[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 961-962]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        CABINET NOMINEE HEARINGS

  Mr. SCHUMER. One final issue: As the hearings continue this week on 
the President-elect's Cabinet nominees, I want to make a few points. As 
I have mentioned here on the floor several times, we Democrats want the 
process to be as fair and transparent as possible, abiding by all the 
ethics requirements demanded of nominees in the past. Yet the HELP 
Committee today will hold a hearing on Education Secretary nominee 
Betsy DeVos, who is worth $5 billion and owns an investment company 
with untold financial entanglements, despite the fact that she doesn't 
have a signed ethics agreement in place. When somebody has such wealth 
and such complicated holdings, we have always made them sign an ethics 
agreement that says ``Here is how I am going to divest so there is no 
conflict of interest,'' so it is clear that the nominee is doing things 
for their country, not for their financial holdings. We don't have it, 
and we are rushing ahead with hearings in the HELP Committee. My dear 
friend whom I have so much respect for, the chair, the Senator from 
Tennessee, is just rushing forward, rushing forward. That is not a good 
way to start. It is not a good way for my Republican colleagues or the 
President-elect to start.
  Then we have Wilbur Ross. He is the nominee for Commerce. He is a 
billionaire. We have a Cabinet loaded with billionaires, despite how 
President-Elect Trump campaigned. Mr. Wilbur Ross is a billionaire with 
vast and complicated holdings. He just delivered his paperwork 
yesterday. His hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. The paperwork is very 
complicated. When you have $1 billion, it is not just in U.S. 
treasuries. But they are rushing forward. The committee needs some time 
to review those documents before a hearing. I am hopeful we can move it 
back.
  Then there is the fact that tomorrow there are four hearings. We have 
asked the majority to space out the hearing schedule so that Members 
who sit on multiple committees can have time to prepare and attend all 
the hearings. That is going to be very difficult for many Members 
tomorrow.
  We have tried to cooperate with my friend, the majority leader. These 
are not good signs. They don't bode well.
  You can see why the President-elect and Republicans are trying to 
rush these nominees through. The President-elect promised to change the 
way America operates, to oppose elites and the rigged system, to clean 
the swamp, and to pay attention to working families. But now he is 
rigging the Cabinet with billionaires and bankers. It is exactly the 
opposite of what the President-elect campaigned on, so they are trying 
to get it done as quickly as possible--the less scrutiny, the better. 
They don't want these people exposed

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for who they are and what they represent. Oh, no, that is not fair to 
the American people. They deserve the chance to get a good look at 
these nominees.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.

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