Democrats overwhelmingly back nominees
Senate confirms Trump generals to head Pentagon, Homeland Security
By
Barry Grey
Only hours after Donald Trump delivered his fascistic inaugural address, Senate Democrats overwhelmingly voted with their Republican counterparts to confirm recently retired Marine generals James “Mad Dog” Mattis and John Kelly to head the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, respectively.
These votes came as the newly-installed president signed an executive order potentially crippling the Obama administration’s health care overhaul, setting the stage for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act that could eliminate health insurance for close to 20 million people over the next year.
While Obamacare is itself a reactionary counter-reform imposing increased costs and decreased coverage on millions of workers for the benefit of the health care industry, Trump and the Republicans are preparing to use its repeal to dismantle Medicaid, the government program for the poor, impose even deeper cuts in health care for working people, and escalate the attack on Medicare, the government program for seniors.
The vote for Mattis, who headed the US Central Command until 2013, was 98 to 1, the only dissenter being New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand. She had made clear she approved of Mattis, but voted “no” because she opposed a waiver overriding a law requiring a military officer to have been in retirement for at least seven years before becoming Pentagon chief.
The vote for Kelly, who led the Southern Command until last January, was 88 to 11. (The Democratic caucus includes 48 of the 100 senators.) The supposed leaders of the “liberal” Democrats, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, both…