PoliticusUSA says: “Despite President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to unrig the system, he is trying to fill his cabinet with billionaires and Washington insiders who have a deep record of working for special interests instead of working Americans. From ending Medicare “as we know it” to allegations of insider trading, President-elect Trump’s cabinet picks have a series of very tough questions to answer in the confirmation process. Senate Democrats are fighting to hold Trump’s nominees accountable to his promise to drain the swamp, and will continue to do so throughout the confirmation process.”
Politico says:
They’re planning to press for lengthy — in some cases multiday — committee hearings for most of Trump’s nominees, followed by a floor debate. On Thursday, the top Democrats on 16 committees issued a "statement of principles" arguing that nominees should not receive committee votes until they've cleared an FBI background check, completed financial disclosure forms and provided other requested material.
Republicans predict the Democratic plan will flop.
Well, naturally. But there's more from Politico:
Similarly, Democrats want to make Republicans squirm when it comes time to vote on Tillerson, who has a personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin from his role atop ExxonMobil.
“It was more than just a business relationship. There’s a personal relationship there … we need to drill down on whether he will put U.S. interests ahead of personal friendship,” said Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The cabinet picks are so disastrous that even long-established racist Jeff Sessions is beginning to look like an easy confirmation, compared with some of the others. The Unholy Trinity right now of the proposed cabinet is Rex Tillerson at the top, followed by Tom Price, and a toss-up between Rick Perry and Scott Pruitt. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) unleashed a blistering attack on Republicans for pushing changes to Medicare. Schumer says that this Republican stance has only been amplified by the nomination of Tom Price for Health and Human Services, who has previously pushed for an overhaul to the entitlement program. The Price nomination reflects the lowest of the low in present day Republican party ideology, and that's saying a lot. And of course the nomination of Rick Perry to the Department of Energy, an agency that Perry vowed to destroy, if only he could remember the name of it, is simply beyond words: as is naming Scott Pruitt to head up the EPA when his entire career has been in opposition to the EPA.
Zephyr Teachout had this to say:
Senate Democrats are approaching the January confirmation battle over Donald Trump’s Cabinet as a chance to launch their political comeback and expose the president-elect as a fraud.
“His campaign, based on his nominations, was a charade. [H]e sold the American public on a story that is a false story. It is a scam,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who was recently promoted to chief deputy whip. “He said: ‘I’m for working people and for taking on Wall Street, I’m for draining the swamp.’ And his nominees say the exact opposite.”
Senate Democrats want to force Trump’s picks to lay down markers on specific policies that can be used to build a case against the incumbent as his administration unfolds and the next election approaches, insiders said. More immediately, they want to begin to make the case to Trump voters that what they voted for is a far cry from what they’ll be getting with the next president.
What the Trump voters voted for and what they have actually got are two alternate realities, only the Trump voters are too oblivious to know how actual governance works. The goal that Teachout articulated of the Democrats exposing Trump for the fraud that he is by properly vetting Trump's nominees, since Trump clearly didn't bother, or didn't think it mattered is most laudable. The quest of the Democratic party launching a political comeback seems to many to be dreaming the impossible dream -- but realistically there is no more important task in front of the Democratic party than the opposition of these clearly disastrous choices of Trump’s for cabinet and agency positions. Now, truly, “is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the Party.” We must contact our elected officials and take a stance. It’s almost January, let’s get to work.