Nicole Gaudiano

Democrat and Chronicle

WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand doesn’t think much of President Trump’s nominees.

New York’s junior senator so far has opposed more nominees than any other senator, voting to confirm only three out of 25, according to a USA TODAY analysis of votes compiled by GovTrack. That’s one more “no” vote than several of the chamber’s most liberal members.

Gillibrand, who is in New York this week during the Senate’s spring recess, said she evaluates nominees on their individual merits, but many fell short.

“For many of them, I found them to be either unqualified or so far outside my world view and what I think is important and my view of morality that I had to vote against them,” she said in an interview.

Democrats led by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer have slowed the confirmation process for some of Trump’s cabinet members, but all of Trump’s nominees to get a Senate vote so far have been confirmed. Schumer, of New York, voted in favor of eight of them.

Two nominees were unanimously confirmed. They were Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration, and Charles Breyer to be a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Gillibrand was the only senator to oppose Defense Secretary James Mattis, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general, because she said his nomination was a “subversion of the Constitution.” Mattis, who retired three years earlier, was confirmed after Congress waived a federal law requiring members of the military to be out of uniform for seven years before heading the department. Gillibrand said the department should be controlled by a civilian and Mattis didn’t have that experience.

“Without civilian experience, you don’t have the background to look outside the Department of Defense and see ways you want to change it for the better,” she said. “That civilian experience really informs you on things that aren’t necessarily military related, like integrating women into combat, like making sure we allow LGBTQ Americans to serve their country. All of those things came because America felt it was right to do so and a civilian secretary of defense had to implement them.”

The vote against Mattis brought Gillibrand to 22 “no” votes, putting her one ahead of the chamber’s most progressive members — independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Cory Booker of New Jersey — in terms of opposition.

The Republican-led Senate hasn’t needed support from Democrats to confirm Trump’s nominees. They outnumber Democrats 52 to 46 in the Senate, while two independents caucus with Democrats. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' confirmation was opposed by two Republicans and required Vice President Mike Pence to step in and break a tie.

A 2013 rules change allowed the majority party to confirm cabinet secretaries and federal court judges with a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than the 60 votes typically needed to end debate. The exception to the rule was Supreme Court justices, but Republicans voted to change that rule last week to push through Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch with a simple majority.

Gillibrand said Gorsuch was “an inappropriate nominee who has a world view so far outside the mainstream.”

In 2009, Gillibrand supported all of President Obama's nominees who got a Senate vote after she first took office in late January.

Gillibrand, 50, is often mentioned among possible contenders for president. Her opposition to Trump’s nominees could be driven by a mixture of her values and ambition, said James Thurber, an American University government professor.

“It helps her with the base and far left, where there’s organization and money that will help anybody who is loyal to that base,” he said.

Gillibrand had kind words for nominees she voted to confirm. Along with Shulkin and Breyer — the two nominees who were unanimously confirmed — they included Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, who is now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley, who was confirmed 96 to 4, is also often floated as a possible presidential candidate.

Gillibrand lauded Haley’s “important leadership stand” for leading the call to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol following the Charleston church shooting in 2015.

“I thought that took courage, and I thought that merited a positive vote,” Gillibrand said.

NGaudiano@Gannett.com

Nicole Gaudiano is a correspondent for USA TODAY Network's Washington bureau.