Senate tees up final vote on Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead Labor Department
Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) is a step closer to winning confirmation to lead the Department of Labor after the Senate on Thursday voted on a bipartisan basis to advance her nomination.
Senators voted 66-30 to limit debate on the nomination, paving the way for Chavez-DeRemer to be confirmed when the chamber reconvenes next week.
Fifteen Democrats voted with almost every Republican member present.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the lone Republicans to vote down her nomination.
“In her public service, she’s put in the work to seek differing perspectives and to find common ground. … 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 Senate floor on Wednesday. “Over the last four years, the Labor Department pushed out many mandates that were the very opposite of pro-worker."
Thune pointed specifically to the department’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic and a Biden-era rule going after independent contractors, among other things.
“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.”
If confirmed, Chavez-DeRemer would be placed atop a department that has roughly 16,000 full-time employees and potentially a $13.9 billion budget for fiscal 2025.
The former congresswoman has been a rarity among Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Opposition to her has not come from moderate segments of the GOP, but rather from conservative circles.
This opposition was due in large part to her support for the PRO Act, legislation widely backed by Democrats that would help to strengthen the ability for unions to organize. Chavez-DeRemer was a co-sponsor of the bill during her time in the House.
This not only helped her on the floor on Thursday, but also when she advanced from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Paul voted against her, but a trio of Democrats sided with Republican members to put her over the line.
However, there have been some overarching Democratic concerns given Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s potential interference at the Labor Department. Chavez-DeRemer told them during her hearing that she would operate at the “pleasure” of Trump’s wishes.
Chavez-DeRemer, who lost her reelection bid in November, would become the 21st Trump nominee confirmed by the upper chamber, which has made it a priority to get his choices green-lit.
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