Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the Trump transition “aided and abetted by Senate Republicans” were attempting to “jam through nominees” in his “swamp cabinet full of bankers and billionaires.”
Schumer said “In these past two weeks we have seen repeated efforts from the Trump transition, aided and abetted by Senate Republicans, to jam through nominees in a way that hides their views from the American people. My friend, and he’s a dear friend of mine, and I’m really surprised at his behavior, but my friend Senator Alexander limited senators to just one round of questions for Ms. DeVos and Mr. Price. With just five minutes for DeVos and seven minutes for Price. Ms. DeVos was at five o’clock in the afternoon in a blatant attempt to prevent more Americans from watching the hearing and the news coverage of it.”
“A senator and two members of the House were forced to wait until the end of the second day of Sen. Sessions’ hearing before they could be heard. Sen. Barrasso is keeping the public out of Mr Pruitt’s hearing, making seven seats available in the whole hearing room,” he continued. “Senate Democrats’ requests for outside witnesses for the Puzder, Price, Mnuchin and DeVos hearings were denied. Mr. Ross’ OGE paperwork was submitted just over a day before his hearing. He’s a billionaire with very complicated paperwork to file. Most galling of all, Ms. DeVos’ hearing occurred without her OGE paperwork being completed—her ethics paperwork being completed. That’s a direct contradiction of the same standard Senate Republicans asked for in 2009 It’s an affront to openness and transparency that the American people are entitled to. This is a swamp cabinet full of bankers and billionaires, a swamp cabinet full of bankers and billionaires.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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