Your guide to Lori Chavez-DeRemer's confirmation hearing
QUICK FIX
— Lori Chavez-DeRemer's confirmation hearing is today.
— A federal judge temporarily reinstated Merit Systems Protection Board Chair Cathy Harris.
— Trump's pick to lead OSHA oversaw a workplace with dozens of safety violations.
GOOD MORNING. It's Wednesday, Feb. 19. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and lukenye@politico.com. Follow us on X at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye.
Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories
Driving the day
TODAY'S THE DAY: Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer will appear before the Senate HELP Committee for her confirmation hearing today — but her path to officially becoming President Donald Trump's Labor secretary is murkier than it was a month ago.
Republican lawmakers will undoubtedly press her on her previous support for the PRO Act, a bill championed by Democrats that makes it easier for unions to organize. However, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency's push to access sensitive agency data — which a judge cleared last week — is unsettling many Democrats. They'll want to know whether Chavez-DeRemer will follow along with Elon Musk's overhaul.
Here are the issues we expect lawmakers will focus on during the hearing.
DOGE: With Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) planning to oppose Chavez-DeRemer's confirmation within the committee, Democrats have additional leverage to block the nominee, if she plans to gut the Labor Department.
Some Democrats already told POLITICO that they plan to vote against Chavez-DeRemer. But others, like ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), said they had positive meetings with her and are waiting to learn more about her plans before passing judgment.
Biden-era rules: Democrats will likely press Chavez-DeRemer on whether she plans to carry out and defend many of the Biden administration's proposed regulations, including some that were unveiled shortly before Trump took office, like the proposed rule to end the subminimum wage for disabled workers.
Republicans have already tried to unwind some of those rules through Congressional Review Act resolutions last year. But they also may want to hear from Chavez-DeRemer on how she'll approach rulemaking.
Who gives a helping hand?: Many confirmation hearings have featured brief moments when Republican lawmakers, looking to bail out one of the president's Cabinet picks after an intense line of attack, ask easier questions or jump in to defend nominees against Democrats.
With angst on both sides of the aisle over Chavez-DeRemer's nomination, that role could fall to Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who was key to advancing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
She'll also be introduced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who has supported her bid to lead DOL despite his initial reservations about her previous pro-union leanings.
More on Chavez-DeRemer: 'Trump's Labor pick will need unusual help to get confirmed,' from Semafor.
ICYMI: District Judge John Bates on Friday refused to block DOGE's effort to access sensitive information at DOL, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services, ruling that the AFL-CIO and other plaintiffs lacked standing.
LOOK WHO'S BACK: A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily reinstated Merit Systems Protection Board Chair Cathy Harris after Trump fired her last week, Nick reported.
She'll be able to return to her role until the court rules on her motion for a preliminary injunction. District Judge Rudolph Contreras set a hearing on that issue for March 3.
'Were the President able to displace independent agency heads from their positions for the length of litigation such as this, those officials' independence would shatter,' Contreras, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in a 21-page ruling.
DOJ did not return a request for comment, and the MSPB declined to comment.
Harris' victory could be a positive sign for other Democratic officials whom Trump fired from labor-related panels, some of whom are suing or weighing lawsuits.
AROUND THE AGENCIES
A FLEETING ESG WIN: A federal judge in Texas on Friday reaffirmed his previous ruling upholding a Biden administration rule permitting so-called ESG considerations in certain investment decisions.
Last summer, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals kicked the case back to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, following the Supreme Court's dismantling of so-called Chevron deference, in which the courts gave leeway to federal agencies to fill in the gaps in ambiguous statutes.
Kacsmaryk had partially relied upon Chevron in his 2023 ruling upholding DOL's regulation, so the appellate court determined it made sense to have him reassess the case using the rubric outlined by the high court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.
Ultimately Kacsmaryk ended up in the same place and called the challenge led by a gaggle of GOP attorneys general 'the wooden textualism that courts should endeavor to avoid.'
'The 2022 Rule does not permit a fiduciary to act for other interests than the beneficiaries' or for other purposes than the beneficiaries' financial benefit,' he wrote.
The judge's decision stand out as Kacsmaryk was a frequent headache for the Biden administration — most notably in ruling against the validity of federal approval for abortion drug mifepristone, as well issues ranging from firearm background checks to immigration enforcement.
