Schumer Opening Remarks: Trump Nominees Must Be Fully Vetted by the American People

“It’s only right that we in the Senate, and by extension the American people, get to thoroughly vet their baseline acceptability for these jobs.” 

“For positions of such influence in our government, it’s the responsibility of the Senate to guarantee that we have all the information we need on each nominee in a timely fashion. But truth be told, Mr. President, the slate of nominations selected by President-elect Trump has made this process, standard for nominees of Presidents of both parties, immensely difficult.” 

“I’m hopeful that we can find an agreement that alleviates the crunch and gives Senators and committees the opportunity to process these nominations with the proper care and oversight, with all the proper paperwork in place, thoughtfully and thoroughly.”

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today called for a thorough and in-depth vetting of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

The Majority Leader and I had a constructive meeting yesterday on the matter of processing the President-elect’s nominations to the Cabinet.

We are still working out several details, but I wanted to express my appreciation for the Majority Leader’s willingness to have a dialogue and work in good faith towards a process both sides of the aisle can live with.

Our caucus thinks it’s absolutely essential that the U.S. Senate has a chance to appropriately vet these nominees and the American people deserve to hear their views and qualifications in public hearings, especially for the most powerful Cabinet positions.

Cabinet officials have enormous power and influence over the lives of everyday Americans. They run massive government agencies that do the actual work of implementing our laws, keeping our nation safe from the threat of terrorism, protecting the environment, civil rights, promoting clean energy, affordable housing…on and on…almost every facet of public policy.

It’s only right that we in the Senate, and by extension the American people, get to thoroughly vet their baseline acceptability for these jobs.

• That means getting their financial records to make sure they don’t come into public office with standing conflicts of interest;
• And if potential conflicts of interest are found, making sure they have a plan to divest the assets in question;
• That means making sure the FBI has the time to complete a full background check;
• That means making sure the independent ethics officers of each agency can sign off on them.

All of these benchmarks are standard protocol. They are not onerous requirements.

I remind my colleagues that EVERY Obama Cabinet Nominee had an ethics agreement in before their hearing.

EVERY Obama Cabinet Nominee underwent a full FBI background check before the Senate considered their nomination.

For positions of such influence in our government, it’s the responsibility of the Senate to guarantee that we have all the information we need on each nominee in a timely fashion.

But truth be told, Mr. President, the slate of nominations selected by President-elect Trump has made this process, standard for nominees of Presidents of both parties, immensely difficult.

There are several nominees who have enormous wealth and own stock of enormous value. We have a CEO of one of the largest oil companies in the world, a billionaire financial services executive and financier… oh…and another billionaire financial services executive.

Leaving aside for a moment what that says about the President-elect’s priorities for his incoming administration, these nominees have potential conflict-of-interest challenges of epic proportions.

At the very least, they owe the American people the standard paperwork and, in fact, we believe that many of these nominees, given their financial holdings, should go one step further and provide their tax returns.

• But, Mr. President, the Minority only has ethics agreements in for four of the nominees so far.
• We only have financial disclosure forms from four of the nominees so far.
• We only have the tax returns of four of the nominees so far.
• And none of our committees have been notified that any nominees’ FBI background check has been fully completed.  Briefings have started, but they are far from complete.

As I said earlier, I hope that the Majority Leader and I can work out an arrangement that works for both of our caucuses to process these nominees in a fair but thorough fashion.

It shouldn’t be the case that 6 hearings, several on really important nominees, occur all on the same day, AND on the same day as a potential vote-a-rama – that is mostly unprecedented in the modern era of Cabinet considerations, happening only once in history.  It is not the standard.

But that’s the case right now on January 11^th. Members who sit on multiple committees need to be able to physically attend these hearings. Each member deserves plenty of time to question each nominee, and if questions remain, they should be brought back for a second day of hearings.

After all, they’re going to hold incredibly powerful positions for potentially the next four years. To spend an extra day or two on each nominee; if it takes several weeks to get through them all in order to carefully consider their nominations…that’s well worth it.

I have made these points to the Majority Leader and he has respectfully listened.

I’m hopeful that we can find an agreement that alleviates the crunch and gives Senators and committees the opportunity to process these nominations with the proper care and oversight, with all the proper paperwork in place, thoughtfully and thoroughly.

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