Republicans Buck Boycott, Vote for Price and Mnuchin Without Democrats Present

No Democrats need arrive. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

While testifying at their confirmation hearings, Trump cabinet nominees Tom Price and Steve Mnuchin both said things that subsequent reporting proved to be untrue.

The Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee find this troubling. Before voting to send the would-be HHS Secretary (Price) and Treasury Secretary (Mnuchin) to the Senate floor for a full vote, they’d like to look into why these prospective cabinet officials misled them.

The Republican senators on the Finance Committee think that would be a waste of time. So, the Democrats boycotted scheduled votes on both nominees Tuesday. And since committee rules stipulate that at least one member of the minority part must be present to conduct business, the nominations were frozen.

But on Wednesday, Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson proposed that the committee suspend that rule. The other Republicans present, aside from Utah’s Orrin Hatch, approved that proposal. Then, the committee voted unanimously to advance the nominations of Price and Mnuchin to the Senate floor.

“They have nobody to blame but themselves,” Hatch said of the committee’s Democrats.

And so, America will soon be blessed with a Health Secretary who traded medical stocks while writing legislation that could increase their value, and a Treasury Secretary whose bank robo-signed foreclosure documents.

GOP Votes for Price and Mnuchin Without Democrats Present