Following her confirmation hearing, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s (R-OR) SWACCA-supported nomination to be U.S. Secretary of Labor appears likely to advance out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and be approved by the full Senate. Republicans in attendance at the hearing appeared generally supportive of her nomination while expressing concern over her past co-sponsorship of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act in the House. DeRemer mollified Republicans by making clear that she no longer supports key provisions of the PRO Act and stating that as Secretary of Labor her job would be to advance President Trump’s vision for labor policy. Democrats on the committee used her confirmation hearing to protest President Trump’s firing of NLRB Board member Gwynne Wilcox and the ongoing actions of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at federal agencies. However, a critical mass of committee members in both parties appeared supportive of DeRemer’s nomination. At the start of the hearing, conservative Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) used his introduction of DeRemer to highlight his newly forged friendship with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien. Following the hearing, the Senate HELP Committee announced it will hold a vote to advance Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination to the full Senate on Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 9:30am.
