Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) signaled openness to supporting President-elect Trump’s choose for Labor secretary, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), on Friday.
Murray, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, argued that People “deserve’ a Labor secretary who knows that growing a “stronger” economic system requires “standing up for workers, not billionaires and giant corporations.”
“We need a Labor Secretary who will protect workers’ rights, help ensure everyone can have a secure retirement, make sure every worker gets paid the full paycheck they’ve earned, and that all workers are treated with dignity and respect,” Murray, additionally the Senate president professional tempore, stated in a press release on Friday, shortly after the announcement.
“And as an original author of the PRO Act, I’m glad to see Representative Chavez-DeRemer is a cosponsor of the bill I wrote with Representative Scott,” she added. “I look forward to carefully evaluating Representative Chavez-DeRemer’s qualifications leading up to her hearing and a thorough vetting process.”
Chavez-DeRemer misplaced reelection to the Home earlier this month in opposition to Democrat Janelle Bynum. Regardless of her brief tenure in Congress, the Oregon Republican has positioned herself as a backer of organized labor and employees’ rights.
She was considered one of solely three GOP co-sponsors of the Defending the Proper to Set up (PRO) Act, laws that might increase labor protections and make it simpler to unionize.
Chavez-DeRemer was backed by the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters union. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien addressed the Republican Nationwide Conference in Milwaukee this summer season. The union stated in September that they might not problem an endorsement within the presidential election.
Murray has voiced criticism of Trump’s different Cupboard picks. Every week in the past, she known as environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who Trump chosen to steer the Division of Well being and Human Providers — a “fringe conspiracy theorist.”
“There is no telling how far a fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set back America in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research and innovation, and so much else,” she stated.
“The implications right here should not theoretical or superficial — well being care entry, protection, analysis, and public well being are life or loss of life points for folks — and the COVID pandemic was an all too latest, all too painful reminder,” the senator added.
