In a surprise turn of events, Senate Democrats announced Tuesday morning that they are boycotting a committee vote on two of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, drawing fury from Republicans across the aisle.
Health and Human Services secretary-nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) arrives for testimony before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee January 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony on Price’s nomination to be the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The Senate Finance Committee was set to vote on the nominations of Rep. Tom Price to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and Steve Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary.
But minutes after the vote was scheduled to take place, Democrats on the panel convened an impromptu news conference to announce that they refused to participate in the proceeding, all as their Republican colleagues were waiting in a hearing room down the hallway.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, pointed to what he called “truly alarming news” that surfaced Monday. He was referring to a Wall Street Journal Report that stated that Price had received a special discounted rate of stocks at an Australian pharmaceutical company called Innate Immunotherapeutics.
“This is contrary to congressional testimony he gave. Congressman insisted he didn’t get special access to a special deal,” Wyden said. “He misled the congress and he misled the American people.”
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said Price had “outright lied to our committee.”
The CEO of Innate Immunotherapeutics criticized the WSJ story to CNN on Monday, rejecting the story’s claim that Price had received a privileged offering.
Committee chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said at the onset of the committee meeting that he is “really disappointed” Democrats are “deliberately boycotting this markup.”
Timing of the committee votes remains unclear.
from KTLA http://ift.tt/2jyZsPg
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