Sen. Brown votes to support Elaine Chao as transportation head; boycotts other nominees
Lead Summary
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, voted today in favor of Elaine Chao to serve as Secretary of Transportation. Brown met with Chao in his office earlier this month, where she signaled the Department will work with Brown on his push to require all federal transportation projects to use American-made steel and other domestic products. Brown introduced legislation to apply Buy America rules to all taxpayer-funded infrastructure and public works projects.
Brown sent a letter to President Trump about his legislation and asked the president to work with him to make Buy America a priority in the first 100 days of this presidency.
“American tax dollars should go toward American-made products that support American jobs. Period,” Brown said. “I will work with Secretary Chao to make President Trump’s promises to Buy America a reality for transportation projects, and I look forward to working with her to use Ohio steel and iron to help rebuild our roads, railways and bridges.”
Brown also spoke with Chao, who has strong ties to Kentucky, about the critical need for federal investment to replace Cincinnati’s Brent Spence Bridge.
“Anyone who’s driven across the Brent Spence Bridge understands the pressing need to replace it to protect the safety of Ohio and Kentucky drivers,” said Brown. “I will hold President Trump, and his Administration, to his promise to replace the Brent Spence Bridge.
“As a Kentuckian, Secretary Chao knows that Ohio and Kentucky residents can’t afford to be taxed by toll roads and she understands firsthand how critical the Brent Spence Bridge is to the economic competiveness of the region. I look forward to working with this administration and my Republican colleagues to get Ohioans to work building the new Brent Spence Bridge with American-made steel.”
• Brown also joined Finance Committee Democrats in boycotting the committee votes on Steven Mnuchin and Rep. Tom Price. Without a quorum, the vote was delayed and the nominees were unable to move forward.
Brown and fellow Dems are demanding the nominees provide responses to requests on their business dealings that have remained unanswered and come back before the committee and answer questions about false testimony given to the committee.
“Mnuchin profited off of kicking people out of their homes and then gave false testimony about his bank's abusive practices,” said Brown. “He cannot be trusted to make decisions about policies as personal to working Ohioans as their taxes and retirement.”
Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Congressman Tom Price, the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, had received a privileged offer to purchase biomedical stock at a discount, even though he told Congress that was not the case.
“If Congressman Price is willing to mislead Congress during his own confirmation hearing, there’s no guessing what else he’d be willing to mislead the public about when it comes to their health insurance and earned Medicare benefits,” said Brown.
Earlier this month, Brown grilled Price during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee asking pointed questions about whether or not Price and President Trump actually had a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, which has insured more than 900,000 Ohioans.
Brown sent a letter to President Trump about his legislation and asked the president to work with him to make Buy America a priority in the first 100 days of this presidency.
“American tax dollars should go toward American-made products that support American jobs. Period,” Brown said. “I will work with Secretary Chao to make President Trump’s promises to Buy America a reality for transportation projects, and I look forward to working with her to use Ohio steel and iron to help rebuild our roads, railways and bridges.”
Brown also spoke with Chao, who has strong ties to Kentucky, about the critical need for federal investment to replace Cincinnati’s Brent Spence Bridge.
“Anyone who’s driven across the Brent Spence Bridge understands the pressing need to replace it to protect the safety of Ohio and Kentucky drivers,” said Brown. “I will hold President Trump, and his Administration, to his promise to replace the Brent Spence Bridge.
“As a Kentuckian, Secretary Chao knows that Ohio and Kentucky residents can’t afford to be taxed by toll roads and she understands firsthand how critical the Brent Spence Bridge is to the economic competiveness of the region. I look forward to working with this administration and my Republican colleagues to get Ohioans to work building the new Brent Spence Bridge with American-made steel.”
• Brown also joined Finance Committee Democrats in boycotting the committee votes on Steven Mnuchin and Rep. Tom Price. Without a quorum, the vote was delayed and the nominees were unable to move forward.
Brown and fellow Dems are demanding the nominees provide responses to requests on their business dealings that have remained unanswered and come back before the committee and answer questions about false testimony given to the committee.
“Mnuchin profited off of kicking people out of their homes and then gave false testimony about his bank's abusive practices,” said Brown. “He cannot be trusted to make decisions about policies as personal to working Ohioans as their taxes and retirement.”
Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Congressman Tom Price, the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, had received a privileged offer to purchase biomedical stock at a discount, even though he told Congress that was not the case.
“If Congressman Price is willing to mislead Congress during his own confirmation hearing, there’s no guessing what else he’d be willing to mislead the public about when it comes to their health insurance and earned Medicare benefits,” said Brown.
Earlier this month, Brown grilled Price during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee asking pointed questions about whether or not Price and President Trump actually had a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, which has insured more than 900,000 Ohioans.