Senate Finance GOP Suspend Rules to Advance Nominee Who Admits He Wasn’t Truthful with Them
“This Is Parliamentary Masochism. How Else Do You Explain Sen. Hatch Bending Over Backwards to Assist a Financial Predator like Mnuchin Who Admitted He Wasn’t Truthful with Hatch’s Committee?”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced the Senate Finance Committee was suspending rules “regarding quorum requirements for nomination votes” to push through the confirmation markup of Trump Treasury nominee Steven Mnuchin.
This follows CNN’s report yesterday that Mnuchin admitted during a private meeting with Hatch’s committee staff that his responses to them had not been “true, accurate and complete.”
Additionally, both The Columbus Dispatch and The Intercept have revealed in the past week that Mnuchin willfully misled senators about the foreclosure practices of his former bank, OneWest.
In response, Allied Progress released the following statement from its executive director, Karl Frisch:
“This is parliamentary masochism. How else do you explain Sen. Hatch bending over backwards to assist a financial predator like Mnuchin who admitted he wasn’t truthful with Hatch’s committee? We’re through the looking glass here.”
“Rather than standing up for America’s middle class, Sen. Hatch and his Senate Finance Committee bowed down to Wall Street insiders and the financial elite. It will soon be up to the full Senate to reject Mnuchin’s nomination and insist that President Trump instead nominate someone who will do right by hard-working Americans.”
“Let us be clear, Steven Mnuchin made hundreds of millions of dollars from his foreclosure machine of a bank. Under his leadership OneWest was accused of ‘widespread misconduct’ and conduct that was ‘harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive.’ This is not the type of man who should be allowed anywhere near the economic policy of our nation.”
“With this parliamentary maneuver, Sen. Hatch and the Senate Finance Committee are helping to further rig a system that promotes economic predators and the financial interests of millionaires and billionaires at the expense of hardworking families.”
“Sen. Hatch and his allies will have to explain to their constituents why they didn’t press an economic predator like Mnuchin to be honest even when he admitted he hadn’t been truthful. Why they didn’t hold him accountable for the practices of his bank. Why they approved of President Trump’s choice of someone to run our economy who destroyed the lives of thousands of families.”
Karl Frisch is available to speak to members of the media regarding Mnuchin’s confirmation. Contact Charlie DiPasquale at 202-464-6916.
Hatch the Hypocrite
- Hatch Has Boycotted Hearing: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orin Hatch boycotted hearing when Democrats were in the majority. [More]
- Senate GOP (Including Sessions) Have Boycotted Markups: Republicans, including Trump Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions, boycotted the confirmation markup of Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama. [More]
Allied Progress on Mnuchin
In December, Allied Progress launched Trump Transparency Project, an initiative aimed at holding the incoming administration accountable for its economic appointments and policies that will hurt America’s middle class. You can read the project’s profile on Steven Mnuchin here. The Project has spent considerable time holding Mnuchin accountable:
- Responded to Nomination with Scathing Statement (November 29): Allied Progress released statement lambasting President-elect Trump for abandoning commitment to “drain the swamp” with his nomination of Mnuchin noting the former Goldman Sachs banker’s background as a financial predator. [More]
- Launched OpposeMnuchin.org (December 2): Allied Progress launched online action calling on people to contact their senators and tell them to oppose Mnuchin’s confirmation. Thus far, thousands of Americans have already contacted their senators. [More]
- Research Dossier (December 19): Allied Progress published an extensive research dossier on Mnuchin and his disastrous record leading his foreclosure machine of a bank, OneWest. [More]
- Launched TV Ad Calling on Senators to Reject Mnuchin (January 4): Allied Progress launched six-figure television ad buys in Arizona and Nevada calling on senators to reject Mnuchin’s nomination. The ads highlighted how Mnuchin made millions from the foreclosures of thousands of family homes—including in Arizona and Nevada where the foreclosure crisis was particularly horrific. [More / View]
- Sent Direct Mailer Targeting Mnuchin Victims (January 18): Allied Progress sent mailing to more than 60,000 families in communities hit hardest during the foreclosure crisis detailing the extent of damage caused by Mnuchin’s bank in Arizona and Nevada. [More]
- Launched TV Ad Featuring Mnuchin Victim (January 18): Allied Progress launched television ad buy with allies in Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, and D.C. featuring the story of Lisa Fraser, a widow whose home was foreclosed on by Mnuchin’s bank, OneWest. [More / View]
- Called for Senate Finance Committee to Delay Confirmation Vote (January 30): Allied Progress called for the Senate Finance Committee to delay its vote recommending confirmation of Steven Mnuchin after The Columbus (OH) Dispatch showed how Mnuchin misled senators about the foreclosure practices of his bank. [More]
- Praised Senate Finance Committee Democrats for Boycotting Markup (January 31): Allied Progress applauded Senate Finance Committee Democrats for boycotting the confirmation markup of Steven Mnuchin insisting that no vote take place until the Treasury nominee was honest about the foreclosure practices of his bank. [More]
More About Mnuchin
Mnuchin is a longtime Wall Street insider, formerly a second-generation executive at Goldman Sachs. At the height of the Great Recession, Mnuchin purchased IndyMac, later renamed OneWest Bank. Under his leadership OneWest foreclosed on tens of thousands of homeowners with the federal government absorbing the losses while the bank made billions in profits for Mnuchin and his colleagues.
The foreclosure practices of Mnuchin’s bank were disputed and came under intense fire, with one judge finding that OneWest committed “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive” acts, characterizing the bank’s conduct as “inequitable, unconscionable, vexatious and opprobrious.” In another case, OneWest attempted to foreclose on a 90-year-old woman over a payment that was short by 27 cents.
# # #
To speak with Allied Progress about this release, please contact Charlie DiPasquale, 202-464-6916.
Allied Progress is a nationwide, progressive advocacy organization that uses hard-hitting research and creative campaigns to hold Wall Street and powerful special interests accountable. Since launching in 2015, the organization has led high-profile campaigns on several issues including reforming the payday lending industry and exposing the those working to cripple the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).