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Tillerson, Sessions, DeVos, and Mnuchin among those set for messy confirmation process
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been warned that Senate Democrats are planning to "aggressively target" eight of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees, aiming to delay as long as possible the confirmation hearings slated to start next week.
"President-elect Trump is attempting to fill his rigged cabinet with nominees that would break key campaign promises and have made billions off the industries they'd be tasked with regulating," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Sunday reported by the Washington Post.
"Any attempt by Republicans to have a series of rushed, truncated hearings before Inauguration Day and before the Congress and public have adequate information on all of them is something Democrats will vehemently resist," Schumer said. "If Republicans think they can quickly jam through a whole slate of nominees without a fair hearing process, they're sorely mistaken."
The nominees in the Democrats' crosshairs are:
- Secretary of State nominee and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson;
- Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump's pick for attorney general;
- Heiress Betsy DeVos, nominated for Education secretary;
- Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump's choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services;
- Fast-food CEO and Labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder;
- Treasury nominee Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner;
- Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency; and
- Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), tapped to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Confirmation hearings for Tillerson and Sessions are expected to begin next week.
But environmental groups have vowed to make Tillerson's hearing a referendum on his company's climate record, while civil rights and progressive advocacy groups are mounting a concerted fight against Sessions.
In a statement released late last week, the NAACP explained its opposition to Sessions' nomination "for the following reasons: a record on voting rights that is unreliable at best and hostile at worse; a failing record on other civil rights; a record of racially offensive remarks and behavior; and dismal record on criminal justice reform issues."
The statement read:
"Given that these are issues our nation the attorney general is sworn to protect and enforce his nomination represents an ongoing and dangerous threat to our civic birthrights.
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