By Alexia Fernández Campbell:
Several hours into his confirmation hearing, treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin appeared willing to work with Republicans and Democrats in Congress on nearly every one of their concerns. Lowering the corporate tax rate: absolutely. Tax breaks for middle-income Americans: definitely. Punishing countries that manipulate their currencies: yes. Making sure the IRS is well funded: of course.
His eagerness to please wavered only a few times, such as the moment Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, began to question him about President-elect Donald Trump’s business interests abroad, and more particularly, the unknown amount of debt he has with foreign lenders.
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“What I want is to get a commitment from you today that you will report to this committee what percentage of the debt against the Trump enterprise is held by foreign interests. That is your job as the secretary of treasury. I want your commitment that you will report to this committee as soon as you are able to get that information from the new president.”
Mnuchin wouldn’t give her that.
“I am not making the commitment today to report to the committee on anything. What I am willing to do is—to the extent I am confirmed—I am willing to speak to the [committee] chairman and make sure that whatever the committee thinks it needs, I will discuss with the president.”
“In your job as treasury secretary, when determining national security interests based on foreign investment, the American people need to know how much debt is owed by the Trump business to foreign entities, and if that could have a direct impact on our national security,” McCaskill said.
“I think you have asked some interesting questions on which I will follow-up,” Mnuchin replied, before moving to the next line of questioning.
The Full Story (January 19, 2017)
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