Mnuchin, DeVos, Pruitt

Today, I had a chance to ask Steven Mnuchin some tough questions about how he would serve as our next Secretary of Treasury.

He waffled and wavered about his record of ruthlessly foreclosing on thousands of middle-class homeowners on behalf of a multi-billion dollar corporation. It's clear to me that Mr. Mnuchin will stand up for billionaires and big corporations, rather than fighting for families and working people.

As Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, I expected to hear Betsy DeVos share an inclusive view of education that creates opportunity for every child. Instead, she would pull funds from public schools and ask taxpayers to subsidize religious and private schools. That is reason enough alone for me to vote against her nomination.

Ms. DeVos was also unable to state clearly that she opposed guns in schools, would commit to ending sexual assault on college campuses, or would ensure that every student -- regardless of gender, race, or disability -- can receive a quality education free from discrimination.

As Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, I wanted to hear Scott Pruitt explain how he would protect the environment. Instead, he tried desperately to explain away his long record of standing with big corporations that pollute our clean air and water over the interests of children and families in his home state of Oklahoma. I'll be voting against Mr. Pruitt's nomination as well.

As a whole, I'm troubled that so many of Mr. Trump's nominees are putting the special interests ahead of the American people. I'll keep looking for opportunities to work together, but we're not off to a good start.