Letter to the Hon. Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee - Call for Price, Mnuchin to Come Clean on Ethical Ties, Business Practices

Letter

Dear Chairman Hatch:

We write regarding why we, the Democratic members of the Finance Committee, did not attend the markup of Department of Treasury Secretary Nominee Steven Mnuchin and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Nominee Tom Price on January 31, 2017. Despite repeated requests by members of this Committee, both nominees have yet to answer important questions that impact the American people. Further, we have significant concerns that both Mr. Mnuchin and Congressman Price gave inaccurate and misleading testimony and responses to questions to the Committee. In addition, Mr. Mnuchin failed to respond to Senators' questions and requests for data regarding the foreclosure practices of OneWest. In the case of Mr. Mnuchin, news reports revealed disturbing inaccuracies in his testimony over the weekend, and for Rep. Price, serious ethics questions came to light only hours before the markup.

We believe that the nominees should provide accurate and complete responses to the following topics before the Committee meets to report their nominations.

Congressman Price's inaccurate and misleading answers to questions about privileged and discounted access to stocks and the implications of his taking advantage of that privilege;[1]

Mr. Mnuchin's inaccurate and misleading answers to questions about the potentially illegal process known as robo-signing;

Mr. Mnuchin's failure to provide One West foreclosure data, despite his clear ability to obtain that information.

We have attached specific questions or requests that we believe the nominees must address on these issues.

The decisions that the HHS and Treasury Secretaries make affect all of our constituents. At the very least, these cabinet nominees should answer basic questions about their records before we move forward with a Committee vote.

We must insist that these issues for both nominees be addressed in writing and that Mr. Mnuchin provide the requested data.