The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that no vote has yet been scheduled by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and pensions (HELP) committee on the nomination of Hilda Solis for Secretary of Labor, even though she was one of President Obama's fisrt nominations and one of the first to have a confirmation hearing.
Meanwhile, Bush political appointee Howard Radzely is running the Department of Labor, where for the past year he served as undersecretary to former Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Solis testified at a generally friendly confirmation hearing on January 9, chaired by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) at which most of the participants expressed support. Even Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), hardly a liberal, committed his vote. The New York Times reported next day that "her confirmaton seemed assured."
A week, later however, no vote on her confrimation was on the schedule, and Politico reported committee Republicans were staking out a claim that she had been insufficiently forthcoming.
She answered no questions," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "If she won't answer the questions, how can you support the nomination?"
...Solis repeatedly told senators that she could not speak for the incoming Obama administration on the card check bill, and she told Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) that she was "not qualified" to speak about maintaining right-to-work laws that prohibit workers from paying union dues as a condition of employment.
"These aren't positions that you're allowed not to have an opinion," Wyoming Sen. Michael Enzi, the ranking Republican on the committee, told Politico.
Hm. I'm not a politician, but have noticed that potential appointees of either party try to refrain from tying a President’s hands by making explicit promises and commitments during the confirmation process.
Moreover, I seem to remember that quite a few appointees in the past administration passed muster with their Republican allies despite stonewalling their opinions on torture, warrantless wiretaps and other hot issues.
According to Politico,
Senate GOP aides have made clear that placing a hold, which would require 60 votes in the Senate to overcome, is an option on the table...
The Las Vegas Sun now reports:
The committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, has been pressing for more detailed responses to questions posed on several issues, including the Employee Free Choice Act or card check bill.
When asked Thursday whether he was satisfied with the answers Solis has given, Enzi said: "What answers?...Right now there are people who don’t want her out of committee. It’s not just me."
Enzi said that while senators traditionally confirm a president’s nominations, "there’s also the obligation to really get it down on paper what their beliefs are"...
At Solis’ confirmation hearing two weeks ago, she repeatedly dodged questions about the bill, saying she could not express her opinion on it because she and Obama had not yet discussed the issue.
At the time, Solis’ responses seemed strategic — a way to avoid giving fodder on a hot-button issue to those who may oppose her nomination.
Enzi said he hoped the nominee would talk with the president about the bill, "get an answer, give us an answer."
So: opponents of the card-check bill (which would allow a workplace to unionize if enough people signedd up, without a formal election process) decided they can use Solis as a hostage to obtain a defeat or delay or fatal weaking of the card check bill? Sure sounds like it.
Meanwhile the present head of the Department of Labor is a highly-connnected Bush political appointee.
Howard Radzely clerked for Antonin Scalia. He previously served as Solicitor of Labor, a job he inherited from Eugene Scalia, who held the job as a recess appointment but did not gain comfirmation. Radzely also served as Deputy Solicitor to the younger Scalia.
I hold no brief on the card check bill. But.
Key Department of Labor activities include employment programs (including programs for returning Afghanistan and Iraq veterans), job training programs, labor statistics, fair labor standards, OSHA, mine safety, pension plan oversight. All of these are important to working men and women and their families, especially now in an economic downturn.
At Solis' confirmation hearing, all of the HELP committee Senators as well as Solis herself expressed the gravest concern about rising unemployment and said that moving forward with Labor Department employment and job training programs would expecially critical right now.
Isn’t it time to get the show on the road?
UPDATE:
Government Executive has now reported an anonymous hold was placed on Solis' confirmation.