Courtesy of Pam Martens
Vice President Mike Pence Swears In Steven Mnuchin as U.S. Treasury Secretary on February 13, 2017. President Donald Trump and Mnuchin’s Fiancée (Now Wife), Louise Linton, Look On.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin appeared yesterday before the House Financial Services Committee. You know it was a bad day for the Secretary when the low point was not Congressman Stephen Lynch’s request to the Chair, Maxine Waters, to have Mnuchin held in contempt for not following the statute that calls for the IRS to turn over tax returns on any American when requested by an authorized Committee of Congress. Mnuchin has said he will not turn over the tax returns of the President of the United States, which are under subpoena by Congress. (The Internal Revenue Service, which holds these tax returns, is an agency of the U.S. Treasury.) Waters said she will seek the advice of the Committee’s counsel on the contempt request.
A number of Democratic members of the Committee intensely questioned Mnuchin on his myriad deregulatory efforts that have harmed the average American and have not been widely covered by mainstream media.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib grilled Mnuchin on the fact that his Treasury Department had rolled back earlier this year an Obama-era rule that stopped corporations from offering lump-sum retirement benefits to retirees receiving a fixed amount of monthly income for life under a Defined Benefit Pension Plan. Tlaib told Mnuchin that Whirlpool, which is headquartered in her state of Michigan, had bragged that it could cut $39 million off its pension obligations by giving lump sums. Tlaib also told Mnuchin that Forbes estimated that retirees could receive 20 to 30 percent less under the lump sum option.
Mnuchin responded that this was “not an area that I’m up to speed on” and promised to get back to her.
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