It seem like just yesterday that we were speculating about the fate of OSHA nominee Scott Mugno whose third committee approval vote was postponed yesterday. Well, for all of you Mugno fans out there, I have some bad news.
According to Politico, “Senate HELP ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Tuesday through an aide that she will continue to block Republican labor nominees after two Democratic labor nominees withdrew in frustration.”
You may remember last year, Murray held up the Department of Labor nominations because Republicans had blocked Chai Feldblum’s re-appointment to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission as well as the re-appointment of Mark Gaston Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board. Both Feldblum and Pearce withdrew their nominations. Pearce told Politico that he wanted to remove himself from the “political tug of war” and Feldblum expressed similar feelings.
Both the NLRB and the EEOC have traditionally had bipartisan representation with the party of the President having one more seat. Trump has not yet nominated Democrats to either of these organizations and a “Murray aide said she will continue to prevent the GOP nominees from advancing so long as Republicans refuse to support the Democratic nominees picked to replace Pearce and Feldblum.”
So, moving right along….