Senator Bob Casey isn’t thrilled with Donald Trump’s cabinet picks.
Today, Pennsylvania’s senior Senator announced his opposition to three of the President-Elect’s selections: fellow Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education and Bill Pruitt for EPA Administrator.
Each potential appointee is controversial. Sessions was rejected for a judicial post by the Senate in 1986 for racist comments. DeVos crumpled under questioning from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, on which Casey sits, and her family has given literally hundreds of millions of dollars to GOP politicians and causes. Pruitt meanwhile has led the fight against any actions towards climate change and is unsure the phenomenon even exists.
The Senator’s opposition is significant because Democratic Senators who are up for re-election in 2018 in states that Trump won are a major target.
Casey’s office released a lengthy explanation for why he is voting against all three nominees:
On DeVos
“After meeting with Betsy DeVos to discuss her nomination to be Secretary of Education and participating in hearings as a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, I have significant concerns about Ms. DeVos’ nomination. Ms. DeVos has no experience in public education and the education work she has done is centered upon pursuing efforts to undermine and privatize public schools. The education policies Ms. DeVos advocated for in Michigan have produced abysmal results for children. In Detroit, Ms. DeVos pushed for measures that substantially cut funding to public school students and diverted public dollars into taxpayer funded for-profit charter schools run by private companies with virtually no oversight or accountability standards. According to the Detroit Free Press the plan that Ms. DeVos pushed for ‘enabled a range of abuses in a system now responsible for more than 140,000 Michigan children.’ The Detroit Free Press investigation found:
‘Wasteful spending and double-dipping. Board members, school founders and employees steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders. Schools allowed to operate for years despite poor academic records. No state standards for who operates charter schools or how to oversee them. And a record number of charter schools run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail how they spend it, saying they’re private and not subject to disclosure laws.’
“I’m concerned that Ms. DeVos would pursue policies for Pennsylvania students that The New York Times has found to have created ‘a public education fiasco that is perhaps unparalleled in the United States’ in Michigan. Pennsylvania has a near 200 year history of commitment to the public education of our children. In fact, 92 percent of students attend traditional public schools, and charter schools must be public, nonprofit corporations, not for-profit entities. Ms. DeVos has also funded radical organizations that have sought to weaken protections for victims of campus sexual assault and undermine civil rights protections for LGBT students and students with disabilities. I fought hard to pass into law the Campus SaVE Act, which put in place uniform reporting standards for sexual assaults on college campuses. I am offended that President-elect Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education has supported efforts to make it harder for campus sexual assault victims to receive justice. Ms. DeVos’ answer to my question, in which she refused to commit to enforcing the current law on campus sexual assault contained in Title IX, was not acceptable. It is not ‘premature’ for a nominee to be Secretary of Education to commit to enforcing campus sexual assault laws. Ms. DeVos would take public education in our nation backward and make it harder for public school students in Pennsylvania to achieve their potential. I will vote against her nomination.”
On Sessions
“I met with Senator Sessions and expressed to him my substantial concerns regarding his nomination to serve as our next Attorney General. On the critically important issue of voting rights, we have a fundamental disagreement on legislation to protect these voting rights. Senator Sessions and I discussed the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder at length. Senator Sessions celebrated the decision, which gutted the Voting Rights Act’s requirement that certain states and jurisdictions with histories of discrimination seek preclearance from the federal government before changing voting rules. Yet, more than half of these so-called preclearance states have implemented restrictive voting laws after the Shelby decision, some of which were proposed the very next day after it was handed down, and over 800 polling places in these states alone were closed since the decision as well. As a cosponsor of legislation to restore preclearance requirements, I believe Democrats and Republicans have an obligation to come together to ensure that all Americans have the full protection of the Voting Rights Act.
“In addition, Senator Sessions’ vote against a non-binding amendment simply expressing the sense of the Senate that immigrants should not be banned from this country based on their religion is offensive. After reviewing his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, his Senate record, his record as a prosecutor and meeting with him, I will vote against his nomination to be our next Attorney General.”
On Pruitt
“The Pennsylvania Constitution (article I, section 27) states that: ‘The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.’
“If Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is confirmed as the next Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, I am concerned that the standards that protect the quality of the water Pennsylvanians drink and the air Pennsylvanians breath will be weakened and our Commonwealth’s children will pay the price. Mr. Pruitt’s record is clear: he fought to dismantle the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, anti-pollution programs that target ozone and mercury in the air, the agreement to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed and denied the science of climate change. Since 2014, The New York Times has reported extensively about Mr. Pruitt’s tenure as Oklahoma Attorney General. In a 2014 story, The New York Times reported that Mr. Pruitt’s office ‘took a letter written by lawyers for the Oklahoma-based oil and gas company Devon Energy opposing E.P.A. regulations, copied it almost word for word onto state government stationery, and sent it to the agency as the official position of the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.’ In 2017, The New York Times reported that ‘Mr. Pruitt turned to major corporate law firms, which typically defend energy companies fighting these [environmental] laws, for help. In some cases, that assistance was offered free.’ On behalf of the children of Pennsylvania, who deserve clean water to drink, clean air to breathe and action on climate change, I will vote against Mr. Pruitt’s nomination.”
