Posted on 12/01/2016 9:23:40 AM PST by MaxistheBest
Donald Trump will meet with Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) on Friday, his team announced before suggesting she's in the mix for a cabinet job that could cost Democrats a seat in the Senate.
"She comes very highly recommended, very highly qualified, is a proven leader and would be an asset in any role or capacity," Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters on a Thursday morning conference call.
A Heitkamp appointment would give Trump's cabinet the veneer of bipartisanship, and all but certainly hand Republicans control of another Senate seat, giving them a 53-47 edge in the upper chamber. The first-term senator won a hard-fought race in 2012 and is a top GOP target in the 2018 midterm elections in a state where Trump won by a 36-point margin
Heitkamp has expressed frustration with the Senate's partisanship in the past and recently toyed with a run for governor before deciding against it. She didn't do anything to tamp down speculation she might leave to join the administration in her statement on the upcoming sit-down, saying that "whatever job" she has she'll fight for North Dakota.
"I appreciate the President-elect inviting me for a meeting,” she said. “Every single day, my work is motivated first and foremost by how I can be most helpful to the people of North Dakota. They are my driving force and have been throughout my career in public service. Whatever job I do, I hope to work with the President-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state.”
Heitkamp has experience on environmental issues, energy production and agriculture. Her former jobs include working for the Environmental Protection Agency and a coal and synthetic fuels plant. While Trump's team declined to discuss which roles she might be a good fit for, the EPA, Interior and Agriculture would all be logical landing places.
Democrats are facing a tough 2016 election map, defending 10 seats in states Trump won, including five in heavily Republican territory and only one swing-state target. If Heitkamp leaves, that makes incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) job of holding together his caucus to fight Republicans while minimizing election losses in two years that much harder
Reason enough why she will thank Trump very much but regretfully turn him down.
And what's in it for her?
“She votes 86% with the left.”
From a liberal/Democrat perspective, she has one of the worst scores of any Democratic Senator.
“I despise them...”
Me too. Also, they never referred to Obama appointing RINO’s as veneer as below:
“A Heitkamp appointment would give Trump’s cabinet the veneer of bipartisanship... “
I think Trump is going to be like no other President in US History.
Trump is a “doer” and a doer on a mega grand scale... I think he a person that its physically almost painful for him not to accomplish something “big” everyday
Name Heidi Heitkamp Undersecretary of Energy or something like that. Heidi is toast in 2018, but it would be great if we can get that seat two years earlier. Republican Gov.-elect Burgum (who takes office on Dec. 15) can name conservative Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer (who almost certainly would be running against Heitkamp in 2018 were she to seek reelection) to the Senate, and the voters of ND can elect Cramer’s replacement in the House.
That makes me squirm...a LOT. Without reading anything more on her background, that sounds like a leftist true-believer to me.
Nothing.
“.worked for the EPA and a synthetic fuels plant
That makes me squirm...a LOT.”
League of Conservation Voters scorecard:
http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/heidi-heitkamp
2015 score - 40% lifetime score - 49%
Compare to:
Nelson, Bill Nelson D, FL 2015 score 84%
“a synthetic fuels plant”
The plant is not based on a pie in the sky technology...it’s been around for 25 years and is actually good for the coal industry, which might be a preview of where Trump wants to take his plans for a revived coal industry.
“The Great Plains Synfuels Plant (GPSP) in Beulah, North Dakota has been in operation producing synthetic natural gas (SNG) from lignite coal for 25 years and remains the only coal-to-SNG facility in the United States. In addition to the production of SNG, the plant also produces high purity carbon dioxide (CO2), which is distributed through a pipeline to end users in Canada for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations. The plant also produces and sells anhydrous ammonia, as well as the following byproducts: ammonium sulfate, krypton, xenon, dephenolized cresylic acid, liquid nitrogen, phenol, and naphtha, most of the last of which is burned as fuel in plant boilers.”
Interesting potential if this placement comes off. It also shrinks the field for a Palin placement, should this ND senator go to the Dept. of Interior.
Just think if, over the next few years, we see the Trump administration rubber stamp 2 or 3 of these types of coal plant technologies in the rust belt. We have a lifetime supply of coal and if he can find a way to integrate that into our energy supply, it will mean energy independence and thousands of, really, lifetime jobs.
And given the climate in the USA right now, there is a very good chance that this Senate seat goes red again.===============,p.
Miss Piggy, AKA Hotpants Heightcamp could not get re-elected right now. A cabinet position; perhaps Secretary of Blank Spaces.
“Tread cautiously, please, Pres. Trump.”
Do you honestly think Trump doesn’t know what he is doing? Do you really believe he isn’t aware of the evil in the majority of the RAT party? After all he has achieved, the RATs he outsmarted for all this time, do you honestly think he needs our advice?
Trump knows exactly who this woman is. If Trump wants to appoint her to a position in his cabinet, then I’m going to trust he knows exactly what he is doing.
I agree. Trump should clear out some Dem Senate seats by giving them appointments.
I’m thinking this woman, with EPA and coal gas experience, is the right person to move the technology forward.
Secretary of Energy, or head of EPA is what I’d assume she’d be considered for.
I’ve always said I would rather have a pansy ass democrat than a RyaNO republican in the foxhole with me. The democrat might turn tail and run but at least he wont turn the gun on me
True.
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