Dive Brief:
- Lori Chavez-DeRemer, former Republican congresswoman from Oregon, was confirmed as labor secretary in a Senate vote Monday evening.
- The 67-32 vote in support of Chavez-DeRemer included 17 Democrats. Three Republicans voted against her confirmation.
- Given her favorable rapport with unions and past support for legislation like the PRO Act, Chavez-DeRemer is expected to oversee a more worker-friendly U.S. Department of Labor than is typical for Republican administrations.
Dive Insight:
Several unions welcomed news of Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation on Monday evening.
The Amalgamated Transit Union called the former congresswoman from Oregon “a strong advocate for working people and unions.” Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said Chavez-DeRemer will do “an excellent job” and “protect the working class.”
AFL-CIO, which represents 63 unions and more than 15 million workers, struck a more cautiously optimistic tone. While President Liz Shuler said the union group was “encouraged” by the confirmation, “we remain clear-eyed that she’s joining an administration that’s been openly hostile to working people on many fronts in its first two months.”
Republican holdouts expressed disappointment with the confirmation, citing the same policies celebrated by union leadership. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Chavez-DeRemer’s past record of “pushing policies that force hardworking Americans into union membership” — a likely reference to her co-sponsorship of the PRO Act — suggested “more of the same” after a strongly pro-union Biden administration. Sen. Rand Paul, also R-Ky., signaled his vote ahead of time by posting on X in late January that Chavez-DeRemer’s support for the PRO Act was “not a good thing.”
During her hearing, Chavez-DeRemer sought to moderate her past, saying policymaking should be in the hands of legislators. She said she was against the National Labor Relations Board’s expanded joint employer rule and would work with Congress to ensure independent contractors don’t lose flexibility through any rulemaking. At the same time, she emphasized that “the American worker deserves to be paid attention to.”
Chavez-DeRemer will likely work alongside Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling, whose own hearing in late February was overshadowed by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s actions at the agency. Sonderling’s confirmation vote is still pending.
How DOL will proceed now is not clear, although the agency recently filed a notice of appeal of a Texas federal judge’s decision to block the Biden-era overtime rule — an indication DOL may indeed be assuming a pro-worker stance.