POLITICS | Thu Jan 5, 2017 | 4:15pm EST

Democrats demand probe of Trump health nominee

By Susan Cornwell and Susan Heavey | WASHINGTON

Senate Democrats on Thursday demanded an ethics probe into Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. health secretary, following a report that the fierce Obamacare critic traded in healthcare company stocks while pushing legislation in Congress that could affect those shares.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others made their comments as congressional Republicans moved ahead with their long-desired effort to dismantle President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, and signaled the vehemence with which Democrats will fight to protect the 2010 law.

Price is an orthopedic surgeon and a Republican congressman from Georgia who, if confirmed by the Senate as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, would be given the task of carrying out Trump's promise to gut the law that has enabled up to 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain medical coverage.

The Democrats called on the independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), which examines misconduct allegations involving House of Representatives members, to investigate Price's stock trades.

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