Regardless, the case may return to the 5th Circuit for further review and the Trump administration may look to return to a regulation it issued the first go-around that limited fiduciaries to focusing solely on risk and return.
NOT A GOOD LOOK: David Keeling, Trump's pick to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, oversaw a workplace with dozens of heat-related injuries while serving as UPS' top safety official, our Ariel Wittenberg reported for POLITICO's E&E News.
OSHA in 2019 cited UPS for leaving drivers exposed to temperatures that reached 104 degrees and sought the maximum penalty of $13,260.
Why it matters: Keeling will play a role in determining whether OSHA proceeds with its proposed heat safety rule that was crafted during the Biden administration, which requires employers to provide workers with water and rest while working in extreme heat.
The Teamsters, which represents UPS drivers and has been critical of how it treats its workers, praised Keeling's nomination and noted his pre-executive experience as an on-the-ground employee for the company.
More agency news: ''Good luck with that.' Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing,' from CNN.
For whom the bell tolls: 'Dozens of employees at U.S. DOGE Service dismissed,' from Government Executive.
Unions
BLOWOUT LOSS: Supporters of an effort to unionize an Amazon facility in North Carolina lost decisively over the weekend by a roughly 3-1 margin, The Raleigh News & Observer reports.
Nearly 2,500 workers at RDU1 in the town of Garner voted against joining the union, Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, versus the 829 who voted in favor of organizing.
It is the latest blow for labor organizers to crack into Amazon, with the surprise 2022 upset at JFK8 on Staten Island increasingly an outlier.
More on the election: 'After a North Carolina Election Loss, Amazon Union Organizers Must Think Bigger, Bolder,' from The Nation.
In the Workplace
BUYERS' MARKET: D.C.-area law firms are seeing a flood of interest from government attorneys looking to leave the civil service amid the Trump administration's disruption of the federal workforce, Bloomberg Law reports.
The surge of interest is a boon to private firms, particularly as their pay packages are often far more lucrative than what the government can offer and the competition lessens applicants' room to bargain.
Fun fact: 'Only the New York metropolitan area has more attorneys than the 48,000 lawyers working in the DC region, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics.'
(NOT ACTUALLY) SELLERS' MARKET: The recent culling of the federal workforce is not actually leading to a spike of D.C. home listings, WUSA reports.
Local real estate knowers say it's just the natural cyclical fluctuations the capital experiences, particularly whenever presidential administrations change.
WHAT WE'RE READING
— 'Mass layoffs, court challenges and buyouts: Making sense of Trump's plans to shrink the federal workforce,' from our Andrew Howard.
— 'It was the deadliest workplace in America. So why didn't safety regulators shut it down?' from The Washington Post.
— 'Republicans are teeing up the next big immigration test for nervous Democrats. Activist groups are watching,' from our Nicholas Wu and Myah Ward.
— 'The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory,' from Bloomberg.
THAT'S YOUR SHIFT!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's inner circle shifted view to support limited, one-off strike on Iran nuclear sites
Donald Trump's move to bomb three nuclear sites in Iran came as those inside his orbit who were opposed to US intervention in the conflict shifted their views in favor of a limited and one-off strike. The US president had been under immense pressure from Republican anti-interventionists not to engage in any action against Iran out of concern that the US might be dragged into a protracted engagement to topple Iran's leadership, or that strikes on facilities might have limited success. Some advisers both inside and outside the White House tried to dissuade him from becoming entangled in what they characterized as a conflict started by Israel. They initially suggested the US could continue to help Israel with support from the intelligence community. Related: What is Iran's Fordow nuclear site and why was a US strike needed? But in recent days, as Trump increasingly considered the prospect of strikes and told advisers he had no interest in a prolonged war to bring about regime change, some advisers shifted their public arguments to suggesting the US could do a quick bombing run if Israel could do nothing further. The evolving views gave Trump some cover to order a bombing run that targeted the three nuclear facilities in Iran. A US official said on Saturday that the strikes were complete, the B-2 bombers used in the raid were out of Iranian airspace and no further follow-up attacks were planned. However, the strikes will inevitably be seen by some as a victory for hardliners in the US who have pushed for a tough stance on Iran, a firm backing of Israel's attack on the country and direct US military involvement in that effort. The US strikes in the end were limited to Iran's nuclear uranium-enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow, the facility buried deep underground that is seen