News Dec 12, 2016 02:00 AM EST

Democrats to extensively scrutinize Trump's Cabinet picks in committee hearings

By Charleston Lim

As it stands, Democrats who are against the selections Trump has made so far for his Cabinet members have no real way of stopping the president-elect. However, reports have revealed that even though they are unable to stop the picks as they happen, there may be some ways for them to delay or kill the nomination altogether by increasing the scrutiny on Trump's nominees in the committee hearings.

Democrats are currently the minority party in the Senate, which means that they really don't have a lot of options when it comes to trashing Trump's nominees. The small number of Democrats in the Senate however can still try to find any disqualifying information for any of Trump's nominees in order for them to present a valid case of disqualification. This is perhaps the only way for them to kill a nomination or force the White House to withdraw a pick since they do not have a enough votes to shoot down a nomination outright.

Reports have revealed that not all of Trump's selections will be facing the same amount of scrutiny, as there are those who are seen as valid picks. This includes retired Gen. James Mattis, who is expected to hold his position as the country's defense secretary without much opposition. Mattis will of course need to procure a special waiver due to his recent tenure in the military that will require at least 60 votes in the Senate.

Trump's other more controversial picks may not be able to get to their assigned positions that easily however, as Democrats have deemed some of them to represent existential threats to the basic objectives of their respective departments. These controversial picks includes Andy Puzder, a fast food mogul, as the head of the Labor Department, Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, ironically known for suing the same agency several times in the past, Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, as Secretary of State, and the anti public education advocate, Betsy DeVos, as the country's head of the Education Department.


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