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US Senate Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 03, 2017 25 Comments
The Senate woke up bright and early Friday morning to vote on President Donald Trump's education secretary Betsy DeVos to advance her to a final vote on Monday. She advanced with a 52-48 vote, but her confirmation vote will not come easy.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 01, 2017 36 Comments
Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump's pick for Education Secretary, may have escaped her Senate committee hearing, but she just lost two Republicans on the Senate floor. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine told the Senate that neither one can vote to confirm DeVos:
"I come to the floor to announce a very difficult decision that I have made, and that is to vote against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be our nation's next secretary of Education," Collins said from the Senate floor. Collins specifically pointed to DeVos's "lack of familiarly" with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, saying she was "troubled and surprised."

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 01, 2017 17 Comments
Senate Republicans found a way to end the Democrat boycott of approval votes for President Donald Trump's Cabinet. The Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee changed the rule stating at least one member from each party must attend a meeting for the committee to do its work. The Democrats boycotted the hearing yesterday to approve Human and Health Services Secretary nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) and Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin. They boycotted Wednesday's meeting, which forced Republicans to take action:
“It’s just another way of roughing up the president’s nominees,” said committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). “They have been treated fairly. We have not been treated fairly.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 31, 2017 19 Comments
It's a grand old time in the Senate today! I reported earlier that a few Senate Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted the vote to approve Rep. Tom Price as Human and Health Services (HHS) Secretary and Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary. The drama did not end there. The Democrats have dragged their feet on many of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees, but it appears Trump needs his attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, as soon as possible. He fired Sally Yates, who received the appointment of acting attorney general from President Barack Obama, after she told Justice Department lawyers not to comply with his immigration executive order. But the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee cannot stop attacking Sessions long enough to hold a vote to move his confirmation to the Senate floor.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 31, 2017 20 Comments
Crybabies. Some Senate Democrats have decided to boycott committee votes to advance Re. Tom Price (R-GA) for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary and Steven Mnuchin for Treasury secretary. From The Hill:
“I can’t understand why senators, who know we’re going to have these two people go through, can’t support the committee,” said Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 26, 2017 26 Comments
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has delivered his plan to replace Obamacare. The GOP wants to repeal the law as soon as possible, but Paul has urged the party to wait until they have a proper replacement plan in place to activate. He also noted that President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) agree with him. The Hill reported:
Paul’s plan includes a tax credit of up to $5,000 per person to use as part of a Health Savings Account to pay for medical care. That tax credit appears to be larger than those offered in other Republican healthcare plans.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 24, 2017 20 Comments
GOP Senators Bill Cassidy (LA) and Susan Collins (ME) unveiled one possible replacement for Obamacare called the Patient Freedom Act. This plan would leave the majority of the power to the states, letting each one decide "whether the want to keep ObamaCare." Fox News reported:
“We recognize that our bill is not perfect,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who introduced the 2017 Patient Freedom Act with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and fellow Republican. “We need comprehensive legislation,” Collins continued. “It’s still a work in progress. ... But if we don’t start putting specific legislation on the table that can be debated, refined, amended and enacted, then we will fail the American people.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 20, 2017 23 Comments
The Senate has confirmed retired General James Mattis to become the Secretary of Defense, the first confirmation of President Trump's Cabinet. He won confirmation with a 98-1. WOW. But who doesn't like or approve of Mad Dog Mattis?

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 19, 2017 5 Comments
Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin faced the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday for his confirmation hearing, answering questions about the dollar and his own investments. Mnuchin worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years before he "became an investor at ESL Investments and then with his own fund Dune Capital Management." He rescued IndyMac Bank for $1.6 million, renaming it to OneWest. The project succeeded for Mnuchin, who sold it to CIT Group for $3.4 billion in 2015. However, the project faced scrutiny over its foreclosure practices, which Mnuchin defended during his testimony:
About foreclosures, Mnuchin said OneWest extended 100,000 loan modifications to delinquent borrowers. "In the press it has been said that I ran a 'foreclosure machine.' This is not true. On the contrary, I was committed to loan modifications intended to stop foreclosures. I ran a 'Loan Modification Machine,'" Mnuchin said. He also sought to counter the idea that a foreclosure was financially beneficial to OneWest versus a modification.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 19, 2017 36 Comments
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Energy Department, will face the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources at 10AM EST. During the 2012 primary, Perry said he would abolish the Department of Energy if he became president. He also famously forgot the name of the department during one of the debates in November 2011. But that didn' bother Trump:
"As the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry created created a business climate that produced millions of new jobs and lower energy prices in his state, and he will bring that same approach to our entire country as Secretary of Energy," Trump said in a statement. "My administration is going to make sure we take advantage of our huge natural resource deposits to make America energy independent and create vast new wealth for our nation, and Rick Perry is going to do an amazing job as the leader of that process."

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 18, 2017 5 Comments
I live blogged Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's senate hearing for the EPA, but three other cabinet choices had their own senate hearings today. That included Rep. Tom Price for Health and Human Services, Wilbur Ross for Commerce, and Nikki Haley for UN. Obamacare took control of Price's hearing, since the Republicans in D.C. want to repeal and replace it. Price told the committee that states should lead on a replacement.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 17, 2017 4 Comments
Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for education secretary, has her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions at 5PM ET. The Democrats picked her as one of the eight nominees they want to grill the most. DeVos has remained an advocate for school choice and used money to help establish charter schools in Detroit, MI. Of course, the Democrats have concerns over her massive donations to Republicans, including some that sit on the panel, and the Republican National Committee. We'll be liveblogging beneath.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 13, 2017 17 Comments
The media has gone ballistic during the first week of confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees since the most of them have different views than Trump. Trump has shown thin skin with those who disagree with him so of course the press has attempted to stir the pot even more, but it has not worked.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 12, 2017 17 Comments
The Senate Armed Services Committee passed a waiver by a vote of 24-3 allowing Gen. James Mattis to serve as President-elect Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense. Becuase he retired from the Marine Corps in 2013, he needed the waiver to bypass a rule stating an individual must be out of the service for seven years before serving a new appointment. Only Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand, Richard Blumenthal, and Elizabeth Warren voted against the waiver. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said the committee should pass the legislation "because the U.S. is at war and the Trump administration needs Mattis as quickly as possible."

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 12, 2017 11 Comments
Former presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Housing and Urban Development Secretary, will have his confirmation hearing today at 10AM ET in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Carson turned down Trump's request to leads the Human and Health Services, but accepted the HUD nomination. He often fought with Trump in the primary and even said he would never work in Trump's administration. Trump chose Carson for "his 'brilliant mind' and passion about 'strengthening communities and families within those communities.'" Carson has said:
"I grew up in the inner city and have spent a lot of time there, and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities," he said.
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