Dems prep for major fight over Trump USDA science pick
President Trump’s pick to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) chief scientist is on track to face one of the rougher confirmation battles of the administration.
Democrats are girding for an all-out battle against Sam Clovis’s nomination to be USDA’s under secretary for research, education and economics, a position that would see him overseeing billions of dollars in research spending and serving as a cross-departmental science czar.
Clovis, a close Trump ally from Iowa who served as a key campaign adviser on rural and agricultural issues, has set off Democrats’ alarms for a number of reasons.
Clovis has been criticized for lacking scientific credentials, and he disagrees with the scientific consensus on climate change. Further complicating Clovis’s confirmation process, CNN uncovered a number of objectionable statements he has made on topics like race and politics.
Clovis, an Air Force veteran, former economics professor and former radio host, once wrote that former President Obama was being “given a pass because he is Black,” called former Attorney General Eric Holder a “racist black,” declared that homosexuality is a choice, and called progressives both “race traitors” and “race traders,” CNN reported.
Clovis is now squarely in the sights of Senate Democrats, who are likely to give him the biggest fight seen so far in the Trump administration for a non-Cabinet position.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/348931-dems-prep-for-major-fight-over-trump-usda-science-pick
= new reply since forum marked as read
just goes to show the contempt the kochs (who are basically running the country, especially in terms of Federal policy) and dump have for OUR Federal government.
Any sane administration would never have even contemplating putting up a bigoted, racist, ignorant, science-denying piece of scum like this buffoon for ANY Federal position, let alone USDA's chief scientist. If the pukes install him, they are making a mockery of the science arm of USDA. As if things weren't bad enough already...
