Washington, DC – Today, in a business meeting of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) voted against the nomination of Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Whitehouse released the following statement on today’s vote:
“In the House, Congressman Mulvaney was all too willing to play Russian roulette with the full faith and credit of the United States. He voted repeatedly to let the federal government default on its obligations and led the charge to shut down the government in 2013 as a founder of the self-styled ‘Shutdown Caucus.’ That episode alone cost the economy an estimated $24 billion. And while he claims to be a deficit hawk, when I asked him if he was ready to take on hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful tax loopholes, he dodged the question. From his record in the House, it appears that Mr. Mulvaney will try to balance the budget by slashing Social Security and Medicare benefits.
“He has also refused to acknowledge the settled science of climate change, raising serious questions about whether he can put aside allegiance to fossil fuel benefactors and other big Republican donors and support necessary investments, particularly coastal investments, for the American people.
“Mick Mulvaney is a conservative ideologue with no record of working across party lines on the budget, health care, or other major policy areas. His counsel could pull President Trump even further to the right, which would be the wrong direction for the country.”
Mulvaney’s nomination was approved by a vote of 12 to 11 in the Budget Committee. It was also approved today by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. It now goes before the full Senate.
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