Feb
13
Written by:
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2/13/2009 8:45 PM
With dissenting votes only from Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and Thomas Coburn, R-Okla., the Senate Labor Committee on Feb. 11 approved Democratic President Barack Obama’s nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., to become Secretary of Labor. No date was set for a full Senate vote on her, but easy confirmation was expected.
The panel approved Solis almost two months after Obama nominated her to head the 17,000-person department and a month after her confirmation hearing. There, she angered several committee Republicans by refusing to be baited by their hostile questioning about her position -- and Obama’s -- for the Employee Free Choice Act, labor’s #1 legislative priority.
But the two dissenters gave no reasons for their votes against the Los Angeles congresswoman. Other Republicans got upset, and delayed the confirmation vote for a week, after news stories revealed Solis’ husband paid $6,400 in back Los Angeles County tax liens in early February. Her confirmation would clear the way for Obama and Solis to begin filling other top spots at DOL, replacing career officials now running its agencies as interim administrators, after anti-worker GOP political appointees left.
And The Nation magazine noted Solis got her start in Congress by beating a fellow Latino incumbent Democrat in a primary --- after that lawmaker voted for NAFTA.
“Solis comes from a working family herself so she understands how the troubled economy is hurting average Americans. Workers deserve to have her voice and her leadership as their Secretary of Labor,” Kennedy said.
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney called the vote “hugely important” because of time lost “getting the leading advocate for working people in our government in place” while “the economy is in freefall.” He predicted Solis “will be a vigorous champion for rebuilding a strong middle class and restoring balance to our economy.” He also pledged unions would work with her “to build an economy that works for everyone.”
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