Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Oregon’s first Republican congresswoman and President Donald Trump’s choose for labor secretary, might be the president’s first Cupboard choose to not have sufficient congressional assist for her bid.
In fact, by first we’re deliberately excluding former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first alternative for lawyer normal who resigned as soon as his penchant for allegedly paying minors for intercourse at drug-fueled events got here to the forefront.
Not like Gaetz, Chavez-DeRemer isn’t essentially stricken by scandal. However some Republicans on the Senate’s Well being, Schooling, Labor, and Pensions Committee stay deeply suspicious of her union bonafides, which they are saying conflict with the enterprise neighborhood. Since one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, is already towards her bid, the GOP goes to wish a Democrat on the committee to cross over and vote for her.
“Her support for the PRO Act, which would not only oppose national right to work but would pre-empt state law on right to work—I think it’s not a good thing,” Paul mentioned in January. “And it’d be sort of hard for me, since it’s a big issue for me, to support her. So I won’t support her.”
By that, Rand was referring to Chavez-DeRemer’s assist for the pro-union PRO Act throughout her transient stint in Congress. (Chavez-DeRemer narrowly gained the congressional race to symbolize Oregon’s fifth District in 2022, however was ousted from the seat this previous November.) She’s additionally earned plaudits from teams historically aligned with Democrats, such because the AFL-CIO, and as soon as labored at Deliberate Parenthood, in response to NBC Information, although she mentioned it was a “brief, part-time job” in her twenties and he or she doesn’t “personally” assist abortion.
Paul warned final month that as many as 15 Republicans may reject her nomination. However Chavez-DeRemer arguably can’t afford a second Republican defection, a minimum of in committee.
As Semafor reported, Cupboard nominees can progress to the Senate ground with a non-favorable advice, but it surely’s uncommon. The GOP reportedly weighed doing this to assist get Tulsi Gabbard, the newly appointed director of nationwide intelligence, over the end line however finally didn’t have to as all Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed her bid.
It’s doable that given Chavez-DeRemer’s pro-labor views, a few of the committee’s 11 Democrats may vote in her favor. In any case, the occasion is doing little to this point to cease Trump’s unqualified picks from getting confirmed. And in response to Semafor, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Patty Murray (D-WA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) haven’t dominated out supporting her bid.
“I’ll give her a fair shake,” Baldwin advised the outlet.
She added, “I try to view each nominee through the lens of whether they will help or hurt Wisconsin.”
No matter whether or not Chavez-DeRemer is actually pro-union, it might be wealthy if Democrats have been answerable for serving to her make it previous the primary Senate committee hurdle. Not solely would that symbolize a break from Trump’s previous Cupboard appointees (Gabbard, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. all relied on GOP assist to beat committee and the ground) however it might be a foul search for a celebration that’s speculated to be resisting Trump.
As an alternative, Democrats ought to use the opening given to them by Paul’s no-vote to sink a Trump nominee. This can be a essential time for the occasion and members want to make use of each instrument of their arsenal, together with blocking nominations when doable, to decelerate Trump’s agenda.
Assuming the president’s labor choose makes it previous the Senate’s HELP Committee—which continues to be an enormous if—some members of Congress have predicted she’ll be wonderful ought to her nomination go to the Senate ground.
Sen. John Fetterman (D–PA), Trump’s favourite Democrat, has already mentioned he’d vote for her, which means Chavez-DeRemer may lose 4 Republicans and nonetheless get confirmed.
“Is she controversial now? She was very pro-labor and supported the Pro Act, and I plan to vote yes, until they find a way that she’s controversial and turn it into more drama,” Fetterman advised Semafor of Chavez-DeRemer’s upcoming vote.
Chavez-DeRemer will seem earlier than the Senate HELP Committee on Wednesday at 10 AM ET.
