Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) may not like the Obama administration’s pick for under secretary of the Treasury for domestic finance but there’s another senator who seems okay with him: conservative Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
Hatch, according to Bloomberg News on Tuesday evening, signaled that he would support Weiss as long as a review of documents concerning Weiss’s nomination didn’t raise any red flags.
“I’m for Antonio Weiss,” Hatch said. “Subject to the paperwork, I’m probably going to be for him. I think the president should have whoever he chooses, and this man has a tremendous amount of experience.
Hatch is the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for Weiss’s nomination. Hatch is in line to chair the committee when Republicans take control of the Senate next month.
Hatch’s nomination is the latest addition to an unusual divide over Weiss’s nomination. Weiss, as The New York Times noted, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party, was nominated for the Treasury post by President Barack Obama, and has also argued for higher taxes on the wealthy.
But some of the most liberal members in the Senate, including Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have suggested opposition to Weiss taking the treasury job, have shown strong opposition to Weiss’s candidacy.
In great detail, Warren layed out her problems with Weiss in a blistering piece for The Huffington Post where she argued that Weiss is too close to Wall Street.
“It’s time for the Obama administration to loosen the hold that Wall Street banks have over economic policy making,” Warren wrote. “Sure, big banks are important, but running this economy for American families is a lot more important.”
When announcing his opposition to Weiss, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) also noted Weiss’s connection with corporate inversion mergers — most notably Burger King’s inversion merger with Tim Horton’s.
