Warren Lambasts Trump Nominees for Poor Judgment, Questions Their Roles as Trump and Musk Destroy the Agencies They Would Lead
“My litmus test for the panel before us today and any executive branch nominee is: will they enforce the law and uphold our constitution, or will they just simply bend a knee to the orders of co-Presidents Trump and Musk?”
Washington, DC – Today, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, gave remarks ahead of a committee vote on four Trump nominees for critical positions in the executive branch.
Below are Ranking Member Warren’s opening remarks:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The Trump Administration is working to tear our federal government apart. Two days ago, they laid off another 10,000 federal government employees, this time at critical health agencies like the Center for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes for Health—these are the people who help us with avian flu, access to prescription drugs and medical research. And while Trump and Musk burn down our future, the Senate is still chugging along with business as usual in confirming the President’s nominees to lead the agencies he is actively trying to destroy.
My litmus test for the panel before us today and any executive branch nominee is: will they enforce the law and uphold our constitution, or will they just simply bend a knee to the orders of co-Presidents Trump and Musk?
Mr. Atkins and Mr. Gould have both previously served at the agencies they are now nominated to lead—and their track records at those agencies are bad, really bad. Mr. Atkins was dead wrong in the lead-up to the worst financial crisis in a generation and he has 20/0 hindsight about those mistakes. He has spent his post-government career helping billionaire scammers like CEO Sam Bankman-Fried get even richer.
Mr. Gould weakened the rules and helped undermine the safety and soundness of our national banking system as the OCC's Chief Counsel during the first Trump administration. His track record suggests that he will do what’s in the best interest of Wall Street, and the American people can pay it with the bailouts that follow.
I am worried that Mr. Pettit will simply go along with the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda, instead of fighting to protect consumers and financial stability.
And I know that Mr. Molinaro wants to improve public transportation and support public transit workers, and I appreciate that. I have no doubt about it, but it seems clear that the White House and Musk will terminate FTA employees and take other actions that undermine the DOT.
I will not vote to confirm these administration officials when co-Presidents Trump and Musk are actively destroying these agencies while we just sit here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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