NATION
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Trump tapping Washington, Wall Street veterans for top jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi-
dent-elect Donald Trump is enlisting
a trio of nominees with deep ties to
Washington and Wall Street to fill
out his Cabinet, including former
Goldman Sachs executive Steven
Mnuchin as secretary of the Trea-
sury Department.
On Tuesday, Trump also chose
Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee
the nation’s health care system,
picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic
who has championed efforts to
privatize Medicare. And he selected
another veteran Republican, Elaine
Chao, a former labor secretary and
the wife of Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, to lead the
Department of Transportation.
Mnuchin’s official announce-
ment was expected as early as
Wednesday, according to a person
familiar with the decision who
insisted on anonymity in order to
confirm the pick ahead of time.
Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s
finance operations during the presi-
dential campaign and become close
with the president-elect and his
family. But he has no government
experience, which could prove
a hurdle in navigating the tricky
politics of Washington.
If confirmed by the Senate,
Mnuchin would play a central role
in shaping Trump’s tax policies and
infrastructure plans. He would also
lead an agency tasked with imple-
menting international economic
sanctions.
Mnuchin is expected to be joined
on Trump’s senior economic team
by another financier, Wilbur Ross.
The billionaire investor is consid-
ered the “king of bankruptcy” for
buying beaten-down companies
with the potential to deliver profits.
Trump spent much of Tuesday
in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing
through meetings with prospective
administration hires as high-profile
vacancies remain — none bigger
than secretary of state.
He emerged in the evening for a
private dinner with former Massa-
chusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is
on the shortlist for the nation’s chief
diplomat.
Price, picked to lead the
Department of Health and Human
said. “He is exceptionally qualified
to shepherd our commitment to
repeal and replace Obamacare and
bring affordable and accessible
health care to every American.”
Trump, in a 2015 interview
promoted on his campaign website,
pledged not to cut expensive enti-
tlement programs that Republicans
have fought for years to cut to help
reduce the federal deficit.
“I’m not going to cut Social
Security like every other Repub-
lican. And I’m not going to cut
Medicare or Medicaid. Every other
Republican’s going to cut,” Trump
told the Daily Signal.
He later changed his mind on
Medicaid, embracing the GOP
concept of turning the program over
to the states with a fixed amount of
federal “block grant” funding.
Like any Cabinet official,
Price would carry out the wishes
of the president. And a sweeping
Medicare initiative would have to
go through Congress with some
Democratic support, which would
be unlikely.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
Services after more than a decade
in Congress, helped craft House
Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to
privatize Medicare — a position
Trump opposed in the campaign.
Price’s selection raised questions
about the incoming president’s
commitment to Medicare, among
other popular entitlement programs
he repeatedly vowed to preserve
before the election. The Georgia
congressman led GOP efforts on
Capitol Hill to transform Medicare
into a voucher-like system, a
change that if enacted, would likely
dramatically reduce government
spending on the health care program
that serves an estimated 57 million
people.
Trump did not address Price’s
position on Medicare in a statement
released by his transition team. The
team did not respond to subsequent
questions about it.
“Chairman Price, a renowned
physician, has earned a reputation
for being a tireless problem solver
and the go-to expert on health care
policy, making him the ideal choice
to serve in this capacity,” Trump
charged that Price “has a long
history of wanting to do exactly
the opposite of what Trump
campaigned on.”
Like Price, Elaine Chao is well-
known in Washington. She was the
first Asian-American woman to
serve in Cabinet, as labor secretary
under George W. Bush.
Her record in that post suggests
she would bring a light hand to
safety enforcement as transporta-
tion secretary. Under Chao at Labor,
the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration didn’t issue a single
significant new safety regulation for
four years. Mine safety inspectors
were cut and inspections reduced.
Both Price and Chao would
require Senate confirmation. Major
Cabinet vacancies remain.
The president-elect summoned
Romney for dinner Tuesday night
to discuss the secretary of state
job for a second time. He also met
with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker,
chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, having met
with former CIA director David
Petraeus the day before.
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