The Senate advanced the nomination of Steve Mnuchin to lead the Treasury Department, voting 53 to 46 early Friday morning to clear a procedural hurdle.
The procedural vote to invoke cloture on early Friday morning clears the path for confirmation of Mnuchin in the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that a vote on the nomination is scheduled for Monday along with a vote on David Shulkin to lead Veterns Affairs.
Mnuchin is a former Goldman Sachs partner and hedge fund manager that has gotten stiff opposition from Democrats.
A flashpoint among Democrats is Mnuchin’s leadership of OneWest Bank. Democrats said was involved in “robo-signing of foreclosures”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement last month that he was opposing Mnuchin because of robo-signing foreclosure documents, which Mnuchin denied during his confirmation hearing.
“Court documents and testimony show that OneWest employees processed hundreds of documents a week, spending only seconds on each, and they routinely did so without verifying their contents,” Wyden said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement last month that there is no agreed definition on what exactly “robo-signing” is.
“Any question that simply throws out the term without specifically explaining what is meant by it is not only poorly written, it is inherently vague,” Hatch said.
Hatch is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Wyden the ranking member. The committee advanced Mnuchin and now Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to the Senate floor on solely Republican votes after Democrats boycotted the hearing.
