Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Tuesday rejected arguments that Democrats are delaying President Trump’s Cabinet nominees for political reasons, and said there are real concerns about the nominees’ commitment to working on behalf of the public.
“We’ve had hearings with nominees who haven’t even completed their paperwork,” the Wisconsin Democrat said on CNN. “This is important with the nominees Donald Trump has put forward because we have seen financial entanglements, conflicts of interest, things that raise concern among the American people that these nominees are going to be feathering their own nests rather than working for the American people.”
.@SenatorBaldwin on Cabinet nominees: There are concerns that some of these people will feather their own nests, not working for Americans. pic.twitter.com/xLcMtIMiiy— New Day (@NewDay) January 24, 2017
So far, Trump has had just three of his nominees confirmed by the Senate: Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo.
In 2009, the Senate confirmed seven of President Obama’s nominees on the day he was sworn into office.
The White House has ripped the Senate for not confirming the nominees faster, even though Mattis, Kelly and Pompeo are the only nominees who had made it through committee by Monday afternoon. Secretary of State-designee Rex Tillerson made it through committee Monday evening.
Democrats argue they’re not holding up nominees to be partisan, they’re delaying nominees because they want to see more paperwork from Trump’s prospective Cabinet and get answers to outstanding questions. Baldwin said the American people demand as much.
“The American people need to know the people who join public service are fighting for them,” she said, “and not for their former bosses or on behalf of investments they have made.”
