The battle over President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees is set to intensify as confirmation hearings begin just days before Republicans formally retake the White House.
Senate Democrats were relatively restrained in the first week of hearings, which focused on nominees, like James Mattis for secretary of defense and John Kelly for secretary of homeland security, who are seen as moderating influences in the new administration.
Only Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Trump’s nominee for attorney general, faced significant Democratic pushback. Even during his proceedings, nothing occurred that seemed likely to derail Sessions’ nomination.
Things are about to be turned up a notch as hearings for two conservative nominees begin, including a Republican congressman who might help dismantle Obamacare and an education reformer strongly opposed by teachers unions that donate large sums to Democratic campaigns.
“Can you commit to us that you will not work to privatize public schools or cut a single penny from public education?” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., demanded of Trump’s education secretary designate Betsy DeVos Tuesday.
Three liberal Democrats have requested a delay in the confirmation hearings for Rep. Tom Price, Trump’s choice for secretary of health and human services over an investment in a company that may have benefited from legislation he introduced.
“Allowing Congressman Price’s nomination to move to a hearing with questions about his ethical qualifications left unanswered would send an early, clear, and deeply troubling signal that the Senate’s critical oversight functions will be given a back seat to the demands of the Trump Administration,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Al Franken, D-Minn., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., wrote in a letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
Alexander is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Price authored one of the leading Obamacare replacement plans while DeVos has been a champion of charter schools and other educational choice initiatives.
Defenders of both nominees were also quick to push back against the Democrats’ charges. Price’s defenders argue that not only were the decisions on his portfolio made by a broker rather than by the congressman himself, but the Democrats’ timeline is wrong.
Price was among several dozen lawmakers from both parties who signed a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services complaining about a new payment model for hip and knee replacements in September 2015. The shares in the knee and hip replacement making company weren’t purchased on Price’s behalf until March 17, 2016 and disclosure reports say he wasn’t notified by his broker about the portfolio re-balancing until April 4, 2016.
The congressman introduced his legislation blocking the new payment model on March 23, 2016, months after initially expressing concerns.
“They tried their best to turn her into Cruella de Vil, but America got to see the real Betsy DeVos firsthand tonight,” said Ed Patru, spokesman of a group supporting DeVos.
“The country saw an authentic, compassionate and eminently reasonably education leader who is committed to empowering parents and putting kids first.”
“Betsy’s opponents have spent weeks in a carefully orchestrated effort to distort her record and caricature her,” Patru added. “Tonight, the American people saw the real Betsy DeVos.”
This follows an extensive campaign to defend Sessions from Democratic allegations of racism and insufficient commitment to voting rights. Sessions’ nomination for a federal judgeship was derailed by similar criticisms in 1986 and the Alabama Republican subsequently said he wasn’t adequately prepared for the attacks.
DeVos and Price both stand a good chance of being confirmed because Republicans control the Senate and the Democrats are no longer able to filibuster Cabinet nominees, thanks to a Democratic rules change. But fighting them publicizes the concerns liberal groups have with both nominees.
Tarnishing Price could also help demoralize and discombobulate members of Congress trying to repeal and replace Obamacare. Some Republicans, especially moderates, are becoming anxious about whether repeal would simply costs millions their insurance coverage with no replacement in sight.
Conservatives are worried that much of Obamacare will remain in place, including taxes and regulations, with phase-outs pushed into the mid-term elections.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the Republican Trump has chosen to run the Environmental Agency, will be the next target. Pruitt has persistently clashed with environmentalists and will be criticized as someone who will gut his own agency, as has been alleged of Price and DeVos, among others.
The case against Pruitt is sometimes made in more apocalyptic terms. The New Republic published an article claiming that Pruitt is not only a climate denier, but a threat to science and reason.
Democrats also have a new sense of urgency about resisting Donald Trump because he will be sworn into office on Friday at noon, at which point they will be out of power on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Dozens of congressional Democrats are set to boycott Trump’s inauguration.
That won’t stop Trump from taking office. But they can still entertain such hopes about his nominees until the final confirmation votes are cast.
