Senate Democrats on Tuesday boycotted hearings to consider Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury and Thomas Price for Secretary of Health after accusing them of lying about their financial histories.
The Democrats on the Senate’s Finance Committee said they felt that Price lied to them about some of his personal stock purchases and that Mnuchin was not truthful when he testified about the role a bank he was associated with played in the country’s foreclosure crisis.
“He misled Congress and he misled the American people,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said of Price.
The sudden postponement came as congressional Democrats, in a confrontational mood over Team Trump’s travel ban on immigrants from selected countries and other actions, also gave lengthy speeches at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting considering Sen. Jeff Sessions, (R-Ala.) to be attorney general, stalling his expected confirmation.
The Democrats’ action prevented the Finance panel from acting because under committee rules, 13 of its members — including at least one Democrat — must be present for votes.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said Price and Mnuchin would hold positions “that directly affect peoples’ lives every day. The truth matters.”
Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) accused Democrats of “a lack of desire to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.”
“They ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots,” he said.
“I’m very disappointed in this kind of crap. … Some of this is because they just don’t like the president. This is the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in my whole life in the United States Senate.”
But in 2013 when Democrats controlled the Senate, Republicans boycotted a committee vote on Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, temporarily stalling it.
Democrats forcing the delay of Finance committee votes cited a report in The Wall Street Journal that Price received a special, discounted offer to buy stock in a biomedical company, which contradicted his testimony to Congress.
They said another report in The Columbus Dispatch showed documents revealing that Mnuchin had not been truthful with the Senate in the confirmation process in comments about how his bank, OneWest, had handled home foreclosures.
Republicans have supported both men, and both have strongly defended their actions.
Democrats have opposed Price, a seven-term congressional veteran, for his staunch backing of his party’s drive to scuttle Obamacare and to reshape Medicare and Medicaid.
They’ve also assailed Price for buying stocks in health care firms, accusing him of using insider information and conflicts of interest for backing legislation that could help his investments.
Price countered that his trades were largely managed by brokers and that he’s followed ethics rules.
Democrats have slammed Mnuchin for not initially revealing nearly $100 million in assets, and were expected to vote against both nominees. They also accused him of failing to protect homeowners from foreclosures and criticized him for not initially disclosing all his assets.
It was unclear when the committee votes could be held.
At the Judiciary Committee, long Democratic speeches prompted panel Chairman Charles Grassley ( R-Iowa) to say the vote on Sessions might be delayed a day — infuriating the White House.
In a more peaceful setting, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee quickly approved former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Energy secretary by a 16-7 vote, and Rep. Ryan Zinke( R-Mont.) to head Interior by 16-6.
The full Senate easily confirmed Elaine Chao to become transportation secretary by a 93-6 vote.
Chao was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, and is wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. She would be a lead actor in pursuing Trump’s promise to invest $1 trillion to improve highways, rail service and other infrastructure projects.
With AP