“Robo-signing” is a practice in which a mortgage company employee signs hundreds of foreclosures, swearing they have scrutinized the documents as required by law when in fact they have not.
“How do we face the public with two nominees for perhaps the most important economic positions in the cabinet — HHS and Treasury — how do you face the public when the nominees for that clearly lied about something significant in their past?” he asked.
Brown said he was also alarmed by a Wall Street Journal report that Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., had received special treatment on an investment while he was working on health legislation. That report found that Price had traded more than $300,000 in shares of health-related companies while sponsoring and advocating legislation that potentially could affect those companies’ stocks.
He said after flying back to Washington from Columbus on Monday night, he began calling Democratic senators to express his concerns. He spoke to them until about 11 p.m. last night.
“The crescendo kind of built,” he said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, called the boycott “a dereliction of duty.”
“I’m very disappointed in this type of crap,” he said. “My gosh, there’s no excuse for it.”
While Senate Republicans can vote on the nominations and send them to the full Senate without Democrats showing up, every single Republican will need to attend the vote in order to send it forward. Brown said it’s still a violation of the rules to not have a Democrat present, but they can proceed nonetheless.
“The worst thing that would have been is that we vote on this guy, he gets confirmed, 61 to 39 or whatever and all the scandal breaks out,” Brown said. “That’s not good for the president, that’s not good for the country.”
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