Confirmation Hearing Date Announced for Secretary of Labor Nominee Chavez-DeRemer

Lori M. Chavez-DeRemer, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Labor, has received a hearing date for her confirmation.

The former Oregon representative will appear before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday, February 12, at 10 a.m.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Last month, Trump named Vince Micone as acting secretary of labor until Chavez-DeRemer is confirmed. Micone was previously the deputy assistant secretary for operations in the DOL’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management.

Chavez-DeRemer is considered an unusual selection for a Republican secretary of labor, as she—a former House member from a state that leans Democratic—has previously both taken on health care benefits and taken a pro-union stance. Chavez-DeRemer was, notably, one of three Republicans to sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2023, which sought to make it easier for workers to unionize.

Her opposition to state “right-to-work” laws may come as a concern to some Senate Republicans, and Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has already spoken out against Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination.

While she has not been publicly outspoken about retirement policy, Chavez-DeRemer has been more active on the employer health plan side of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, including co-sponsoring legislation addressing group health care cost transparency.

Chavez-DeRemer must be cleared by the Senate panel before the full Senate can consider her nomination.

The live hearing can be viewed on the Senate HELP Committee’s website.

The hearing was announced on the same day that government employee unions and labor groups filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in anticipation of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency temporary organization attempting to gain access to DOL systems containing sensitive information. The complaint, which names Micone, claims DOL officials have directed staff to give the DOGE access to anything it requests, regardless of security protocols.

The lawsuit comes after retiree advocacy groups and public employee unions sued the Department of the Treasury for sharing confidential data with the DOGE on Monday.