Week ahead: Trump’s Labor pick takes the hot seat
Andrew Puzder is finally going before the Senate on Thursday in what is expected to be a blistering confirmation hearing.
President Trump nominated Puzder to lead the Department of Labor on Dec. 8, but his confirmation hearing was delayed four times while the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee waited for him to file the necessary paperwork.
Those delays have given Puzder’s opponents ample time to ramp up their attacks on the nominee.
Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast food chains.
{mosads}Critics have raised concerns from how Puzder treated fast-food workers to questions about his former marriage and divorce proceedings and his own admission that he hired an illegal immigrant housekeeper.
Puzder has said he fired the housekeeper and paid back taxes, but that incident has drawn criticism from conservatives, who have questioned whether he would fully enforce immigration laws.
And after failing to block the confirmation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Democrats and labor groups are now focusing their full fire on Puzder.
In a letter Thursday, the AFL-CIO and 127 other groups called on Trump to withdraw Puzder’s nomination.
Among the other groups signing the letter were the Service Employees International Union, Communications Workers of America, United Steelworkers, Fight for $15, Good Jobs Nation, National Employment Law Project, Jobs With Justice, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday also called on Trump to drop Puzder, calling him “probably the most anti-worker nominee to the Department of Labor ever.”
Thursday’s hearing will likely produce fireworks, with Puzder to field tough questions from Dems and also Republicans, a handful of whom remain on the fence.
Republicans can confirm Puzder without any Democratic support, but if three GOP senators defect, it could tank his bid.
The Senate will also be working on other nominations in the week ahead.
On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Seema Verma, whom Trump tapped to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The House is also pressing ahead with rolling back Obama-era regulations. Republicans on Monday and Tuesday expected to begin the process of blocking another five rules stemming from the Labor Department, Interior Department, and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The GOP will also target a law in the District of Columbia that permits phyician-assisted suicide, D.C.’s Death with Dignity Act of 2016. The Congressional Review Act gives Republicans the power to repeal regulations they disagree with on their own, without Democratic support.
Also on Tuesday, a House Education and Workforce subcommittee will hold a hearing on “restoring balance and fairness to the National Labor Relations Board.”
On Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing to consider changes to the Endangered Species Act.
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