Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday that Democrats are holding the nomination of Robert Lighthizer to be U.S. trade representative “hostage.”
The Utah Republican said Democrats appeared to have no objection to Lighthizer, a former deputy trade representative, but were using his nomination as leverage to pressure the Trump administration on trade policy.
“Mr. Lighthizer is indisputably qualified to serve as USTR, and I believe he has a strong base of bipartisan support. If we keep this process focused on Mr. Lighthizer and the position he has been nominated to fill, there is no reason he should not be approved by this committee and confirmed by the Senate in short order,” Hatch said.
“It has been more than 50 days since Mr. Lighthizer was nominated by the president. This is the longest gap between nomination and committee consideration of a USTR since at least 2001.”
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the committee’s top Democrat, conceded as much, saying Democrats were willing to work with the administration to ensure Lighthizer’s confirmation provided that the administration consulted with them more directly on trade. Wyden complained that the most information the Senate has received on the specifics of President Trump’s trade agenda has come “in the form of 140-character tweets.”
“The bottom line is that the administration has talked a big game when it comes to trade, but now it’s time to act. That means more transparency, a full-court press on trade enforcement, and being on the offense in overseas markets,” Wyden said.
The specific issue holding up Lighthizer is that as an attorney he represented some foreign clients in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Democratic lawmakers have said he needs a waiver from Congress to serve as trade representative, an argument that the Republicans have rejected.
Lighthizer, nevertheless, has bipartisan support. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, praised his past efforts in representing the U.S. steel industry and said he hoped the waiver issue could be resolved soon.