as the most difficult to take offline, and a third site at Isfahan, where Iran was believed to have stored its near-weapons-grade uranium. It was unclear whether the bombing run did enough damage to set back Iran's ability to acquire a nuclear weapon, and whether Iran had already moved the weapons-grade uranium out of the Isfahan laboratory as some officials suggested. Trump appeared to view the bombing run as comparable to his drone strike to assassinate Gen Qassem Suleimani of Iran, one of his proudest accomplishments from his first term and one he mentioned repeatedly at campaign rallies, despite his denunciations of US military action in the Middle East. Like he did after the Suleimani operation, Trump posted a giant graphic of the American flag on his Truth Social account shortly after he described the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities as 'very successful' in a post announcing details of the operation. The comparison appeared to be an additional effort to underscore his intentions that he does not want a wider war with Iran and was only focused on the necessary steps to ensure Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon. Whether that hope plays out could depend on large part on how Iran interprets the strikes and its ability to retaliate. If Iranian leaders perceived them to be limited, it could lead to a more measured response. But if seen as too disproportionate, and with little to lose, Iran could open frontal attacks on numerous US bases in the region. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley Defends Wind Energy After Trump Calls It ‘Junk'
President Donald Trump is ranting about wind power again, and a top Republican lawmaker is pushing back. 'Windmills, and the rest of this 'JUNK,' are the most expensive and inefficient energy in the world, is destroying the beauty of the environment, and is 10 times more costly than any other energy,' Trump posted on Truth Social. He added that renewables are mostly made in China. 'It is time to break away, finally, from this craziness!!!' he wrote. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) quickly said that wind energy is a key energy source in his state — and cheap. 'Iowans get 60% of their electricity frm wind energy It's an important tool for America's energy independence &2 keep Iowans' utility bills low,' he posted on X. Grassley, who is even older than Trump, has been a champion of wind energy since he pushed legislation incentivizing wind energy in 1993. As Senate Judiciary Chair, Grassley plays a key role in advancing Trump's agenda in Congress. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber. Grassley also pushed back on Trump in April when the president called windmills 'stupid' at a rally in Michigan. 'I like to tell him, when he talks about wind energy killing birds, there are more birds that fly into the glass towers in Washington, D.C., including his, that kill more birds than wind energy does,' Grassley told Iowa station KCCI. Despite Trump's claims that windmills and other renewable energy sources are expensive, in real life, wind energy is a cheap source of power. Both wind and solar energy cost less than fossil fuels. Any increased prices are likely due to inflation. Wind energy seems to occupy a lot of space in Trump's mind. At a campaign event in Wisconsin last year, Trump appears to have said people aren't eating bacon because wind energy is expensive. 'You take a look at bacon and some of these products — and some people don't eat bacon any more,' Trump said. 'We are going to get the energy prices down. When we get energy down, you know … this was caused by their horrible energy — wind. They want wind all over the place. But when it doesn't blow, we have a little problem.' In 2019, Trump claimed at a speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee that the noise from windmills causes cancer. 'If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one, OK?' 'I hate wind,' Trump reportedly said at Mar-A-Lago last year. At a rally last year in New Jersey, Trump made the false claim that aquatic wind turbines 'cause tremendous problems with the fish and the whales.' He then compared a dead beached whale to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. In 2023, he claimed windmills are driving whales 'crazy' and killing them. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there is 'no scientific evidence' that windmills are killing whales. 'The windmills are killing our country by the way,' Trump said earlier this month. He called them 'the greatest scam in history. It's the most expensive energy you can buy. They're ugly.' On Trump's first day in office, he issued an executive order halting wind energy projects. More than a dozen attorneys general then sued the administration over the executive order. The Trump administration moved to dismiss the suit. Then, earlier this week, a judge said he plans to deny that motion, allowing the case to proceed. Trump's attitude toward wind energy has had a palpable effect in the industry, E&E News reported. 'We've seen a chilling effect across the industry from the administration's stance on offshore wind, and subsequent damaging executive orders,' Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, told the outlet. More from Rolling Stone Trump Announces U.S. Dropped 'Payload of Bombs' on Iran via Truth Social Mahmoud Khalil Says He'll 'Continue to Protest' Following ICE Detention Release Trump's Admin Is Policing Foreign Students' Social Media for 'Political Activism' Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Not what 'MAGA wanted to hear': Tensions within GOP remain about Trump's Iran strike
