Trump appointees face questions from Senate panels

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for health secretary said Wednesday that access and affordability were his goals for health care reform, and he offered assurances that the new administration is not planning to launch a Medicare overhaul.

Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at the start of a confirmation process that at times turned contentious.

He said the health care system is losing focus on patients, its first priority.

He answered “absolutely not,” when asked if the incoming administration intends to tackle Medicare while trying to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law and replace it with a GOP version.

As for the coverage goal of a new health law, Price said no one is interested in pulling the rug out from under any American.

The committee chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., praised the selection of Price, an orthopedic surgeon-turned-lawmaker, to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Alexander also warned fellow Republicans not to attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement.

But the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, said she has “serious concerns” about Price’s qualifications.

With coverage for millions of people at stake, Price is facing pointed questions about Trump’s health policies — and his own investments in health care companies.

Price, 62, represents Atlanta’s northern suburbs and leads the House Budget Committee. A budget hawk and a social conservative, he drafted his own plan to replace Obama’s health law, which now provides coverage for about 20 million people. It would have saved taxpayers money but covered fewer people, according to an outside analysis.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., pressed Price on whether Trump intends to keep promises repeatedly made during the presidential campaign not to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

“I have no reason to believe he’s changed his position,” Price said. He offered no details on Trump’s plans to tackle prescription drug costs.

Democrats also challenged Price on his extensive stock portfolio. His investments have prompted questions about potential conflicts of interest and calls for a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of possible insider trading.

Last week, Price signed a government ethics agreement pledging to sell his stocks, but that hasn’t stopped the questions.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., suggested Price got a special deal in the purchase of stock in an Australian drug company, Innate Immunotherapeutics. But Price insisted he other investors also had the same option.

“I think our job is to avoid the appearance of conflict,” Franken chastised. “And you have not done that.”

Republicans bristled at such questions.

U.N. AMBASSADOR

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says lawmakers shouldn’t worry too much about Donald Trump’s penchant for incendiary comments.

Haley, the president-elect’s pick to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that what Trump says after he’s sworn and huddles with his national security team will be what matters.

She sidestepped a question from Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, who listed a number of Trump’s more provocative remarks, including calling NATO obsolete and downplaying Moscow’s meddling in America’s 2016 election.

Haley says it is natural for there to be nervousness when a new administration comes into office.

She “absolutely” supports moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump promised to shift the embassy during his campaign.

She also assailed the Obama administration for failing to block the U.N. Security Council from condemning Israel’s settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Haley says she won’t go to New York and “abstain when the U.N. seeks to create an international environment that encourages boycotts of Israel.”

Haley is taking a tough stance against Russia.

Haley told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that she believed Russia committed war crimes by bombing Syrian civilians in the city of Aleppo.

Haley said she doesn’t think that the United States can trust Moscow right now. But she acknowledged there are areas, such as counterterrorism, where the two countries can cooperate.

Haley says “the problem is there are no boundaries with Russia.”

She says the U.S. needs to let Russia know “we are not OK” with its annexation of Crimea and incursion in Ukraine.

Haley also says she opposed to lifting existing sanctions against Russia unless Moscow changes its behavior.

EPA

Donald Trump’s choice to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that climate change is real, breaking with both the president-elect and his own past statements.

Pressed by Democrats at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said he disagreed with Trump’s past statements that global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese to harm the economic competitiveness of the United States.

Pruitt has previously cast doubt on the extensive body of scientific evidence showing that the planet is warming and that man-made carbon emissions are to blame. In a 2016 opinion article, Pruitt suggested that the debate over global warming “is far from settled.”

His comments came less than an hour after federal scientists affirmed that 2016 was officially the hottest year in recorded history.

Pruitt said he’s willing to recuse himself from lawsuits he filed against the EPA if confirmed by the Senate to head the department.

Pruitt has participated in at least 19 lawsuits against the agency in recent years, including eight cases that are pending. The lawsuits challenge EPA rules on smog, mercury emissions, coal-fired power plants and other issues.

Under questioning from Democratic Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Pruitt said he has “every willingness to recuse” himself if directed to do so on a case-by-case basis by EPA’s ethics office.

Markey said that was not enough, adding that Pruitt should commit to a blanket recusal before his confirmation.

Markey said he worries that under Pruitt, EPA would come to stand for “Every Polluters’ Ally.”

COMMERCE SECRETARY

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross was echoing President-elect Donald Trump’s tough talk about trade with China.

Ross said “It’s a little weird that we have very low tariffs and China has very high tariffs.”

Ross was appearing before a Senate committee holding a confirmation hearing on his nomination to lead the Commerce Department.

Lawmakers were asking Ross about the barriers facing American companies as they seek to export goods around the world. He said the first thing the U.S. has to do is deal with unfair barriers that other countries impose on U.S. industries

Ross said American ingenuity, management and labor can compete effectively if it’s a fair fight. He said “in a lot of cases, it’s not a fair fight.”

He said the thing he’s proudest of during his career is working with union leaders to save thousands of jobs in the steel industry.

Ross says in prepared testimony that he’s probably had more direct experience than any prior Cabinet nominee in dealing with unfair trade practices in the steel business and other sectors.

He says other nations want access to the U.S. market and that America should only provide access to nations that agree to play “by our standards of fair trade.”