Senate Democrats Delay Confirmation of Mnuchin and Price

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/us/politics/democrats-delay-confirmation-mnuchin-price.html

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WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats significantly escalated tensions with the White House on Tuesday, stalling action on two of President Trump’s most important cabinet nominees, Steven T. Mnuchin to be Treasury secretary and Representative Tom Price to be secretary of health and human services.

Democrats boycotted a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee that had been scheduled to vote on the two nominees. They said they had been misled by the nominees and wanted an opportunity to investigate unanswered questions about Mr. Price’s investments and Mr. Mnuchin’s role in a bank that has been criticized for aggressive foreclosure practices.

Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, said Mr. Mnuchin had “out-and-out lied to our committee” about the robotic signing of foreclosure documents by the bank, OneWest, when he was its chief executive.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said the Democrats were “very upset with Donald Trump” and had therefore “crippled his administration right out of the box” by delaying and obstructing approval of some of his nominees.

“You have to go back to the Civil War to find things like this,” Mr. Hatch said.

Looking at empty seats in the committee room normally occupied by Democrats, Mr. Hatch described their stall tactics as “the most pathetic thing” he had seen in his 40 years in the Senate.

Under Finance Committee rules, the panel needs a quorum, including at least one member of the minority party, to conduct business.

Democrats have no immediate prospect of stopping Trump nominees, but by dragging out the confirmation process, they said, they can slow Mr. Trump’s ability to carry out policies that many Democrats adamantly oppose.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, said Democrats were “manufacturing issues on a daily basis” to string out the confirmation process and to hobble Mr. Trump. But he said: “None of this is going to lead to a different outcome. The cabinet appointments are going to be approved.”

Democrats forced a delay of at least one day in a Judiciary Committee vote on Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama.

But other Trump nominees advanced on Tuesday. By a vote of 93 to 6, the Senate approved the nomination of Elaine L. Chao to be secretary of transportation.

Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, said that Ms. Chao, who served as labor secretary under President George W. Bush, was “a part of the Senate family” because she is married to Mr. McConnell. Mr. McConnell voted “present.” But the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, voted against Ms. Chao, saying she had refused to publicly state her position on Mr. Trump’s executive order closing the nation’s borders to refugees and to people from certain predominantly Muslim countries.

By a vote of 12 to 11, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions recommended confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be education secretary. Ms. DeVos, a Republican fund-raiser and donor, has been a champion of charter schools and vouchers, which give families public funds to help pay tuition at private schools.

Mr. Trump’s pick for energy secretary, former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, won backing from the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which voted 16 to 7 to recommend his confirmation. And by a vote of 16 to 6, that committee approved Representative Ryan Zinke, Republican of Montana, to lead the Interior Department. Another Senate committee voted 18 to 1 to approve Linda McMahon, a former wrestling entertainment executive, to be head of the Small Business Administration.

Democrats focused their fire on Mr. Mnuchin and Mr. Price.

“Mr. Mnuchin profited off of kicking people out of their homes and then gave false testimony about his bank’s abusive practices,” Mr. Brown said.

Democrats said Mr. Price had misled the committee about his investment in a small Australian biotechnology company that could have benefited from legislation that he promoted. Mr. Price bought discounted shares in the company through a private placement after learning about the company from another congressman.

“I asked Congressman Price directly if he got an exclusive discount, and he said no,” said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee. “The evidence tells a different story,” Mr. Wyden added. “It looks more and more like Congressman Price got special access to a special deal.”

At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Price said, “Everything that I did was ethical, aboveboard, legal and transparent.”

Democrats were equally opposed to Mr. Price’s views on health policy. As a member of the House, he has led efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And as chairman of the Budget Committee, he has proposed major changes to slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, which provide coverage to more than 100 million Americans.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Democrats cited Mr. Trump’s firing of the acting attorney general, Sally Q. Yates, as a reason to block Mr. Sessions’s nomination. They said he was too close to Mr. Trump to be independent.

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Ms. Yates had shown “guts” in refusing to defend Mr. Trump’s executive order on immigration.

“I have no confidence that Senator Sessions will do that,” Ms. Feinstein said.

She and other Democrats invoked images of Mr. Sessions standing side by side with Mr. Trump on the campaign trail, wearing a “Make America Great Again” campaign hat.

Republicans showed no signs of breaking ranks as they defended Mr. Sessions, a friend to many of them, and they predicted that he would eventually be confirmed.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said that “the fact that he’s close to the president” should not surprise anyone. “Is this going to be the test for us all going forward?” Mr. Graham asked.