Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is hoping Democrats are done with boycotting votes on President Trump’s nominees, and said Thursday he hopes they stick around for another pending nominee.
“I hope that recent developments do not become the norm for our committee,” the senator and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday during a confirmation hearing on Trump’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services director pick Seema Verma.
The hearing comes after the same committee voted to approve Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin without any Democrats present. Democrats boycotted the votes, which were delayed because a quorum wasn’t present.
In response, Republicans on the committee rewrote its rules and then passed both nominees without any Democrats present. But Hatch was hopeful that the same practice won’t be used for the CMS pick.
“Maybe the icy treatment of nominees is starting to thaw today. I certainly hope it is,” he said.
