OPINION:
Confirmation hearings began this week for President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. If senators stick to the schedule, as many as ten picks could be reviewed, with another eight hearings possible the following week.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, should expedite floor votes to allow the incoming administration to clean up the mess left behind by President Biden.
Senators — particularly Republicans — shouldn’t get in the way of this vital task. The public resoundingly endorsed the incoming administration’s agenda in November, so it’s not the place of senators to second-guess their constituents.
The upper chamber’s veto power over the president’s most significant appointments is meant to ensure they are up to the task of running a department or agency. As Hamilton explained in Federalist No. 76, this process encourages the chief executive to make quality picks: “The possibility of rejection would be a strong motive to care in proposing.”
Behind closed doors, a few GOP lawmakers are squealing about former Democrats Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated to become Director of National Intelligence and secretary of Health and Human Services, respectively.
The concern is less about their fitness to serve than the president’s intention to shatter Washington’s status quo. Country club Republicans hate it when someone starts rocking the boat, particularly when it comes to the waging of endless war, spying on U.S. citizens and cozying up to Big Pharma.
The health industry has contributed $27,347,222 to federal lawmakers and spent $259,268,750 lobbying them over the past 10 years, according to Open Secrets. That buys a lot of influence.
RFK Jr. intends to take a skeptical look at health policy to ensure choices are being made to improve outcomes for the public, not for industry shareholders. The need for such a review became apparent during the COVID-19 panic.
Dishonest government officials covered up the government’s involvement in funding the deadly “gain of function” research now believed to be the most likely cause of the outbreak.
It’s understandable to be uneasy about Mr. Kennedy’s career in the ignoble profession of class action trial lawyer, but there’s no reason to question his devotion to the country. He deserves a chance to prove himself.
If he steps out of line and tries to ban Big Macs for health reasons, Mr. Trump won’t hesitate to fire him.
As for Ms. Gabbard, it appears senators have convinced her to soften her long-standing opposition to the unconstitutional surveillance of the American people. Punchbowl News says she now promises to maintain “vital national security tools” like Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That’s troubling.
The FBI and Justice Department abused the FISA process to illegally spy on Mr. Trump in 2016 and undermine his first presidency.
In 2018, the chief judge of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court — a notoriously compliant body that rubber stamps most government submissions — concluded FBI policies “do not comply with the requirements of FISA and the Fourth Amendment.”
Judge James Boasberg added that FBI agents demonstrated a “lack of candor” in targeting Mr. Trump’s campaign. As it always does after being caught in a lie, the FBI swears it has reformed itself, which was all it took to satisfy an insider like Judge Boasberg.
Accepting the word of insiders is no longer sufficient. It’s time for outsiders like Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Kennedy and the rest of the team to review everything Uncle Sam is doing.
Confirm them all.
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