Former Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R., Ore.), President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department, will testify today before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee at 10 a.m. ET. You can watch her live confirmation hearing here.
Chavez-DeRemer is expected to face tough questioning from Senate Republicans about her decision while in Congress to support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which if passed would heavily regulate independent contracting law and strip many states of their right-to-work laws.
This pro-union record has endeared her to some Senate Democrats, though they will likely press her during her hearing about why she and Trump now “agree that the PRO Act is unworkable,” as her spokeswoman told The Atlantic last month.
If confirmed, she will oversee federal workplace regulations under a Republican Party that has warmed to organized labor in recent years under Trump. In her opening remarks, Chavez-DeRemer will lean into this dynamic and argue that the president’s electoral gains among union voters make her a strong fit for the job.
“In 2024, our nation witnessed the single greatest political achievement of our time. President Trump has united a new coalition of working-class Americans like never before,” she will say in her confirmation hearing, according to excerpts of her prepared remarks that were shared with National Review. “With 59.6% of Teamsters backing him, historic support from African American and Latino voters, and record-breaking turnout in once-solid blue cities and states—Americans are speaking loud and clear. They are calling for action, progress, and leadership that puts the American worker first.”
During her hearing, she will also emphasize what she calls her “record of collaboration” and argue that the federal government should invest in educational pathways other than four-year college degrees to ensure that working-class Americans can succeed.
“If confirmed,” she is expected to say, “my job will be to implement President Trump’s policy vision, and my guiding principle will be President Trump’s guiding principle: ensuring a level playing field for businesses, unions, and most importantly, the American worker.”
Expect an especially tough grill session from Senate HELP Committee member Rand Paul (R., Ky.), who has already pledged to vote against her. “I’m the national spokesman and lead author of the right-to-work bill,” he told NBC News last month. “Her support for the PRO Act, which would not only oppose national right to work but would pre-empt state law on right to work — I think it’s not a good thing.” Paul predicted to NBC that she’ll “lose 15 Republicans,” though he thinks she’ll win some Democratic support because “she’s very pro-labor.”
As I reported in December, Democrats are indeed very interested in what she has to say:
In many ways, Donald Trump’s Labor secretary nominee — first-term Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R., Ore.) — is the best pick Democrats could realistically hope for from a Republican president-elect: the daughter of a Teamster with a pro-organized labor legislative record and an astonishing amount of support from union leaders.
“She seems to be an incredibly strong, pro-labor choice,” Senator John Fetterman (D., Pa.) told National Review of Chavez-DeRemer, who recently lost reelection to her Oregon House seat. He added that her nomination is a “strategic” and “smart play” for Trump, because it may help the GOP “co-opt” even more support from traditionally Democratic union voters in the future.
Progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) also signaled openness to supporting her nomination earlier this week. “If Chavez-DeRemer commits as labor secretary to strengthen labor unions and promote worker power, she’s a strong candidate for the job,” she said in a statement, cautioning that she serves as an “early test” of whether the president-elect will “stand strong with workers or bow down to his corporate donors and the Republican establishment’s opposition.”