Pence makes unprecedented tie-breaking vote to confirm controversial education pick - after Senate debates her through the night 

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Vice President Mike Pence made an unprecedented tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to confirm Donald Trump's education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos.  

Democrats pulled an all-nighter on Capitol Hill, hoping the efforts would lead to one more Republican coming to their side and voting against the nomination of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. 

But as noon approached Tuesday it looked like the 24-hour speech-a-thon was all for naught, as Pence arrived on the Hill to cast his affirming vote. 

'On this vote the yeas are 50, the nays are 50, the Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed,' Pence said, chairing the session.  

This would mark the first time in history a vice president's vote in the Senate would be needed to get a cabinet nominee over the line.  

President Donald Trump expressed support for his nominee via Twitter this morning. 

'Senate Dems protest to keep the failed status quo. Betsy DeVos is a reformer, and she is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids!' Trump tweeted from his @POTUS account. 

Two GOP senators, Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, already committed to breaking rank, but the rest of the GOP caucus looked poised to vote in favor for the controversial nominee. 

DeVos, a top Republican donor from Michigan, has drawn particularly fierce opposition. 

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Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm President Donald Trump's education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos 

The final vote for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stood at 51 yeas and 50 nays, as Vice President Mike Pence made the tie-breaking vote 

Vice President Mike Pence arrived this morning on Capitol Hill to cast a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate over the controversial nomination of Betsy DeVos for education secretary 

Vice President Mike Pence gives a waves as he walks up the Capitol steps on his way to cast a vote for President Donald Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos 

President Donald Trump's nominee Betsy DeVos testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on January 17 

President Donald Trump used his official POTUS Twitter account this morning to show support for his education secretary nominee, Betsy DeVos 

Sen. Al Franken suggested that Betsy DeVos' Senate committee testimony 'may have been one of the most embarrassing performances in the history of the United States Senate' 

An advocate for school choice, meaning giving taxpayer-funded vouchers to students so they can attend charter or private schools over their local public schools, her testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee committee was widely panned.

Testifying before the HELP committee on January 17, DeVos struggled with education policy concepts, such as if teachers should be measured on whether students gain proficiency or demonstrate growth.

She also engaged in a memorable back-and-forth with Connecticut Democrat, Sen. Chris Murphy, who represented the Newtown families in Congress. 

Murphy wanted to know if DeVos thought guns belonged in schools, as Trump has proposed to rid the nation of gun-free school zones.  

She replied that that decision should be left up to local municipalities and states to decide. 

'I will refer back to Sen. Enzi and the school he was talking about in Wapiti, Wyoming. I think probably there, I would imagine that there is probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies,' DeVos replied. 

DeVos was also criticized for never attending public school, nor teaching in a public school. She also never held public office.   

As Democrats spent speech after speech calling DeVos unfit to run the education department Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shamed them for holding Trump's nominations up. 

'This is the slowest time for a new cabinet to be up and running since George Washington,' he noted after the DeVos vote today, which marked the seventh nominee of Trump's to get through the Senate. 

Yesterday, the GOP Senate leader noted how by this time in previous administration, 12 nominations had been given the Senate's seal of approval for President Barack Obama, all 14 were confirmed for President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton had 13 of his choices. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needled Democrats for dragging their feet on getting President Donald Trump's nominee confirmed 

Democrats - and the occasional Republican  - spoke on the Senate floor all Monday night into Tuesday, hoping their efforts would convince one more GOP vote to switch sides 

'Well, Mr. President, it seems this gridlock and opposition has far less to do with the nominees actually before us than the man who nominated them,' McConnell said, speaking to the chair. 

He suggested Democrats 'simply cannot – cannot – accept the results of a democratic election.' And he tsk-tsked groups on the left who are pressuring Democratic senators to 'continue to resist.'

'Democrats don't have to like that decision but they do have a responsibility to our country,' McConnell said. 

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn echoed McConnell several minutes later when he spoke on the Senate floor.  

'This behavior is really juvenile if you ask me and it can't really accomplish anything,' Cornyn said. 'It's a strategy in search of a goal.'  

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren railed against the nomination of Betsy DeVos for education secretary and suggested the likely outgoing Sen. Jeff Sessions shouldn't get to vote for her 

But Democrats spent hours reading letters from their constituents, trying to convince one more Republican – all that would be needed to kill DeVos' chances – to join them tomorrow. 

Speaking for about 57 minutes on the floor, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said 'it was difficult to imagine a worse choice' for education secretary. 

'I rise today to call on my colleagues to reject the nomination of Betsy DeVos,' Warren said on the Senate floor, according to The Hill. 

'The Republicans have made it clear no matter her experience, no matter her radical views ... they will ram this nomination down the throats of the American people sideways,' 

Warren didn't believe Sessions, about to be confirmed as attorney general, should be about to vote for DeVos in the Senate first, calling it a 'massive conflict of interest.' 

The Senate majority delayed cloture on Sessions' nomination so he was able to vote for DeVos on Tuesday.  

'Now with at least 50 senators ... publicly opposed to this nomination, the Republican leadership has rigged the vote so that Sen. Sessions can drag her across the finish line just before he is confirmed as attorney general,' Warren said. 

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Democrat from DeVos' home state of Michigan, talked about how the Republican fundraiser's educational efforts have harmed education in the state. 

'Her vision of education and her actions have, unfortunately, played a major role in undermining our pubic schools,' Stabenow said on the Senate floor. 

Stabenow accused of not only negatively impacting public education, but making charter schools less accountable and transparent.  

Of her fellow Michiganders the Democratic senator said, 'overwhelmingly they've told me that Betsy DeVos should not be our secretary of education.'

 'I've gotten more mail, more email, more phone calls on this nominee than any other – and I've gotten a lot on a lot of nominees – but there is a board outcry,' Stabenow said.