McCaskill: Dems boycotted Cabinet vote because new information surfaced

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted a Senate Finance Committee hearing earlier this week on the nomination of banker Steve Mnuchin as Treasury secretary because new information surfaced, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Wednesday.

McCaskill and every other Democratic senator on the committee boycotted the panel’s meetings Tuesday and Wednesday.

In a statement to the Southeast Missourian, McCaskill said Mnuchin had “misled the committee about the foreclosure practices of his company. That, in combination with the fact that information was made available to the committee’s Republicans but not the Democrats, I thought that deserved another opportunity to get answers.”

Republicans on the committee Wednesday voted unanimously in two votes to approve President Donald Trump’s picks for Treasury and Health and Human Services without a Democrat in attendance, The Associated Press reported.

Republicans on the committee temporarily suspended a rule requiring at least one Democrat to be present for any vote to take place.

The committee’s action cleared the way for the full Senate to consider confirming Mnuchin as Treasury secretary and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., as Health and Human Services secretary.

Democrats on the finance panel have said publicly they wanted more information about the financial backgrounds of both nominees before taking a vote.

Both nominees have stated they did nothing wrong in their financial dealings.

The Southeast Missourian had requested by email Wednesday to conduct a phone interview with McCaskill to discuss the boycott and the decision of Republicans to vote without any Democrats being present.

Her office subsequently emailed the statement, which did not address the voting rule change.

According to McCaskill’s staff, the Missouri senator also has publicly voted against or announced her opposition to Trump’s nominees to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and the departments of State and Education.

McCaskill has voted for John Kelly for Homeland Security director; James Mattis for secretary of defense; Mike Pompeo for CIA director; Nikki Haley for United Nations ambassador; and Elaine Chao for transportation secretary.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641