Democrats vow tough questions for nominees

Senate foes concede they cannot block Trump’s choices.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats concede they have little leverage to stop confirmation of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. But that will not discourage them from trying to make life as uncomfortable as possible for many of his choices, with the hope of forcing their Republican colleagues and Trump to squirm along the way.

With nominees like Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., a proponent of fundamental changes to Medicare, to be health secretary, and Steven Mnuchin, a Goldman Sachs trader turned hedge fund manager, as Treasury secretary, Democrats hope to use the confirmation hearings to highlight the wide river of incongruities between Trump’s campaign promises and much of the team he is assembling. The goal: to fuel a narrative that the incoming president, and the Republicans who support him, cannot be trusted.

“President-elect Trump promised that he was going to clean up the swamp,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the incoming Democratic leader, “and a whole lot of his nominees have had their career in the swamp.”

One by one, Schumer said, Democrats will use the confirmation process to highlight positions held by nominees that are either inconsistent with Trump’s campaign promises or raise the sorts of ethical questions Democrats tried in vain to hang around Trump’s neck during the campaign, like his refusal to release his tax returns. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who serves on committees that are likely have contentious hearings, can be counted on to work over many nominees.

“We should know what direction this administration is headed in,” Schumer said. “They didn’t win the election by saying they were going to hire people who want to cut Social Security and Medicare. I will also be looking for any ethical transgressions.”

For starters, Democrats announced last week that they would push for a rule requiring all Cabinet-level nominees to provide Congress with their tax returns, a move made to suggest that some of Trump’s selections may share conflict-of-interest and tax issues with the incoming president.

Democrats have themselves to blame for their weakened position in challenging a nominee. In 2013, when they held the majority, the Senate voted largely along party lines to remove the 60-vote threshold on Cabinet-level and non-Supreme Court judicial nominees. Trump’s nominees will now need the support of only 51 senators to be confirmed; Republicans are expected to hold 52 seats next year.

“At the end of the day, we were the ones who changed it to 51,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who voted for the measure. “I think it’s important to remember how righteous we were.”

It is highly unusual for Congress, even in an era of divided government, to outright filibuster Cabinet nominees. Republicans have shown broad support for Trump’s choices so far, even those lawmakers who have been otherwise critical of him.

In one telling move, Maine Republican Susan Collins, one of the Senate’s few centrists, gave a fast nod to Trump’s choice of attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who came under immediate fire by Democrats for his decades-old positions on civil rights issues and his hard-line immigration stance that made him an early Trump ally.

In short, Republicans say bring it on. “Responsible Democrats responded to the election by saying they heard the message of the American people and pledged to work with the incoming administration and

Republicans in Congress to move America forward,” said Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She added, “We hope responsible Democrats won’t be bullied by the radical left to turn the confirmation process into some political side show.”

But Democratic lawmakers can make the process afflictive. Price is expected to receive a particularly hot grilling. As a congressman from Georgia, Price has been the chief architect of a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act and has long desired to transform Medicare into a voucherlike program for future participants.