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26 Responses
Thanks for making me keenly aware that i need to contact sen to block the least competent nominations ever.
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I saw Casey had a great seat at the trump inauguration….haha…
Trumps a great man….
Casey 2018!!! Just donated. We need more checks on Trump’s swamp cabinet.
Glad to see Senator Casey opposing the nominees. Would like to see him opposing ALL Trump nominees as incompetent
Despite the Casey argument, the three individuals before the Senate remain horrifically unqualified and pose a significant threat to the departments they will be leading. I am sticking with Casey’s opposition, which is well founded.
I’ve never heard of this man.
Phil, regardless of the nominees’ qualifications or lack thereof, it is always best for Senate critics to show a modicum of respect in vetting, including some courtesy and deference. And a bit of savvy as well. It’s expected in a place like the Senate. Under those circumstances even the most partisan questions, while they might not get any more out of the nominee being questioned, will at least make the questioners look more respectable.
But this is Schumer’s show. He is out to show he is the biggest dog among his party cohorts in the Senate (no disrespect meant to dogs in this metaphor, BTW). He is anxious to make his first strong showing as Harry Reid’s successor. Unfortunately, Casey seems an excellent shill. Perhaps Schumer thinks him expendible. As I said earlier, Casey’s ill-advised screed will come back to haunt him, and probably for the coming two years.
One wonders what Schumer could have said to Casey. Not much, IMHO. He couldn’t offer him much, and probably couldn’t threaten much, either. It is likely that Casey, without too much experience at strong statements (or any statements of substance at all), went overboard before the fact on what Schumer said. And it was all unnecessary. No one on the Democrat side cares what Casey says, just how he votes in committee and on the floor. It’s all about being a good loyal soldier for Schumer.
Sen. Casey is right in opposing all three. They lack relevant experience, ethics and are only pawns for the least popular and qualified president in our nation’s history. Regrettably, their confirmations would do more harm than good. Looks like the “basket of deplorables” has graduated to a “cabinet of deplorables.” Defending these choices shows ignorance, shallowness and an inability to come to terms with reality: they’re simply not qualified.
Listen to Jpaul; he knows after watching his mama all those years.
Bob Casey Jr is a political whore- so sad we have gone from Bob Casey Sr a man with class to Junior. His opposition
To Sessions and Devos simply reflects his lack of integrity. When you call Casey’s D.C. Office you can’t get a Iive person when he wants to hide. Even worse Casey Jr tolerates anti Semitism- why haven’t you denounced Keith Ellison. Look for democrats to form groups opposing Sen Casey for his incompetence, his failures on integrity and his tolerance of anti Semitism.
We have two Senators from PA? Good to know.
What a needlessly stupid thing for Casey to do. Who is advising him? He’s flubbed it badly on both the mechanics and the politics of his statement.
He should have simply voted against Trump’s nominees, and then explained afterwards, taking into account the blowback. He could have better tailored hs reasons why after the fact. As it was, he likely said a lot more beforehand than he otherwise would have had to say.
So, now he’s helped write his 2018 Republican challenger’s playbook. I suspect the hidden hand of Senator Schumer here, with Casey simply going overboard on the Senate Majority Leader’s guidance. Explaining one’s actions after the fact is one thing. Sticking your neck way, way out beforehand is a poor second option.
His remarks will likely come back to haunt him, probably starting next week. And his last two years as Senator will continue to unravel. Sadly, a lesser son of a much greater father.
This baboon is still around? I believe he’s requested a room at the oboma’s new house so that he can be close to them all the time! That way he’ll know what they want by osmosis and not have to tell him what to do all the time.
This photograph was taken in 2015 at an Baskin Robbins in Harrisburg right after Senator Casey was asked to take a stand on whether he preferred Mint Chocolate Chip to Rocky Road ice cream. It is memorialized as the first and last time Senator Casey made a decision independently.
It is very difficult for a Democratic Senator facing reelection in a state that voted for the Republican candidate. Not just any Republican but Trump, who had a large following n Pennsylvania. I am pleased that Senator Casey has decided that at least three cabinet appointees are unfit for the jobs. Of course we would prefer that he also vote against others, but Senator Casey is a man of principal, and will lose more than a few votes because of this decision. How many purists are out there who would give up the sensible to attain the perfect? Thank you, Senator.
Good on Sen. Casey. Ms. DeVos’s testimony demonstrated an incompetence that would be hilarious if it were not so sad and disturbing.
Glad to see Casey is finally standing up to the goose steppers
This guy is the poster child for term limits. Hopefully he will go get a real job and quit trading off the family name in 2108.
Casey should boycott inauguration….why isn’t he….because he’s nut less…
Haha…maroons….they’re excellent choices…haha
These three are the worst of the worst. Casey should also oppose Ben Carson and Rex Tillman.
CRUSHED IN 2018.
He should vote against all of them. Voting for even one is a disgrace.
He should be a NO vote on every Trump nomination.