On a straight party line vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee voted late yesterday to approve Scott Mugno’s nomination for Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. All the Republicans voted for; all the Democrats against. Mugno must be approved by the entire Senate, the vote unlikely to take place until January.
Some have questioned why someone as accomplished (or as relatively unobjectionable) as Mugno could receive no Democratic votes. After all, as I’ve said before, he’s no Scott Pruitt or Ben Carson. In other words, he’s not an ideologue bent on destroying the agency — and he’s certainly knowledgeable about the issues facing OSHA (if not the budget). And Obama’s pick, Dr. David Michaels, lost only two Republican votes, mainly objecting to the fact that the committee did not hold a hearing on his nomination.
But these are different times. These days one has to view Mugno and all Trump appointees in the context of the entire administration — or more precisely in the context of who the President is: the blatant racism and sexism, the total disrespect for the office of the Presidency or even democracy itself, the failure by the President or Republican Congressional leadership to make even a modest attempt to work on a bi-partisan basis, the open hostility of the President and many of his Cabinet appointments to any sort of worker, environmental or consumer protections, the efforts to destroy the agencies that enforce those protections, and on and on.
Unfortunately, no Trump nominee — no matter how honorable his or her intentions to serve the country, no matter how dedicated his or her personal work history — can escape the taint that this President has brought on what was once an honor to serve your country.
My opinion — as if you didn’t already know that. Feel free to disagree. That’s what Comments are for.
This will likely be the saddest bit of commentary I read today, and that is saying a lot. Attitudes like yours do nothing to move our country forward… Spite does more harm than good, think with your head, not your heart (party).
What you describe is why Trump is in Office. It is why our government is so inefficient and ineffective. The real world outside of the beltway is made up of people working together in setting goals, compromise to determine a path and trying to accomplish those goals, even though you may disagree. Just because you don’t like your boss, you still have a job to do to support your family, or you can stand, stomp and squeal wondering why you are standing in the unemployment line. All DC sees is I don’t like him, I hate everything he does no matter what,(even if they suggested it last year) block everything and pout over in the corner. When people see votes along party lines, we see idiots who are afraid to work together for the good of the people because they are following the will of the lobbyist checkbook. When Block everything, complain but offer no soloutions and run around screaming the sky is falling is your platform, you are standing in a trench that is collapsing. The blatant sexism and coverups started with Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy. You can’t be bi-partisan when all you do is say no to everything because you don’t like the boss. We can really care less about Russia, what celebrities think and people who have never worked at a real job telling us how everything sucks while flying around the country in private planes, earn salaries of $150k but bank accounts grow by the millions yearly. He is going to be here for 3 more years, work together for the people.
Jeff: Thanks for you note. I see what you saying. A few responses.
1. I totally agree with your observation about the real world — even inside the beltway, we work together in setting goals, compromising to determine a path and trying to accomplish those goals, even though we may disagree. AlthoughI don’t think any Trump appointees had to choose between the unemployment line and their jobs in the administration.
2. Regarding partisanship and only working/voting along party lines, the Trump administration has had two major initiatives: addressing health care and the so-called tax reform bill. And in actions completely unprecedented in American history, refused to hold any hearings or even meet with Democrats on these hugely important pieces of legislation. Blocking everything was Mitch McConnell’s strategy throughout the Obama administration and he’s now raised hyper-partisanship to a new art form.
3. Nothing to say about the sexism of Kennedy or Clinton except that at least now the Democrats are attempting to deal with the issue (Franken), rather than slut-shaming the other side.
4. How can people not care about Russia when a hostile foreign power tried to influence American democracy? Seems like something everyone can condemn.
5. Regarding flying around the country while bank accounts grow describes the President’s cabinet — including Tom Price, who had to resign because of exactly that. Hardly draining the swamp.
6. You’re probably right Trump will be here for 3 more years (either he or Pence). And we need to deal with that. But hopefully after next year, we’ll have at least one Democratic house of Congress. Then there will be a chance for some real oversight and real bi-partisan work to get done.
7. I personally don’t think Mugno is a terrible choice, given what we’ve seen at other agencies. But the President we have now and how he behaves is not normal, and I find it hard to think that in a few years anyone is going to be able to say proudly that they served in the Trump administration.
Anyway, I appreciate your comment. These are difficult times.