Democrats plot uphill fight against some
Trump nominations
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[December 09, 2016]
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate
Democrats plan to fight some of President-elect Donald Trump's choices
for top administration jobs, but history and the party's minority status
in the chamber are not on their side.
A simple majority of 51 votes is needed in the 100-member Senate to
confirm nominations. Louisiana will select its newest senator on
Saturday. If the Republicans, as expected, hold on to the seat, they
will control at least 52 seats in the chamber next year.
Senate Republicans said on Thursday they were confident of winning
Cabinet confirmations early next year.
Nonetheless, some Democrats said they hoped to persuade a few
Republicans to help them block a Trump nominee or two, following the
Republican Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, when a newly installed
Senate starts reviewing his nominations.
That could be just brave talk from Democrats. The Senate has rejected
only nine of 719 Cabinet nominations in U.S. history, not counting
nominees who have withdrawn when facing certain defeat, according to
congressional records.
The last rejection was in 1989, when the Senate blocked Republican
President George H.W. Bush's nomination of Senator John Tower to be
defense secretary. In 2013, Democratic President Barack Obama had
trouble getting Chuck Hagel confirmed as defense secretary, but he
ultimately prevailed.
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This time around, Democrats said their top targets included U.S.
Representative Tom Price as head of the Department of Health and Human
Services, and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as Environmental
Protection Agency administrator.
Former New York investment banker and hedge fund investor Steven
Mnuchin, tapped by Trump to become Treasury secretary, is also drawing
the ire of Democrats, who will be in the minority in both the new Senate
and House of Representatives in 2017.
Trump's path toward Senate confirmations of nominees will be easier than
the one faced by most of his predecessors.
In 2013, Senate Democrats, frustrated by Republicans blocking Obama's
choices for federal judges, used their majority status at the time to
eliminate "filibusters" against executive and judicial branch
nominations, except the Supreme Court. That meant only 51 votes were
needed for confirmations, rather than 60.
PRUITT, PRICE, SESSIONS
Pruitt is a climate change skeptic who has participated in lawsuits
trying to stop the EPA from carrying out clean-air regulations. As a
nominee, he will embody "the fossil fuel and anti-clean air and clean
water movement. ... I like those odds," Democratic Senator Edward Markey
said of the fight ahead.
In 2009, when in the House, Markey was a leader in the fight for
legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions.
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![](../images/120916pics/news_p25.jpg)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the USA Thank You Tour event
at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., December 8,
2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who was an ally at the time in that
failed battle, said in a brief interview that while he did not know
Pruitt: "I appreciate his passion for fighting back against things he
thought were an overreach" by federal agencies.
Price is high on the Democrats' target list, according to a senior
Senate Democratic aide, who asked not to be identified,
Defending Medicare, the federal healthcare program for the elderly, is a
top priority of congressional Democrats. Price supports limiting some
Medicare benefits.
He also opposes government funding for women's healthcare provider
Planned Parenthood. That could help Democrats win support for blocking
Price from moderate Republicans such as Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski,
the senior aide said.
A spokeswoman for Murkowski said she had not expressed an opinion on the
Price nomination. Collins and her aides were not immediately available
for comment.
A second senior Senate Democratic aide said some Republicans up for
re-election in 2018 could be uncomfortable voting for Price because of
his Medicare stance.
But Graham said Price "has been the heart and soul of the Republican
alternative to Obamacare. I can't imagine any Republican voting against
him."
Republican Senator Jeff Sessions has been chosen by Trump to be attorney
general. Democrats plan to highlight his hardline stances on illegal
immigration, as well as remind colleagues that a Republican-controlled
Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Sessions' nomination for a federal
judgeship in 1986 amid allegations that he had made racist remarks,
which he denied.
If the debate stokes strong opposition to Sessions, Republicans might
have to scramble to win his confirmation.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Aug/26/images/ads/current/napa_bch1-3108.png)
That could especially be true if the Alabama lawmaker follows a
long-held practice of senators of merely voting "present" on their own
confirmations, meaning Democrats would be one vote closer to defeating
him.
(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)
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