Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said Saturday that he was "worried" about President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Rep. Mick Mulvaney as budget director because of his "pro-shutdown record … and his goal of defunding Planned Parenthood."
"I'm worried," Kaine, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate, said in a statement.
He cited Mulvaney's "unwillingness to support bipartisan budget compromises, his pro-shutdown record, his advocacy for slashing federal services and workers and his goal of defunding Planned Parenthood."
Trump said Saturday that he would nominate Mulvaney, a South Carolina Republican who was elected in the tea party wave in 2010, to succeed Obama appointee Shaun Donovan as director of the Office of the Management and Budget.
Mulvaney, 49, is a fiscal hawk who had a critical role in passing the sequestration budget caps in 2011.
He also is a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which pushed House Speaker John Boehner to resign in 2015.
Earlier that year, Mulvaney led a group of Republicans in an unsuccessful push for a federal government shutdown over aid for Planned Parenthood.
A 16-day partial shutdown in 2013 cost American taxpayers $1.4 billion.
Mulvaney's nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.
Kaine, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said Saturday that "I intend to question Rep. Mulvaney on his approach to budgeting and vision for this important agency."
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