Donald Trump has made confirmation hearings great again. Senate Democrats are suddenly very serious about exercising their responsibility to offer advice and consent on executive nominations. That, or they are eager for every opportunity to gum up the works.
Consider the nomination of Robert King to serve as assistant secretary of postsecondary education. First a little bit about King and then a little bit about this postsecondary post.
The nominee is currently the president of the Kentucky Council of Postsecondary Education and previously was the chancellor of the State University of New York System. His resume says he understands education.
Those qualifications are well suited to an assistant secretary of postsecondary education. This office of the Department of Education oversees a myriad of programs to promote access to public colleges and universities. The assistant secretary also plays a hand in doling out hundreds of billions of federal financial aid in the form of grants. It is a big deal.
Democrats on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions are demanding a hearing which sounds reasonable enough until you realize they never really cared about this position before.
No one did.
A review of the congressional record shows the committee hasn’t cross-examined a single nominee for this position going back to the Clinton administration. Most were reported out of committee and confirmed on the Senate floor by a voice vote. Take a look:
Ericka Miller: mark up session held April 14-16, 2015; no hearing; reported without report April 16, 2015; message of withdrawal on June 8, 2015
Eduardo Ochoa: no hearing; confirmed by voice vote on June 22, 2010
Diane Auer Jones: no hearing; confirmed by voice vote on Aug. 1, 2007
Sally Stroup: no hearing; confirmed by voice vote on March 15, 2002
Lee Fritschler: no hearing; confirmed by voice vote on Nov. 10, 1999
David A. Longanecker: no hearing; confirmed by unanimous consent on June 16, 1993
This record doesn’t necessarily reflect a dereliction of duty. It suggests instead that the Senate trusts the president to nominate a qualified candidate for a not-necessarily high-profile committee. Minus any glaring red flags, the chamber is happy to confirm the pick. Not everything has to be a knock-down, drag-out political committee fistfight.
At least that was the case in simpler times. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., should remember. The ranking member on the education committee, she never had any concerns with any of President Barack Obama’s nominees. Anyone nominated by Trump, however, must be suspect.
Murray bemoaned the fact that King hadn’t come in for a hearing. If confirmed, she noted, the nominee “would be the nation’s most senior higher education appointee and would shape policies that impact more than $120 billion in federal financial aid dispersed each year and the $1.4 trillion student loan portfolio in higher-ed.”
Eight committee Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are also suddenly very concerned about King. They penned a letter calling HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander to hold a hearing so that “the American people deserve to know where Mr. King stands on these issues.”
Perhaps Murray and Warren have decided to take their jobs seriously. If so, far be it from me to criticize these elder statesmen for acting like a co-equal branch of government. But nothing in the handling of past nominees and nothing in their current approaches to this administration suggest their protests are anything other than political gesticulations.
