Senate Confirms Chavez-DeRemer as Secretary of Labor

Monday’s full Senate vote came after President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Labor was cleared by the HELP Committee last month.

This story has been updated following the Senate’s final vote.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer

The U.S. Senate voted Monday to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon as secretary of labor under President Donald Trump.

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Senate members voted 67 to 32, securing Chavez-DeRemer’s opportunity to lead the Department of Labor.

Senators Rand Paul, R-Kentucky; Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; and Tedd Budd, R-North Carolina, voted against Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation. Senator John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, did not vote.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted last month 14 to 9 to advance Chavez-DeRemer to the full Senate. Senators Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire; Tim Kaine, D-Virginia; and John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, joined Republican committee members to support Trump’s nominee.

The three Democratic members’ support offset a “no” vote from Paul, who previously criticized Chavez-DeRemer for her support, as a member of the House of Representatives representing Oregon’s 5th congressional district, of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2023, which sought to make it easier for workers to unionize.

However, Chavez-DeRemer said during her nomination hearing that she no longer supports the aspect of the PRO Act that would have overturned state right-to-work laws.

A nomination hearing for Daniel Aronowitz, Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary of labor to lead the Employee Benefits Security Administration, has yet to be scheduled.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations Vince Micone had served as acting secretary of labor since Trump’s January 21 inauguration.

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