Updated February 19, 2025 at 16:32 PM ET
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Who: Lori M. Chavez-DeRemer
Nominated for: Secretary of Labor
You might know her from: In 2022, she was elected to represent Oregon's 5th Congressional District, flipping a blue seat to red. This election made her the first Republican woman from Oregon to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. But she lost her bid for reelection in 2024 to Democrat Janelle Bynum, resulting in the seat flipping back to blue.
- Before her election to Congress, Chavez-DeRemer served on the Happy Valley, Ore., city council from 2005 to 2010, where she was president beginning in 2007, according to her congressional bio. She was then elected mayor of Happy Valley in November 2010 and was reelected in 2018 for another four-year term.
- During her time in Congress, she received support from unions for her 2024 reelection campaign. She also advocated for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a bill designed to facilitate the formation of labor unions by overturning state Right to Work laws, which undermine union strength.
- Her nomination for secretary of labor has garnered praise from various unions, including Teamsters President Sean O'Brien.
What does this role do? The secretary leads the Labor Department and its agencies, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs. The department also enforces more than 180 federal labor policies and laws such as those pertaining to hourly and overtime pay, unemployment insurance and workers' rights to safe working environments. It is the 11th Cabinet position in the presidential line of succession.
In his last full year in office, President Joe Biden requested that the fiscal year 2025 budget include $13.9 billion and support for 15,762 full-time employees.
Here's what happened in the hearing:
Both Republicans and Democrats at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions questioned Chavez-DeRemer over her past support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act — or PRO Act — which would make it easier for workers to unionize at the national level.
Chavez-DeRemer said she signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill when she was in the House in order to "be at the table and have those conversations." But she added that the legislation was "imperfect," and that the version she co-sponsored never actually came up for a vote.
Several Republican lawmakers asked Chavez-DeRemer whether she supported the right of states to pass Right to Work laws, which limit union organizing. Chavez-DeRemer said she believed states have a right to choose whether or not to have Right to Work laws.
"So you no longer support the aspect of the PRO Act that would have overturned state Right to Work laws?" Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky asked. "Yes," Chavez-DeRemer replied.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, questioned Chavez-DeRemer about President Trump's firing of National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, which left the labor board without a quorum and unable to operate.
"President Trump has a right to exercise his executive power how he sees in consultation with his team," Chavez-DeRemer said.
Asked by Sanders if she was concerned that the NLRB was not currently functioning, Chavez-DeRemer answered: "The NLRB is separate from the Department of Labor, but I do believe that the function of the NLRB is important."
She was asked about labor data given to Elon Musk and DOGE
Several Democratic senators called on Chavez-DeRemer to weigh in on reports that the Department of Government Efficiency, a White House office helmed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, was given sensitive information held by the Labor Department.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said Musk could potentially see details from investigations into alleged labor violations at his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, as well as market data about his competitors.
"Just to make this abundantly clear, Elon Musk is now in a position to use his unelected role to use confidential government data to advance his own corporate interests while suppressing his competitors," she said.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut asked Chavez-DeRemer: "If the president asks you to give access to information to benefit a friend of his who has pending investigations, you wouldn't say 'no'?"
Chavez-DeRemer said she would protect private Labor Department information, and that because she had yet to be confirmed that she hadn't spoken with Trump about DOGE's access to the information at issue. "Until I am confirmed and in the Department of Labor, I would not be able to say specific to this, without having the full picture before that."
Other issues included the minimum wage and immigration
Asked whether she believed that the national minimum wage — which is currently $7.25 per hour but higher in some places — should be increased, Chavez-DeRemer told lawmakers that that was a decision for Congress and that some states or cities may need to have a higher minimum wage than others.
"But I do recognize that the minimum wage hasn't been raised since 2009, and the cost of living has gone up," she said.
Chavez-DeRemer was also asked about the impact of immigration on the American workforce.
Republican Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio asked for her opinion on "whether or not you think the influx of millions of people into this country — who, many of them are here illegally — is undermining the earning power of the American worker."
"The mass immigration that we've seen over the last four years has hurt the American worker," Chavez-DeRemer said, "and we want to make sure that we're supporting President Trump in his endeavor to support the American worker at all costs."
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