Secretary of Labor nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer was approved this morning by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee by a vote of 13 to 9 . Three Democrats: Maggie Hassan (NH), Tim Kaine (VA) and John Hickenlooper (CO) voted to move her forward to a Senate floor vote. Republican Senator Rand Paul (KY) opposed her, and Lisa Murkowski (AK) did not show up for the vote. (She later stated that she supports Chavez-DeRemer which will bring the final vote to 14-9).
Although Chavez-DeRemer is Trump’s most moderate (and pro-labor) Cabinet nominee, her confirmation has not been a forgone conclusion. First, because of her earlier support for the PRO Act (that would have made it easier for workers to organize), Republican Senator Rand Paul opposes her confirmation, which meant she needed at least one Democratic vote on the Committee.
Second, Elon Musk’s illegal rampage through the federal government has antagonized many Democrats that might otherwise have voted to confirm a more moderate nominee.
Although Chavez-DeRemer is one of Trump’s most moderate (and pro-labor) nominees, her confirmation has not been a forgone conclusion.
Chavez-DeRemer will now move to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote. While final confirmation is likely, it’s not a sure thing. It’s possible that other Republicans will join Rand Paul to oppose her nomination due to her previous support for the PRO Act. It’s also unknown how many Democrats will oppose her when her confirmation vote reaches the Senate floor.
Keith Sonderling
Meanwhile, the confirmation hearing of DOL Deputy Secretary nominee Keith Sonderling has just concluded. Interestingly, there were more Democrats in attendance and asking questions than Republicans.
Deputy Secretary is an extremely powerful position — the number two position in the Department. In some cases, the Deputy Secretary has more control over Department policy and operations than the Secretary.
We’ll see what impact Sonderling has. When Chavez-DeRemer faced some Republican and business concern after her nomination was announced, word filtered down from the White House not to worry: wait until you see who we appoint as Deputy Secretary.
He gave a somewhat slimy impression: lamely refusing to answer any difficult questions from Democrats, and regardless of the question, repeating ad nauseum the he will “comply with all relevant laws and regulations.”
I would hope so…
Sonderling is also shocked, SHOCKED that anyone would suggest that President Trump might give him an order that violated the law.
He was also shocked, SHOCKED that anyone would suggest that President Trump might give him an order that violates the law.
He did receive a few OSHA-related questions. Andy Kim (D-NJ), asked whether OSHA has adequate funding. Sonderling said he’ll study the issue to ensure that DOL agencies are able to operate with the appropriate funding, and he will work with Congress and the White House to ensure that every DOL agency has the resources they need.
(If that’s true, we should be looking forward to a major increase in OSHA’s budget. Call me a pessimist, but I doubt that will happen.)
Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) asked him whether DOGE has access to confidential OSHA records. He says he doesn’t think so. She then asked him about an OSHA citation against Tesla earlier this month. He said he has no knowledge. (OSHA has not publicly announced the citation.)
Baldwin also asked him about whether he supported OSHA’s workplace violence standard. He promised to “look into this issue and work with your office on this issue because this issue is important to you and everyone else.”
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) asked about the fact that there are 200 workplace amputations every month and over 5,000 workplace fatalities every year. Yet there is only one inspector for every 4300 workplaces, which translates into a “handout” to “greedy” employers who violate the law.
And despite the high level of workplace injury and death, Markey continued, Trump and Musk have deleted important safety and health information from OSHA’s website.
Asked whether he supports OSHA’s mandate to assure safe workplaces, he gave his “full commitment” to go through the budget of each law enforcement agency to ensure there are adequate resources.
Asked if he will oppose any action that would reduce workplace safety. He non-answered (again) that he will “follow the law” and indicated that health and safety inspectors would be exempt to future layoffs ordered by the White House. (We’ll see about that…)
Markey ended, stating that he was very disappointed that Sonderling wouldn’t give him a simple “yes” to his question about whether OSHA’s will get all the resources they need to faithfully enforce the law and ensure that employers will not be allowed to “increase profits at the expense of workers.”
Markey isn’t the only one who is disappointed….