A Senate committee voted Thursday to advance the nomination of President Donald Trump’s choice to head the Department of Labor, one of the agencies named in lawsuits over moves by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team to access federal data systems.
Members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions voted 13-9 to recommend Lori Chavez-DeRemer ‘s confirmation by the full Senate.
Although the former Republican congresswoman from Oregon is widely viewed as comparatively pro-labor, some Democratic senators have said they would oppose all of Trump’s remaining Cabinet picks as a way to protest his administration’s far-reaching efforts to reshape the U.S. government.
During her Feb. 19 confirmation hearing, Republican senators grilled Chavez-DeRemer about her past support in Congress for pro-union legislation. Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the committee, said business owners were concerned about Chavez-DeRemer’s co-sponsorship of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.
The PRO Act, which did not come up for a vote during her one term, would have made it easier for workers to unionize and penalized employers who interfered with that activity. When Cassidy asked if Chavez-DeRemer still supported the legislation, she declined to give a yes or no answer.
“I do not believe the secretary of labor should write the laws. It would be up to Congress to write the law,” she said. Later in the hearing she said she supported state “right to work” laws, which allow employees to refuse to join a union in their workplace.
Chavez-DeRemer’s past support of unions and the right to organize appealed to some Democrats, but they also questioned whether she would continue to be an advocate for workers while serving in an administration that is slashing the scope and size of the federal workforce, including through mass layoffs.
The Department of Labor has nearly 16,000 full-time employees and a proposed budget of $13.9 billion in fiscal year 2025. If confirmed, Chavez-DeRemer would preside over that budget and workforce. She would also set priorities related to wages, workplace health and safety, and employees’ rights to organize, as well as employers’ rights to fire workers.
A group of labor unions and 14 Democratic states filed separate lawsuits this month to keep Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Labor Department data systems, which contain medical and financial records of millions of Americans, including those who have filed safety complaints about their employers.
During her confirmation hearing, Democrats on the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee tried to find out where Chavez-DeRemer’s allegiances would lie.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked if she would deny Musk or his representatives access to information about competitors or labor violations at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Musk’s companies are the subject of several OSHA investigations.
Chavez-DeRemer said the decision belonged to Trump. “I work for the president of the United States, if confirmed, and I will serve at the pleasure of the president on this issue,” she said.
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