The United States Senate confirmed Lori Chavez-Deremer as Secretary of Labor under the administration of Donald Trump. The senators cast 67 votes in favor and 32 against.
The Senate voted on Monday to confirm Lori Chavez-Deremer as the Secretary of the United States Labor, a cabinet position in which he will be in charge of enforcing labor rights and protections ordered by the federal government at a time when the White House tries to fire thousands of government employees.
Chavez-Deremer will supervise the Department of Labor, one of several executive departments mentioned in demands that challenge the authority of the billionaire Elon Musk and the government efficiency department under his charge to order dismissals and access delicate government data.
The Department of Labor had almost 16,000 full -time employees and a proposed budget of 13.9 billion dollars for fiscal year 2025. Some of its vast responsibilities include informing about the unemployment rate in the United States, regulating health and safety standards at work sites, investigating disputes on the minimum wage, child labor and the payment of extra hours, and enforcing laws on trade union organization and illegal dismissals.
Several outstanding unions, including Teamsters, supported the Chavez-Deremer nomination. Oregon's republican former congressman is a daughter of a Teamster, and during her only mandate in the House of Representatives, the reputation of being in favor of trade unionism was won.
The senators cast 67 votes in favor and 32 against to confirm Chavez-Deremer.
The Senate has already confirmed all Trump candidates for their cabinet, except one.
Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Commission had cast 14 votes in favor and 9 against support of its nomination; All Republicans there, ”said Senator Rand Paul-supported Chavez-Deremer. Three Democrats in the Commission – Senators John Hickenloper, Tim Kaine and Maggie Hassan – voted the same as most.
During their confirmation hearing before the Commission, several Republican senators interrogated Chavez-Deremer about their decision to co-cross a bill that would have provided workers with the unionized and penalized employers who hinder the attempts to organize.
She refused to explicitly declare if she still supported the Law for the Protection of the right to organize, or Pro Law.
Chavez-Deremer explained that he had decided to co -matrocize it because he wanted to have a seat at the table in order to discuss important labor issues. Upon receiving more questions, he modeled part of his support for the bill, saying that he supported the state laws of “right to work”, which allow employees to refuse to join a union in his workplace.
The pro law was not subjected to a vote while she was in Congress, but last week she was reintroduced in the lower house and the Senate.
“While we talk, (the president) Donald Trump and his billionaire friends are stealing the American dream to working families, manipulating each lever of the society in favor of the class of billionaires,” said the minority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer. “That is why we need the pro law, to strengthen working Americans so that they can negotiate better salaries, benefits and safer working conditions.”
During the time he was in Congress, Chavez-Deremer also co-crocked legislation that was intended to protect public sector workers to reduce their social security benefits because they already had benefits related to their government pension. That bill also stagnated because he did not have enough republican support.
Chavez-Deremer tried to maintain a delicate balance during his confirmation hearing, trying to attract both Democrats and Republicans. On the issue of whether the federal minimum wage should have been increased a long time ago, he said that he recognized that he had not increased by $ 7.25 an hour since 2009, but would not want to “cause shock in the economy.”
Some Democratic senators and defenders of workers' rights have questioned how much independence Chavez-Deremer would have as Trump's Secretary of Labor, and with whom his loyalty would be in a government that has fired thousands of federal employees.