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Senate Committee Approves Solis as Labor Secretary |
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One week after postponing a confirmation vote on Hilda Solis as secretary of labor, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today approved on a voice vote President’s Obama’s choice to lead the Labor Department and sent the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation. That vote could come tomorrow.
The Solis nomination was announced in December, and her confirmation hearing took place Jan. 9. But Big Business groups and a number of Republican senators have loudly, and at times almost hysterically, complained about Solis’ long record of support for working families and unions.
Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has called Solis “a tireless champion for working families.”
After eight years of the Bush administration’s Department of Labor under Elaine Chao—trashing workers’ rights, weakening workplace safety rules, ignoring wage and hour violations and siding with Big Business at about every juncture—the idea of a labor secretary siding with workers must be terrifying to some.
Most of the criticism centers on Solis’ support of the Employee Free Choice Act, which she has co-sponsored in the House. Republican senators have even suggested that if confirmed, Solis should be barred from advocating for the restoration of workers’ rights to form a union and bargain for a better life, as the bill provides.
Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:
Senate Republicans can’t just oppose a secretary of labor because she supports working Americans and favors curbing excessive corporate power.
4 Comments
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We need to remind the Republicans who won the election; and they should realize that the reason they took a thrashing was because the American people have had enough of their tactics. I hope they do not think that the people in their districts are going to appreciate their attempted gridlock on issues. We need to make sure that the people in these various districts throughout the country are made aware of their actions.
Hurrah! Let’s hope she gets past the Senate vote!
It’s about time!
I’ll reserve my hurrahs for Solis until i see her stance on illegal aliens.Right now I’m leaning towards her being a very poor choice for legal citizens looking for a job.Gregg withdrawing for commerce Secretary is a good thing.He has staunchly supported NAFTA,CAFTA and any other free trade agreement that Washington has every come up with.