1 of 2 | Lori Chavez-DeRemer on Feb. 19 speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on her nomination to be secretary of Labor. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
March 10 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate confirmed former U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon to lead the Labor Department in a 67-32 bi-partisan vote Monday.
Seventeen Democrats joined 50 Republicans in backing her. Republicans voting no were Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Ted Budd of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Chavez-DeRember, 55, is the next to last of the 22 Cabinet picks confirmed. Elise Stefanik of New York has been nominated for U.N. Ambassador and is currently a member of the U.S. House as the Republicans hold a slim 218-214 majority.
The nomination of Chavez-DeRember, who served one two-year term in the House, cleared a procedural step in a 66-30 vote Thursday, with 15 Democrats voting with all Republicans except Ron Paul, a Republican serving Kentucky, to advance her nomination. Her nomination cleared the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee 14-9 on Feb. 27.
Paul opposed her nomination in the committee but three Democrats voted for her.
The Kentucky Republican has been critical of her support for pro-labor policies.
She later retracked her support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, saying now she “fully” supported states that “want to protect their right to work.”
“If confirmed, my job will be to implem