Senate confirms Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Labor secretary

The Senate on Monday confirmed former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) to lead the Department of Labor, cementing another of President Trump’s nominees in bipartisan fashion.

Senators voted 67 to 32, with 17 Democrats voted with most Republicans present. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.) voted against her confirmation. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) did not vote.

Many Republicans see Chavez-DeRemer as a breath of fresh air after years of what they viewed as stifling regulations by the department under the Biden administration. Those include a rule going after independent contractors and Labor’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

“We need the Labor Department to do better than what we saw from the Biden administration,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on the floor last week. “Over the last four years, the Labor Department pushed out many mandates that were the very opposite of pro-worker.”

“President Trump has shown his commitment to the working people of this country. Making life better for working Americans was a priority in his first administration – and it will be a priority in his second,” he said. “It’s a welcome change in direction from the last four years.”

Chavez-DeRemer will head a department that has roughly 16,000 full-time employees and potentially a $13.9 billion budget for fiscal year 2025.

Her confirmation makes her the 21st Trump nominee confirmed by the upper chamber as it prioritizes putting the president’s team in place.

She also proved to be one of the few Trump choices that attracted opposition from some on the GOP’s right flank.

This was largely because of her backing of the PRO Act, a bill widely supported by Democrats that would boost the ability for unions to organize. Chavez-DeRemer, who lost her reelection bid in November, was a co-sponsor of the bill during her House tenure.

McConnell pointed to that support in a statement on Monday.

“The American people demand and deserve change after four years of economic heartache under the ‘most pro-union administration in American history.’ Unfortunately, Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s record pushing policies that force hardworking Americans into union membership suggests more of the same," McConnell said. "Most Americans believe joining a union should be a personal choice – not a mandate – which is why more than half the states, including Kentucky, have adopted right-to-work laws."

He added, "Secretary Chavez-DeRemer will have a critical opportunity to put the interests of working families ahead of Big Labor bosses by empowering every American worker to join a union on their terms. I hope she takes it.”

That support, however, gave her a big boost at the committee level as a trio of Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) panel helped her overcome Paul’s opposition.

However, there had been some Democratic concern given Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s potential interference at Labor.

Chavez-DeRemer told them during her hearing that she would operate at the “pleasure” of Trump’s wishes.

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