Democrats delay votes for Tom Price, other Trump nominees

Also on Tuesday, senators advanced the nominations of four other Cabinet picks.

Regarding Price, Democrats said they needed more time to question the executives of Innate Immunotherapeutics, the Australian biotech company in which the congressman owned stock. They cited a Monday report in The Wall Street Journal that said Price received an offer to buy shares in the firm at a discount — contradicting his statements to the Finance Committee during his confirmation hearing last week.

“The evidence is the company is directly contradicting Congressman Price, indicating that he didn’t tell the truth and misled Congress and he misled the American people,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the panel’s top Democrat, said at an impromptu press conference.

“At a minimum I believe the committee should postpone this vote so that we will have an opportunity, and I’d like it to be bipartisan, to talk to the company officials who have made this statement,” Wyden said.

The CEO of Innate Immunotherapeutics was critical of the assertions made in the Journal's story, according to CNN. Price previously promised to sell his shares of the company's stock in order to avoid perceived conflicts of interest after coming under fire from Democrats.

Back in the hearing room, Hatch was visibly and uncharacteristically furious as he sat at the center of the near-empty committee dais. He said he was stunned by the breakdown in Senate decorum. Democrats didn’t give him advance notice, he said.

“It really is stupid. Amazingly stupid. I hope they’ll get their heads on right and we” can get on with the vote, Hatch said.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, one of Price's most prominent Senate boosters, said his Georgia colleague deserves a quick up-or-down vote by the committee. He brought up his own support of Sylvia Burwell, President Barack Obama's last health secretary.

“It’s a shame that because of partisan politics, which I guess is the reason, that we’re not allowed to have a vote on a man who has an outstanding record as a physician, member of Congress, a private citizen of the United States,” the three-term Republican said.

Other nominees

The drama over Price, whom Democrats have sharply criticized for his stock trades and views on health care, was just one chapter in an eventful day on Capitol Hill surrounding Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Democrats continued to fume over the administration’s aggressive actions on refugees, and they prepared for battle over Trump’s imminent Supreme Court announcement.

The same Democrats who stonewalled Price on Tuesday also forced a delay on Mnuchin for similar reasons. They cited a report in The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch that showed documents revealing the banker had not been truthful to senators about how his bank, OneWest, had handled home foreclosures.

Meanwhile, in a hearing room down the hall, Democrats temporarily stalled a vote on Sessions’ nomination by essentially filibustering the meeting with lengthy speeches. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to meet Wednesday to vote on Sessions.

But Senate GOP leaders weren’t without victories. They were able to advance the nominations of three other Trump Cabinet picks: Department of Education nominee Betsy DeVos, Department of Energy pick Rick Perry and proposed Interior Department head Ryan Zinke. The three now await votes by the full Senate.

The Senate on Tuesday afternoon also confirmed former U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to lead the Department of Transportation.

Obstruction?

Several GOP senators called Democrats’ boycott of Price and Mnuchin “unprecedented.” Back in 2013, however, Republicans skipped out on a similar committee vote for Gina McCarthy, Obama’s then-nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. McCarthy was ultimately confirmed in July 2013, four months after she was first tapped to run the agency.

By comparison, it’s been nine weeks since Price was nominated to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Before Obama was sworn in, the health position was often filled within days or weeks of a president taking office.

Hatch said he would push to reschedule the committee votes soon. What’s unclear at the moment is how long Democrats will hold up Price and other Cabinet nominees they don’t like.

“Our obligation constitutionally, advise and consent, is to thoroughly vet these nominees,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “They could be in office up to four years, and it makes eminent sense to get their views out.”

Democrats on their own don’t have the votes to sink any of Trump’s executive picks, including Price, on the Senate floor. Delay tactics are some of the only tools of dissent available to them.

The same is true for protecting Obamacare, a key Democratic priority. By delaying a confirmation vote on a health secretary, they in turn can put off GOP plans to dismantle the 2010 health care law.

In theory, Democrats could continue to bottleneck Price’s nomination at the committee level if the party stays unified, said Norman Ornstein, a congressional expert at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Republicans will likely try whatever they can to persuade committee Democrats to change their minds.

If they can’t do that, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could bypass the Senate Finance Committee entirely, but he would ultimately need the support of eight Democrats to do so. McConnell could try to get around Democrats to install Price in office by either changing the Senate rules or paving the way for Trump to make a recess appointment, Ornstein said, both politically unsavory propositions.

The fight over Trump’s Cabinet nominees showcases “a real deterioration in the way the Senate operates,” Ornstein said.

“This isn’t the beginning,” he said. “This is the culmination of what we’ve seen over the last eight years.”