Political Quotes

“One final issue: As the hearings continue this week on the President-elect's Cabinet nominees, I want to make a few points. As I have mentioned here on the floor several times, we Democrats want the process to be as fair and transparent as possible, abiding by all the ethics requirements demanded of nominees in the past. Yet the HELP Committee today will hold a hearing on Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos, who is worth $5 billion and owns an investment company with untold financial entanglements, despite the fact that she doesn't have a signed ethics agreement in place. When somebody has such wealth and such complicated holdings, we have always made them sign an ethics agreement that says ``Here is how I am going to divest so there is no conflict of interest,'' so it is clear that the nominee is doing things for their country, not for their financial holdings. We don't have it, and we are rushing ahead with hearings in the HELP Committee. My dear friend whom I have so much respect for, the chair, the Senator from Tennessee, is just rushing forward, rushing forward. That is not a good way to start. It is not a good way for my Republican colleagues or the President-elect to start. Then we have Wilbur Ross. He is the nominee for Commerce. He is a billionaire. We have a Cabinet loaded with billionaires, despite how President-Elect Trump campaigned. Mr. Wilbur Ross is a billionaire with vast and complicated holdings. He just delivered his paperwork yesterday.…”