The Senate voted to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Labor secretary March 10 in a 67-32 vote.
Several Democrats voted to confirm Chavez-DeRemer, while Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against her confirmation.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee previously advanced Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination in a 13-9 vote on Feb. 27, with Paul as the lone Republican voting no.
Paul previously said he would not support Chavez-DeRemer — a former Republican congresswoman from Oregon who lost re-election in November — because of her support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or Pro Act, a bill aimed at making labor organizing easier.
The former congresswoman was one of three Republicans to co-sponsor the bill in the last Congress, but the Pro Act never advanced out of the House. At her confirmation hearing, Chavez-DeRemer said she no longer supported certain aspects of the bill.
While serving in Congress, Chavez-DeRemer voted against a congressional resolution to overturn the Labor Department’s fiduciary investment advice rule, splitting with Republicans in the House Education and the Workforce Committee.
However, she supported a resolution to block a different DOL rule permitting retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions.
TIAA congratulated Chavez-DeRemer on the confirmation, noting that “her leadership comes at a critical moment brimming with the opportunity to improve retirement outcomes for American workers,” in a March 10 statement.
“We look forward to working together with Secretary Chavez-DeRemer, along with leadership at the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), to advance policies and unleash solutions that can enable more American workers to save for and achieve a financially secure retirement, from expanding access to workplace retirement plans to improving every worker’s access to lifetime retirement income,” the statement continued.
Wayne Chopus, president and CEO of the Insured Retirement Institute, also congratulated her, writing in a March 10 statement, "We look forward to working with her and other Trump administration officials, Congress and stakeholders to expand access to workplace retirement plans and facilitate access to protected, guaranteed lifetime income solutions for Americas’ workers and retirees.”
House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said in a March 10 statement that Chavez-DeRemer "will be a strong partner in removing burdensome federal regulations and empowering our nation’s workforce."
