After Democrats threw up more than one contentious blockade to three of President Donald Trump's cabinet nominees Tuesday, the GOP this morning changed committee rules and pushed through the confirmation votes for HHS nominee Tom Price and Treasury nominee Steve Mnuchin to the next stage, a full Senate vote.
According to CNN, the Senate Finance Committee approved Price and Mnuchin's nominations by two 14-0 votes, despite Democrats boycotting the meeting and none actually being present. The GOP reportedly had to suspend committee rules to get it done.
Utah Republican Senator and Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch called the Democratic boycott of this morning's meeting and stalled voting "extraordinary circumstances," and allowed committee GOP members to vote to suspend the rules, which require at least one Democrat to be present for the panel to vote. The 14 republicans then voted unanimously to move the Mnuchin and Price nominations on to the full Senate.
Hatch said the Senate Parliamentarian approved of the procedural maneuver, according to CNN, and after multiple boycotts by Democrats yesterday and the one this morning, "They have nobody to blame but themselves."
Democrats had expressed serious reservations on both nominees with regard to their financial dealings, including Price's stock purchases and his relationship with a biomed company who had proven to be a top campaign contributor, and were pushing for further investigations on both.
According to the Associated Press, the Senate Judiciary Committee intended to vote on the nomination of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general Wednesday. Democrats thwarted a vote planned for Tuesday on Sessions, voicing displeasure at the firing of the former Acting Attorney General Sandy Yates, who had defied Trump's travel ban on refugees in refusing to enforce it.
Some Democrats voiced serious doubt that Sessions would stand up to Trump if a conflict arose.
A vote also was planned in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma's state attorney general in line to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has previously joined Trump in vicing doubt about the science supporting climate-change, however at his January hearing he stated he did not believe that it was an outright hoax, something Trump has claimed in the past, the AP said.
This story was first published on Healthcare IT News' sister publication, Healthcare Finance News.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
