Steven Mnuchin will have to wait an extra day for a vote on his nomination to be treasury secretary of the Senate Finance Committee.
Democrats used procedural objections to delay the vote, which was originally scheduled for Monday night. Republicans rescheduled it for Tuesday morning.
A representative for Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who chairs the committee, called it an “unfortunate and needless delay.”
Democrats invoked a rarely used Senate rule that prevents committees from meeting more than two hours after the opening of the upper chamber, Hatch’s office said.
Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said that Democrats delayed the vote so that their members could attend a rally across the street from the Capitol at the Supreme Court to protest President Trump’s executive orders on immigration.
Wyden spokeswoman Rachel McCleery said that the “delay will allow members to protest the President’s unconstitutional ban on Muslims entering the United States while voting on Mr. Mnuchin’s nomination little more than 12 hours later.”
Mnuchin’s nomination has been very divisive, as have several other choices for Trump’s Cabinet.
Earlier Monday afternoon, two more moderate Democrats on the panel announced their intention to vote against advancing Mnuchin to the full Senate.
