Senate panel approves Chavez-DeRemer for labor secretary

Allison Mollenkamp, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 27, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to be labor secretary in a 14-9 vote.

Chavez-DeRemer, a former one-term Republican member of the House from Oregon, is likely to be confirmed. She caused less worry among Democrats than some of President Donald Trump’s other nominees.

Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., laid out his hopes for a “pro-America agenda that puts workers first.”

“Over the last several weeks, Rep. Chavez-DeRemer demonstrated her commitment to this mission,” he said.

Cassidy praised the nominee’s support for state so-called right-to-work laws, which allow workers to opt out of paying dues in a unionized workplace.

Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation hearing last week centered on her relationship to labor unions, particularly her co-sponsorship of a bill in the last Congress that would have expanded protections for workers to organize and collectively bargain. Senators also asked whether Chavez-DeRemer would give Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk access to Labor Department data.

While panel Democrats saw Chavez-DeRemer’s co-sponsorship of the bill as a sign of support for unions, she said it didn’t mean she would have voted for the bill. She called the legislation, known as the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, “the bill to have those conversations” about updates to labor laws.

Ranking member Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, questioned what seemed to be her shifting stance on the bill, but complimented Chavez-DeRemer relative to other nominees, particularly her record on labor issues.

“In many respects, especially given the nature of the nominees that Mr. Trump has brought forth, it is very good,” he said.

Democrats were split at the vote Thursday, with Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., voting in favor of nominee. The rest of the minority voted “no,” as did Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

During her two years on the Hill, Chavez-DeRemer was on the House Agriculture, Education and Workforce, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees. She lost her bid for reelection in 2024 to Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum.

She previously was mayor of Happy Valley, Ore., and ran unsuccessfully for the Oregon State House in 2016 and 2018.

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Mark Schoeff Jr. contributed to this report.