Senate confirms Steven Mnuchin as treasury secretary
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Monday following debate where Republicans touted his qualifications and Democrats denounced him as the “foreclosure king” for practices by OneWest Bank in states like Nevada.
The Senate also voted to confirm David Shulkin to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., complained that obstruction by Democrats continues to delay votes on Cabinet positions, but the successful votes on Mnuchin and Shulkin show that “we will continue to put the rest of the president’s nominees in place.”
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, defended Mnuchin. Hatch said Democrats have unfairly “thrown everything, including the kitchen sink, at this nominee.”
Mnuchin, who served as a finance chairman for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, was nominated by Trump to head the Treasury Department. He is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker.
The nomination was advanced by the finance panel on a straight Republican vote after Democrats boycotted the hearing when the vote was called.
The full Senate approved the nomination mostly along party lines, 53-47. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only Democrat to vote in favor.
Shulkin was confirmed with bipartisan support, 100-0.
Nevada’s two U.S. Sens., Dean Heller, a Republican, and Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, voted for Shulkin, but split on the more controversial nomination of Mnuchin.
Heller voted for Mnuchin — even though he grilled him in a committee hearing on his role in foreclosures and loan modifications at OneWest Bank in Nevada during the Great Recession.
The liberal-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund, citing California Reinvestment Coalition statistics, said OneWest Bank, which Mnuchin headed, completed 3,654 foreclosures in Nevada between April 2009 and October 2016.
At one point during the committee hearing, Heller chastised Mnuchin because the nominee had failed six times to answer his questions about foreclosures and loan modifications. Heller later said on social media that he received the answers, but never divulged the information publicly.
Heller said following the vote that he received answers to the devastating housing crisis and secured assurances from Mnuchin that he would support initiatives that would help Nevadans, like the Mortgage Debt Relief Act.
“We can either stare at the darkness of the past or we can focus our attention forward to the future where a strong economy and job creation are placed at the top of the Administration’s new pro-economic agenda,” Heller said.
In past days, Heller was one of 12 senators, both Republicans and Democrats, who were targeted in 30-second television ads urging a rejection of Mnuchin and citing OneWest Bank foreclosures.
The six-figure ad buy, which included spots aired on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News in Las Vegas, was paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Cortez Masto, meanwhile, was one of many Democrats who spoke out against the nomination.
She said that during the Great Recession, “Nevada was ground zero for the housing crisis.”
OneWest Bank enforced predatory and unforgiving practices that only served to line the pockets of the owners on Wall Street, Cortez Masto said.
“Instead of working to help these homeowners stay in their homes, OneWest Bank under Mnuchin’s leadership became a ‘foreclosure machine,’ ” she said, noting that she could not support confirmation of the “foreclosure king.”
But Hatch accused Democrats of applying a double standard to Mnuchin.
Hatch said Democrats overlooked Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s role at Citigroup, where he held a top leadership position when the giant bank nearly collapsed and received a taxpayer bailout in late 2008. Lew was President Barack Obama’s nominee and confirmed in 2013.
The confirmation of Shulkin was largely expected. He received a unanimous vote from Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to move his nomination to the full Senate. Shulkin is the current secretary of health at the department. He was appointed to that post by Obama.
There are 228,000 veterans who reside in Nevada. More than 153,000 of those live in Clark County, according to the Nevada Department of Veteran Services.
National veterans groups and organizations supported Shulkin’s nomination.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.
