The Senate voted Monday to verify Lori Chavez-DeRemer as U.S. labor secretary, a Cupboard place that places her answerable for implementing federally mandated employee rights and protections at a time when the White Home is making an attempt to remove hundreds of presidency staff.
Chavez-DeRemer will oversee the Division of Labor, one in all a number of govt departments named in lawsuits difficult the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and the Division of Authorities Effectivity to order layoffs and entry delicate authorities knowledge.
The Labor Division had almost 16,000 full-time staff and a proposed finances of $13.9 billion for fiscal 12 months 2025. A few of its huge tasks embody reporting the U.S. unemployment fee, regulating office well being and security requirements, investigating minimal wage, youngster labor and extra time pay disputes, and making use of legal guidelines on union organizing and illegal terminations.
A number of outstanding labor unions, together with the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters, endorsed Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination. The previous Republican congresswoman from Oregon is the daughter of a Teamster, and through her one time period within the Home earned a status as pro-labor.
The Senate voted to verify Chavez-DeRemer 67-32.
The Senate has now confirmed all however one in all Trump’s picks for his Cupboard.
The Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor & Pensions had voted 14-9 in favor of her nomination final week, with all Republicans besides Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky giving Chavez-DeRemer their assist. Three Democrats on the committee — Sens. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — voted with the bulk.
Throughout her affirmation listening to earlier than the committee, a number of Republican senators grilled Chavez-DeRemer about her choice to co-sponsor laws that may have made it simpler for employees to unionize and penalized employers who stood in the way in which of organizing efforts.
She declined to explicitly state whether or not she nonetheless backed the Defending the Proper to Set up Act, also called the PRO Act.
Chavez-DeRemer defined she had signed on as a co-sponsor as a result of she needed a seat on the desk to debate essential labor points. Beneath additional questioning, she walked again a few of her assist of the invoice, saying that she supported state “right to work” legal guidelines, which permit staff to refuse to affix a union of their office.
The PRO Act didn’t come up for a vote throughout her time in Congress, however the laws was reintroduced within the Home and Senate final week.
“As we speak, Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies are stealing the American dream away from working families, rigging every lever of society in favor of the billionaire class,” Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer mentioned in an announcement. “That’s why we need the PRO Act, to empower hardworking Americans to bargain for better wages, benefits, and safer working conditions.”
Throughout her time in Congress Chavez-DeRemer additionally co-sponsored laws which sought to guard public-sector employees from having their Social Safety advantages docked due to authorities pension advantages. That invoice additionally stalled as a result of it didn’t have sufficient Republican assist.
Chavez-DeRemer walked a nice line throughout her affirmation listening to, trying to enchantment to each Democrats and Republicans. With reference to whether or not the federal minimal wage was overdue for a rise, she mentioned she acknowledged it hadn’t been raised from $7.25 an hour since 2009 however that she wouldn’t need to “shock the economy.”
Some Democratic senators and employees’ rights advocates have questioned how a lot independence Chavez-DeRemer would have as President Donald Trump’s labor secretary and the place her allegiance would lie in an administration that has fired hundreds of federal staff.