial nominee since she was selected to serve at the Department of Education. Her confirmation process ended with a tie vote in the Senate that Vice President Mike Pence had to come in to break in her favor.

“If we really want to address future deficits we would be pouring money into training early childhood educators,” Mr. Franken said. “We could easily out more money into these programs if we weren’t giving enormous tax cuts to the wealthy and to powerful corporations.”

Mr. Franken offered a resignation speech earlier this month after several of his Democratic colleagues called on him to step down amid mounting sexual harassment claims. He did not give an effective date for his departure from the Senate, however.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton said he will appoint the state’s lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to replace Mr. Franken, but the senator seemed to indicate he’d be back after the Christmas holiday. 

• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.

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