Things are getting nasty in Washington D.C.
A day after President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates for ordering the Justice Department to ignore his executive order on immigration, Democrats struck back by staging their own boycotts and throwing a wrench into the confirmation of several members of the President’s cabinet.
While the Dems don’t have the votes to actually block any of Trump’s picks, (without Republican aid) they can certainly delay the process, and they did exactly that Tuesday beginning with nominee for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Liberal members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said they refused to support sessions and blocked a vote on his nomination, forcing the committee to adjourn for the day.
Elsewhere in the Senate Democrats boycotted a Finance Committee hearing meant to vote on the nominations of Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary and Georgia’s own Rep. Tom Price for Secretary of Health and Human Services. An enraged Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, Chairman of the Committee, was forced to reschedule the votes.
In Price’s case, the reason Democrats gave for delaying his confirmation is that they are concerned over his connection to a stock purchase made from an Australian company called Innate Immunotherapeutics, saying that the Congressman received a special discount on the price and that he may have received insider information on it from fellow Rep. Chris Collins, a board member with the company. Democratic critics want more time to talk to company officials regarding the claims.
Republicans were predictably furious at the boycott, including Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson who lit up his Democratic colleagues for not showing up to work. Isakson has been a staunch supporter of Price throughout the confirmation process, speaking for him at his hearings and defending him again Tuesday. You can see Isakson’s comments on the situation below.
