THE TOPLINE: President Trump’s pick for Air Force secretary was on Capitol Hill Thursday for her Senate nomination hearing, skirting questions from Democrats over her work as a defense industry consultant with a Lockheed Martin subsidiary.
Democrats questioned why there wasn’t documentation of her work in that role.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) repeatedly asked former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) about her time working for Sandia Corp. as a consultant, and Wilson repeatedly sought to dodge those questions.
Sandia Corp. manages and runs Sandia National Laboratories, research and development labs owned by the Department of Energy (DOE). In 2013, the DOE inspector general found Sandia paid Wilson’s consulting company $464,000 from 2009 to 2011 with no evidence of work. Wilson denied the findings, but the government was reportedly paid back about $443,000.
Under federal acquisition regulation laws, Wilson should have kept documentation of her consulting work — which she said was about 50 hours a month or more. But she repeatedly avoided direct answers about actual proof of the consulting work.
Despite the hard line of questioning, members largely praised her nomination and signaled a likely unanimous confirmation.
Read more about the hearing here. |