Story highlights Mick Mulvaney admitted in he failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes

"Nobody is more qualified and more prepared to rein in Washington," Trump's team said

(CNN) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that a report that Rep. Mick Mulvaney did not pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a household employee was "disqualifying" for him to serve as White House budget director.

"When other previous cabinet nominees failed to pay their fair share in taxes, Senate Republicans forced those nominees to withdraw from consideration," the New York Democrat said in a statement. "If failure to pay taxes was disqualifying for Democratic nominees, then the same should be true for Republican nominees."

Mulvaney admitted in a questionnaire, a portion of which was provided by a congressional source to CNN Wednesday and sent to the Senate Budget Committee that he failed to pay the taxes in question. In the questionnaire provided to CNN, Mulvaney wrote that, "Upon discovery of that shortfall, I paid the federal taxes," adding that the relevant penalties and interest "are not yet determined."

The New York Times first reported on the questionnaire Wednesday.

A source from President-elect Donald Trump's transition team told CNN that Mulvaney, who at the time was the father of newborn triplets, hired a "sitter" and didn't realize he needed to pay taxes on her income. The aide declined to say where the employee was from.

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