Trump’s pro-union labor secretary pick highlights GOP tensions

The confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for labor secretary offers a critical test for the Republican Party over the populist wave that helped Trump win over many working-class households.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former congresswoman from Oregon, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday, distancing herself from her past support of sweeping pro-union legislation.

In remarks, Chavez-DeRemer acknowledged her past support for the PRO Act, sweeping pro-union legislation associated with Democrats that she had co-sponsored in Congress. She called the bill “imperfect” but reiterated that she—and Trump—believe that labor laws in general need to be modernized.

“If confirmed, 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,” Chavez-DeRemer said.

Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation is uncertain. While Trump loyalists have rallied behind her, she faces skepticism from some GOP senators, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, whose support she may need.

She could earn some support from Democratic senators. But many of those, who had initially appeared open to embracing her, now seem unlikely to, as they rally against the Trump administration’s efforts to gut the federal government.

Chavez-DeRemer, 56, is a moderate Republican who narrowly lost her House seat in November in a swing district that includes parts of Portland. She is best known on Capitol Hill for being a rare Republican who co-sponsored the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize.

Trump nominated Chavez-DeRemer to lead the vast agency that enforces laws governing wages and overtime, workplace safety and employer-sponsored health care and pensions, following some lobbying from unlikely bedfellows—Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters union, and Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma.

“This is a negotiation between two factions of the party that say, ‘We’re willing to work together,’” Mullin said, while introducing Chavez-DeRemer at the hearing.

In recent weeks, a coalition has rallied behind Chavez-DeRemer that includes organized labor and powerful industry groups. Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination faced initial outcry from the business lobby when it was announced in late December. But some powerful trade groups, including the International Franchise Association, the National Restaurant Association, the National Retail Federation, and the American Hotel and Lodging Association, recently threw her their endorsement after meeting privately with her, according to two people familiar with the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

“My colleagues in the business community were initially very concerned,” Roger King, senior attorney at the HR Policy Association, an organization for chief human resource officers that represent major employers, said about the nomination. But Chavez-DeRemer made “inroads with the business community, clarifying and further reinforcing” pro-business stances on a few key Labor Department policy issues, King said.

Specifically, Chavez-DeRemer has said she would adopt the traditional Republican approach to rulemaking at the Labor Department around the issues of joint employers and independent contracting—which affect a broad swath of industries, including fast food, trucking, construction as well as gig economy companies such as Uber, King said.

Chavez-DeRemer is the daughter of a card-carrying Teamsters member, and she spent years running an anesthesiology business with her husband in the Portland area. She served as mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon, a well-off Portland suburb, before winning a seat in Congress.

During her reelection campaign, she was endorsed by the Teamsters regional council in Portland as well as firefighters and ironworkers’ union locals, drawing the attention of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana. She also co-sponsored legislation to grant state workers the right to unionize.

The PRO Act bill had promised to the biggest expansion of labor rights since the New Deal, passed during the Great Depression to help Americans by addressing mass unemployment. The PRO Act would have significantly expanded labor rights, including measures that would increase penalties for employer labor law violations, expand union eligibility and eliminate right-to-work laws that allow workers to opt out of union dues.

Before Wednesday’s hearing, Mullin said he and O’Brien suggested Trump nominate Chavez-DeRemer, after O’Brien had suggested the idea to Mullin. The senator said he thought she would offer a compromise between traditional business forces within the Republican Party and some of the enthusiastic union members who helped elect Trump. Republicans might not like Chavez-DeRemer’s past pro-union votes, and unions might not like her support of Republican-backed bills.

“This is a good direction, where Republicans can feel good about it, labor can feel good about it,” Mullin said, describing his pitch to Trump.

Mullin said that Democrats had for too long dominated the blue-collar vote because union leadership had supported the left. He argued that Trump has convinced workers that Republicans could do more to bring back manufacturing and energy jobs. The Republican Party hasn’t changed, but the message has, he said.

“If you look at the new coalition of supporters that President Trump brought to the party, and labor being one of them,” he said, “Lori is a perfect person to kind of fit that.”

Mullin also credited Trump for his new friendship with O’Brien. Mullin and O’Brien had at one point publicly feuded, even threatening to physically fight at a 2023 Senate hearing. But Trump called Mullin and told him they had more in common than they didn’t, Mullin said, prompting a ceasefire. Now the two had plans to watch a wrestling match in Tulsa soon.

“We’re an odd couple, I guess,” he said.

In the lead-up to the hearing, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, said he had “concerns” about Chavez-DeRemer because “she’s very pro-labor,” but he did not rule out voting for or against her. “Let’s just say she didn’t come out of the Chamber of Commerce,” he added.

But Mullin and other Republicans on the committee, including Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Jim Banks of Indiana, expressed optimism about her odds.