President Trump’s grocery shopping
By U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine
When the season for cabinet nominations arrives, it always reminds me of what former Patriots Head Coach Bill Parcells said about his team and roster, “If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.”
Coaches – and presidents-elect – should have the ability to pick their team. And over the decades, Congress has given presidents significant deference. Despite all the partisan uproar you read about in the media, there have only been nine times in American history that the United States Senate has rejected a president’s cabinet nomination. Yes, you read that right.
As a former governor, I feel strongly about giving the chief executive the chance to pick his or her cabinet. In fact, having intelligent, respectable, and competent advisors around me during my terms helped me govern and make decisions for Maine that were in the best interests of our community. President Trump should be no different – that’s why I supported 75 percent of his first-term nominees – but his advisors, and especially cabinet members, must be qualified for the sake of the people they represent.
My position on cabinet nominees has always boiled down to two priorities: the candidate needs to be experienced and capable, and not have a stance that is hostile to the department or bureau they would be leading.
Consider this: a person is selected to manage a busy Maine restaurant in the middle of our summer season. Yet, this person has never been a line cook, nor a hostess. And he has certainly never been a waitstaff or a food runner. How can you expect this person to understand the roles within the restaurant if he has never held any of the positions he intends to lead? The functionality of the restaurant would certainly diminish and likely result in delayed and incorrect orders, inefficacy and loss of revenue.
Cabinet nominations are no different. Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s pick during his first administration to lead the Department of Education is a great example of someone lacking both suitable experience and interest in the mission of the department she was nominated to help. With no prior experience in public education, and closely held personal beliefs that ran contradictory to the organization she was tasked to lead, DeVos was hostile to the operation and success of the public education system. In this scenario, we are not talking about an undercooked hamburger, but rather a massive failure in our ability to provide a quality public education to students across the country. So Ms. Devos ended up being one of the 25 percent of Trump nominees I could not vote to confirm.
The framers of our Constitution set up a Senate confirmation process as a check on the executive branch to make sure that all parts of government are working by the people and for the people. And as one of Maine’s senators, I take that job seriously. Since I’ve been in federal office, I have met with and interviewed each cabinet nominee and questioned them on their priorities and qualifications. And throughout this time, I have only voted against six cabinet nominees that I thought were grossly unqualified. In other words, I have voted in favor of 80 percent of cabinet nominees across three presidents from different parties.
The nominees from this new administration will be no different. As I have consistently done, I will give all nominees the opportunity to make their case in private meetings and when they come before the committees of jurisdiction. Only then will I decide on each nominee as they come to the Senate floor.
President Trump has a herculean task ahead of him in the next four years: lower the cost of consumer goods, resolve various armed conflicts across the Middle East, and reform border security to name a few. As an American, I wish him the best of luck and hope he has all the necessary tools to achieve success. And as a United States senator, you better believe I will do my due diligence to ensure that everyone on the taxpayer payroll is working towards those goals.
Donald Trump is headed to the kitchen; let’s see how he is at picking his groceries.