Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick vowed Wednesday that he would ensure the department counts all people under the U.S. Census, despite previous efforts by Donald Trump to exclude undocumented immigrants.

“I promise you, we will count each whole person,” Lutnick said at his confirmation hearing Wednesday in response to a question from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “That’s what the Constitution says, and we will stick right to it.”

In his first term, Trump moved to exclude undocumented people from apportionment, which dictates which states receive more or less seats in the House of Representatives. President Joe Biden quickly rescinded that order upon taking office. At the outset of his second term, Trump revoked Biden’s move to rescind his policy upon taking office earlier this month.

In his first term, Trump also issued an order demanding that agencies produce records to determine the number of non-citizens and attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, which some had argued would discourage participation.

Changes to the census could have major implications over which party has a bigger advantage in winning control of the House.

Democrats have made it clear they want Donald Trump’s nominees to pay the price of the president’s federal aid freeze. Billionaire Howard Lutnick, the pick to lead the Commerce Department, had his turn on Wednesday.

Democratic senators on the typically bipartisan Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology had a nearly singular focus on the issue, asking Lutnick if he’d obey orders that defy the law. The freeze caused widespread backlash and was seemingly rescinded by the White House during Lutnick’s confirmation hearing.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked Lutnick if he thought Trump’s move was legal. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) asked him if he’d stop infrastructure money passed by Congress if he was ordered to. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) pressed if he would heed an unconstitutional order from Trump.“We’re asking simple questions. We had an incredible conversation in the office … a very respectful one,” a visibly frustrated Luján said. “It’s not just that you work for Donald Trump. Sir, you work for the American people.”

Lutnick, for his part, largely demurred. He replied that if Trump’s advisers said the move was legal, then he believed them. And he said Trump would not ask him to do something unconstitutional.

Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also came to Lutnick’s defense.

“I do not recall a single Cabinet nominee for Joe Biden testifying that he would defy an order from President Joe Biden,” Cruz said. “It’s unsurprising that President Trump’s Cabinet nominees are not interested in testifying that they intend to defy orders from President Trump.”

Cruz wasn’t the only Republican seemingly frustrated with Democrats’ focus on Lutnick’s loyalty to Trump. GOP members of the panel had more softball questions, focusing on bolstering American science and technology, leading Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) to deem the hearing a “lovefest.” Lutnick largely appears poised for confirmation, despite Democratic skepticism.

Democrats did have some questions on other subjects. They also zeroed in on the Trump administration’s plans for across-the-board tariffs, which they argued could hit consumers’ pocketbooks in the form of higher costs for some goods.

Lutnick acknowledged that the tariffs could raise prices but dismissed widespread economist arguments that they could cause inflation.

“The two top countries with tariffs, India and China, do have the most tariffs and no inflation. It is just nonsense that tariffs cause inflation. It is nonsense,” Lutnick said.

Democrats also questioned how Lutnick’s business dealings and ties to special interests could undermine his ability to lead the agency responsible for helping Trump implement his controversial trade agenda.

Lutnick, a longtime friend of Trump who co-chaired the president’s 2024 transition team and rebuilt the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, reiterated his pledge to divest from his core business interests.

“I’ve made enough money in my life,” Lutnick said.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee offered Kennedy a chance to defend himself against Democrats’ attacks in his confirmation hearing Wednesday and suggested they would support him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

“I think I’ve come to know what’s in your heart,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Kennedy. “I think I know the personal and political price you’ve paid for this decision [to serve President Donald Trump]. I just want to say publicly, I thank you for that.”

The panel’s chair, Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), endorsed Kennedy as the hearing ended. “I think you have come through well and deserve to be confirmed,” he said.

Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn predicted he would. “I look forward to seeing you help make us healthy again,” she said, referencing Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” slogan.

Democrats took aim at Kennedy’s past work as an anti-vaccine activist, saying it disqualified him to lead federal health agencies.

“He has made it his life’s work to sow doubt and discourage parents from getting their kids life-saving vaccines,” ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said, echoing fellow Democrats who called his nomination “disturbing.”

Kennedy denied being anti-vaccine, despite his history of saying the shots are dangerous.

Democrats also highlighted his past support for abortion rights and accused him of hypocrisy for allying with Trump, who appointed the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. They raised questions about conflicts of interest posed by his legal work against vaccine makers.

But the questioning from Republicans suggested Kennedy would gain the Finance panel’s approval — Republicans have a one-seat edge — and that Kennedy would get a vote on the Senate floor. There, he can lose three Republican votes and still win confirmation, if every senator in the Democratic caucus opposes him.

If Kennedy were to pursue even a fraction of the policy agenda he espoused as an activist, it would upend HHS and the public health system.

If he’s confirmed, Kennedy would helm one of the largest agencies in the federal government, responsible for, in part, the health coverage of more than 1 in 3 Americans, creating rules and enforcing laws that govern nearly all health care providers, the preparation for and response to infectious diseases, and the approval of vaccines, drugs and medical devices.

Republicans on the panel focused on areas where they see common ground with Kennedy.

Kennedy answered questions from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) about sustaining rural health care by explaining that Trump had tasked him with ensuring access to care nationwide — and suggesting artificial intelligence and remote care could be a key solution to improving rural care.

To Blackburn’s question about overmedication of children, Kennedy suggested Americans need more non-pharmaceutical therapies for illness.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who told Blue Light News earlier this month he’d sought reassurance about Kennedy’s views on vaccines, used his time to ask what Kennedy would do to improve care for people who are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will get another chance to question Kennedy about the programs in a hearing Thursday morning.

Kennedy said he wanted to make sure “we take good care of people” without getting into policy details.

Kennedy demonstrated some command of the policy issues facing HHS, saying he believed reform of the pharmaceutical market was needed, a hot topic on Capitol Hill, and suggested he wanted to train doctors to boost treatment of substance use disorder. He said Medicaid, the federal-state insurer for low-income people, needed reform because it had not prevented a rise in chronic disease.

But Kennedy’s command of the intricacies of policy was often shaky. He seemed at one point to confuse Medicaid with the federal insurer for older Americans, Medicare.

Kennedy claimed that most people dislike the Affordable Care Act, despite polling updated on Jan. 17 by the health policy research group KFF found that 64 percent of American adults favorably viewed the 2010 health care law.

He also said many people would prefer to be on Medicare Advantage but can’t afford it. A September 2024 report from the Better Medicare Alliance, a group of insurers and business groups that support the privately run alternative to traditional Medicare, found that 52 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees make less than $24,500 a year.

Asked whether Kennedy was up to the task of overseeing Medicare and Medicaid, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said: “I think he can learn.”

Chelsea Cirruzzo and Robert King contributed to this report.