Sen. Peter Welch.
You’d be forgiven for not expecting the Democrats to put up serious opposition to the Trump agenda. Still, the extraordinarily slow response to the barrage of executive orders and Musk’s actions in the Treasury and elsewhere has been something to behold.
Among Vermont’s Congressional delegation, Bernie Sanders is not beyond reproach—he was one of the 99 senators who voted to support Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, who in his new capacity is threatening Panama and Denmark. But Vermont’s junior senator, Peter Welch, has cast a series of particularly baffling votes on other nominees.
On Tuesday, February 4, Welch voted against Chris Wright for Secretary of Energy, tweeting out: “When climate change is threatening more lives than ever before, we can’t afford to have a fossil fuel executive as our Secretary of Energy.”
Good sentiment. But Welch couldn’t bother to follow it when he voted for former Fox host and climate denier Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation, who is now attempting to prioritize federal transportation funds for areas with high birth and marriage rates.
Nor did Welch appear to give much consideration to the climate when he was one of 25 Democrats who supported Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior. Burgum has been a rabid advocate of energy extraction and in his new capacity is already working to open up public lands for drilling and weaken wildlife protections.
And on Wednesday, February 5, even after Senator Schumer, of all people, urged Democrats to vote against all further Trump nominees, Welch was one of two Democrats—along with ethnic cleansing enthusiast John Fetterman—who voted for Scott Turner for HUD Secretary.
Vermont is widely considered one of the most progressive states in the country, and Kamala Harris won the state last year by over 30 points.
Welch has vocally opposed Trump on certain issues, speaking out about the unilateral decision to shutter USAID and grilling RFK Jr. during his confirmation hearing.
He has not spoken much, however, about his yes votes. On February 5, his office told Politico that he voted for Turner at HUD because of Vermont’s “housing crisis.”
Welch’s office did not respond to two emails asking for an explanation of his support for Duffy, Burgum, and Turner.
As of Thursday, February 6, Welch is one of only 14 Democrats who has voted yes on at least 6 Trump nominees.
