The Senate will vote Monday on President Obama’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Education.
Republicans are moving swiftly to confirm John King, the current acting Education Department secretary. King was approved Wednesday by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee by a vote of 16-6.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., scheduled the confirmation vote after meeting with King in his Senate office last week.
McConnell has not indicated whether he will vote for King’s confirmation, said his spokesman Don Stewart.
If confirmed, King would replace Arne Duncan, who resigned in January.
King will likely win confirmation. Only 51 votes are needed for Obama’s lower court and executive branch nominations thanks to a 2013 change in the rules that lowered the threshold from 60 votes.
But some Republicans are opposed to him, in particular conservatives who dislike his strong advocacy of the Common Core curriculum that came despite objections from parents and schools.
King is the former New York education commissioner. During his tenure, he pushed for implementation of the now unpopular Common Core state learning standards.
“We need someone who will listen to teachers and parents,” tweeted Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. “John King has demonstrated he is not that person.”
The conservative Heritage Action last week called on Senate Republicans to vote “no” on King and said their votes would be recorded on the Heritage legislative scorecard.
Heritage criticized King’s support of Common Core, his opposition to the popular D.C. school voucher program and his advocacy of national education databases that conservatives believe violate student privacy.
“The Republican-controlled Senate has no excuse for putting their stamp of approval on a Secretary of Education who sides with Common Core over school choice, data-mining over student privacy, and central planning over local control,” Heritage spokesman Dan Holler said.