MAGA figure Steve Bannon said Trump's comments about potential future strikes on Iran are "open ended" and worried the situation could escalate. After President Donald Trump finished his address to the nation about bombing Iran, close ally and MAGA leader Steve Bannon declared on his podcast that it may not have been what 'a lot of MAGA wanted to hear.' Trump indicated he doesn't want to escalate further, but said 'if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.' Bannon called Trump's comments about potential additional strikes 'open ended' and said the situation has the potential to escalate. 'This is incrementalism,' Bannon said. 'If they hit back at American troops, do we go back in and hit again? Next thing you know, brother, you're in a forever war.' A vociferous debate about whether Trump should bomb Iran's nuclear facilities played out among conservatives in the lead up to the June 21 attack. Some prominent MAGA figures said a strike would go against Trump's anti-interventionist approach, which has tapped into deep discontent with prolonged wars in the Middle East and reshaped the party's foreign policy. Opposition to 'forever wars' has become one of the central tenets of the Trump GOP, something the president has repeatedly highlighted in casting himself as a 'peacemaker' who would get the country out of war − not start new ones. That makes this a delicate and legacy-defining moment for Trump. It's also a sensitive one for him within his own party. More: 'It's blowing up': The Iran conflict is sparking a MAGA civil war Many Republicans are rallying around the president after the Iran strike. Everyone from Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence to a slew of congressional leaders and MAGA figures such as Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk praised the move. 'Great unity in the Republican Party,' Trump wrote on social media the day after the attack. 'Perhaps unity like we have never seen before.' But tensions remain among conservatives. Bannon pointed to posts on the message board for his show in arguing Trump has 'some work to do' to sell his Iran strike to his base, particularly younger conservatives. What comes next will be key. Figures such as Bannon are concerned about seeking regime change in Iran, and don't want to see the situation escalate. 'No regime change war,' former Florida congressman and MAGA firebrand turned conservative media figure Matt Gaetz wrote on social media June 22, saying he hopes any Iran retaliation would be minimal and not prompt further U.S. attacks. The Trump administration is attuned to such concerns. Vice President JD Vance appeared on two prominent television programs June 22 to make the case that Trump isn't pursuing regime change. 'I certainly empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East, I understand the concern,' Vance said on NBC, adding: 'This is not going to be some long, drawn-out thing.' Vance also addressed the contradiction between the president casting himself as a peacemaker while dropping bombs on Iran. 'There's a question about how do you achieve peace, and we believe the way you achieve peace is through strength,' Vance said on ABC. Some conservatives are dismissing concerns that Trump's bombing campaign could fracture the GOP. Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone told USA TODAY Trump is "far too wise" to get drawn into a "prolonged never-ending war," which he said is the only thing that could divide the MAGA coalition. Lanhee Chen, a fellow with the conservative Hoover Institution and former adviser to leading GOP figures, said on NBC June 22 that the debate between the the GOP leading up to Trump's strike on Iran has been muted since the bombs fell. Chen argued that keeping Iran from having nuclear weapons has long been a unifying point for Republicans. If the attack ends up being similar to what Trump did in 2020 when he ordered a drone strike that killed an Iranian general and didn't escalate into broader conflict, then Chen believes Trump is "going to be able to hold the coalition together." Republican consultant Matt Gorman said on Fox News Sunday that Trump "threaded the needle beautifully." Gorman, who served as an adviser to GOP U.S. Sen. Tim Scott's 2024 presidential campaign, said the Trump administration has been clear that the Iran attack is "a very limited, targeted, focused operation. They don't want anything long term." Iran's response could change the Trump administration's calculus, though. The president is gambling he can deliver a targeted strike without getting drawn into a prolonged conflict, something he has pledged to avoid. "We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into," Trump said on Inauguration Day. That commitment could be tested if Iran hits back and Trump weighs whether to retaliate with more U.S. strikes, which he is promising to do. 'I think the concerning part, at least the part that's open ended, is these additional strikes," Bannon said.
