Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced Monday he will vote no on the confirmation of five additional nominees to President Trump’s cabinet, adding to his list of Betsy DeVos, Rex Tillerson, and Jeff Sessions as individuals he would oppose.
“Rep Mick Mulvaney for Budget Director, Rep Tom Price for Health and Human Services, Steve Mnuchin for Treasury, Scott Pruitt for EPA and Andy Puzder for Labor have repeatedly shown they will not put the American People or the Laws of our nation first, and I will vote against their confirmations,” Schumer wrote in a Facebook post.
The New York Democrat had already targeted Price for special attention from his party, which has attacked him for his investments and intent to transition the country’s health care system from Obamacare. Democrats were tough on Mulvaney, Mnuchin, and Pruitt during their confirmation hearings; Mulvaney was caught up in the politics of Trump’s first weekend in office, when he was asked by Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley to identify the larger crowd between pictures of President Obama’s first inauguration and the new president’s.
Puzder’s hearing has been pushed back multiple times. It’s now set to take place before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Feb. 7.
The Senate was scheduled to take a procedural vote on Tillerson Monday evening.
