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Senate Democrats boycott executive session on HHS, treasury secretary nominations
Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted the executive session that would decide the nominations of Rep. Tom Price, MD, (R-Ga.) as secretary of HHS and Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the treasury.
“I am disappointed that [the Democrats] are boycotting this consideration of Steven Mnuchin to be the secretary of the treasury and Representative Tom Price, one of the members of our Congress, to be secretary of Health and Human Services,” Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said. “We ought to be proud of [Price] and we ought to be willing to support a man of integrity, which he is.”
Republican disappointment
Prior to the hearing, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) issued a statement that highlighted his concerns about Price and Mnuchin. Wyden said he “cannot support nominees who treat disclosures like shell games and ethics laws like mere suggestions. These issues only add to the troubling fact that these nominees are pushing extreme proposals that would hurt vulnerable Americans.”
Several Republican senators voiced their disappointment in the actions of their Democrat peers.
“The fact that members on the Democratic side of this committee have opted not to show up at all, I think suggests that they are not taking responsibility that we have as senators seriously and carrying out those duties that the American people entrust us to carry out,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said.
Hatch concluded that the record would remain open until the vote occurred.
“We will recess until the will of the chairman, and come back as soon as we can get our colleagues to come and vote one way or another,” Hatch said. “They have every right to express themselves, through orally or written, or through their vote, and I do not think anybody doubts that we are going to treat them fairly.”
Concerns with Price
In previous hearings of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Senate Finance Committee, senate Democrats voiced their concerns with Price’s nomination as secretary of HHS. In particular, they raised concerns about the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, as well as whether funding to Medicare and Medicaid would be cut.
Senators also voiced concerns about allegations of conflicts of interest and potential ethics violations, despite Price’s statements that he followed the advice of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
“I asked Congressman Price directly if he got an exclusive discount on stock in an Australian biomedical firm, and he said no,” Wyden said in a press release. “From the committee’s investigation to company documents to the [chief executive officer’s] CEO’s own words, the evidence tells a different story. The fact is that Congressman Price got special access to a special deal, but his story about it seems to change by the day.” – by Casey Tingle
References:
www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-to-oppose-price-and-mnuchin-nominations
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