Trump education secretary pick squeaks through committee, may face Senate fight

The deeply divided U.S. Senate Education Committee on Tuesday agreed to send to President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. education secretary, billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos, to the full chamber for confirmation, but comments ahead of the vote show DeVos faces choppy waters ahead.

The committee chairman, Republican Lamar Alexander, acted as the tie-breaker for advancing the nomination to the next and final step of the confirmation process after all 11 Republicans on the panel voted for Devos and all 11 Democrats voted against her.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)