iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday morning boycotted scheduled votes for two of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, arguing the nominees had lied to the committee about their business or investment dealings.
The move seemed to take Republicans on the committee by surprise and effectively stalled the confirmation process for Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), and his choice for treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.
The panel’s Republican chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah,) called his Democratic colleagues “idiots.”
Hatch told reporters he was blindsided by the move and that it showed a breakdown of “decorum” in the upper chamber of Congress.
“It is really the rudest thing I have ever seen,” Hatch said in Capitol Hill hallway Tuesday morning. “I think my colleagues on the other side will wise up … All I can say is I am very disappointed.”
Asked specifically about Democrats’ concerns with these two nominees, Hatch replied, “Give me a break.”
Moments before, while speaking to reporters in the same hallway, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), accused the two Cabinet nominees of having “out-and-out lied” to the committee and said that he was greatly concerned that Hatch was asking the committee to vote Tuesday without more information on the two. He held a printout of a newspaper article in the Columbus Post-Dispatch this week that argues Mnuchin “misled” the Senate about the mortgage practices of a bank he helped to run.
“We are not going to this committee today, because we want the committee to regroup, get the information, have these two nominees come back in front of the committee, clarify what they lied about. And I hope they’d apologize about that,” Brown said.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Finance Committee, cited a different story about Price, specifically calling into question whether the congressman benefited from knowledge he had as a legislator working on health care issues when making stock trades. Price has disputed these allegations.
“The congressman has insisted that he didn’t get special access to a special deal. Now we have reports that the company says otherwise … an indicator that [Price] didn’t tell the truth,” Wyden said. “At a minimum I believe the committee should postpone this vote so we have an opportunity to talk to the company officials.”
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