Senators meet with Trump nominees
Heinrich, Udall stop short of saying they’ll vote for Mattis, Tillerson
New Mexico’s Democratic U.S. senators each met last week with one of President-elect Donald Trump’s key Cabinet picks — Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson and James Mattis, the nominee to lead the Department of Defense.
Sen. Tom Udall met Thursday with Tillerson, the ex-CEO of ExxonMobil, while Sen. Martin Heinrich met with Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who is nominated to head the Department of Defense, on Wednesday.
The meetings were in advance of each nominee’s confirmation hearing. Tillerson’s hearing is Wednesday, while Mattis’ has not been scheduled.
Udall sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will consider Tillerson’s nomination, while Heinrich is on the Armed Service Committee, which will consider Mattis.
After his meeting, Heinrich sounded optimistic about Mattis’ nomination, but he stopped short of saying he would vote for him. Udall voiced a bit less optimism after meeting with Tillerson and also did not say how he intends to vote.
Mattis’ nomination, while generally viewed more favorably by Senate Democrats than Tillerson’s, is more complicated. In addition to needing 51 votes for confirmation in the Senate, the retired general needs 60 votes from the Senate to approve a waiver that exempts him from a law barring military officers from serving as Defense secretary for seven years after they’ve retired.
In a Journal interview, Heinrich described Mattis as “very intelligent” and said they talked at length about New Mexico’s nuclear weapons labs, as well as the “specific roles that different New Mexico military bases play that are unique to the evolving mission set of the military right now.”
“It was a great first-time conversation,” Heinrich said. “I put some issues that are incredibly important to New Mexico in particular on his radar screen. He is a very intelligent person and has always been known as such. I think he has spent a lot of his life studying both the history and the strategy of military history.”
But Heinrich said he’s concerned about the law requiring a yearslong separation between the time someone serves as an active member of the military and them taking control of the Pentagon. Mattis retired in 2013. The law was designed to preserve ultimate civilian — as opposed to military — control of the nation’s armed forces.
“I’m still looking at the issue of the fact that we need to change the law and … the fundamental
requirements we have put in in terms of civilian oversight,” Heinrich said. “There are some strong reasons for why that exists. It’s a fundamental change in the law. I think we need to weigh that against the qualifications of this particular applicant.”
In a statement issued after his meeting with Tillerson on Thursday, Udall said he was “concerned and skeptical about a career executive of a massive oil and gas company — who has no government experience — serving as the nation’s Secretary of State.”
But Udall also mentioned potential bright spots in Tillerson’s tenure at the State Department, citing the former oil executive’s belief in climate science and willingness to keep the U.S. as a party to the Paris Agreement.
“Exxon’s overseas oil and gas interests are vast and spread across the world, including in areas of major U.S. foreign policy significance like Russia, Iraq, and Latin America,” Udall said. “While I compliment Mr. Tillerson on officially divesting from Exxon, this is an unprecedented nomination for many reasons. I think the American people deserve more assurance than we’ve received so far that he will be able to represent their values when U.S. policy goals conflict with Exxon’s ongoing corporate interests.”
Udall said he also was encouraged by Tillerson’s stated willingness to make his tax information public.
But he said Tillerson’s record at ExxonMobil gave him pause. Tillerson has come under scrutiny for his amicable relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I certainly have some significant disagreements with Mr. Tillerson’s recent corporate record, from the appropriate response to Russian aggression on the world stage to the importance of investment in cleaner forms of energy,” Udall said.
“While I was impressed by Mr. Tillerson’s direct answers to my questions, he was unable to clarify what President-elect Trump’s policies and positions will be. He will have his work cut out for him as top diplomat if the president of the United States continues his dangerous habit of voicing volatile foreign policy and national security opinions by tweet.”