Murray signals openness to supporting Trump's pick to head Labor

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) signaled openness to supporting President-elect Trump’s pick for Labor secretary, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), on Friday.

Murray, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, argued that Americans “deserve’ a Labor secretary who knows that growing a “stronger” economy requires “standing up for workers, not billionaires and giant corporations.”

“We need a Labor Secretary who will protect workers’ rights, help ensure everyone can have a secure retirement, make sure every worker gets paid the full paycheck they’ve earned, and that all workers are treated with dignity and respect,” Murray, also the Senate president pro tempore, said in a statement on Friday, shortly after the announcement.

“And as an original author of the PRO Act, I’m glad to see Representative Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of the bill I wrote with Representative Scott,” she added. “I look forward to carefully evaluating Representative Chavez-DeRemer’s qualifications leading up to her hearing and a thorough vetting process.”

Chavez-DeRemer lost reelection to the House earlier this month against Democrat Janelle Bynum. Despite her short tenure in Congress, the Oregon Republican has positioned herself as a backer of organized labor and workers' rights.

She was one of only three GOP co-sponsors of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, legislation that would expand labor protections and make it easier to unionize.

Chavez-DeRemer was backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien addressed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer. The union said in September that they would not issue an endorsement in the presidential election.

Murray has voiced criticism of Trump’s other Cabinet picks. A week ago, she called environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who Trump selected to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — a “fringe conspiracy theorist.”

“There is no telling how far a fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set back America in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research and innovation, and so much else,” she said.

“The consequences here are not theoretical or superficial — health care access, coverage, research, and public health are life or death issues for people — and the COVID pandemic was an all too recent, all too painful reminder," the senator added.