Solis Expected to be Confirm Today for Dept of Labor Post After assurances by Republicans

WASHINGTON — The Senate is expected to confirm Hilda Solis to be President Barack Obama's labor secretary on Tuesday, more than two months after she was first nominated to the post.
Lawmakers scheduled the vote after Democrats won assurances earlier in the day that Republicans would not filibuster the nomination.

The agreement does away with the need for a test vote that would have required at least 60 votes to move her confirmation forward.

A Senate committee cleared the California congresswoman's nomination earlier this month with only two Republicans voting against her.

Some GOP lawmakers have complained about Solis's work for a pro-labor group that supports legislation to make it easier for workers to organize unions. She also had to answer questions about tax liens filed against her husband.

Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President of SEIU, sends over the following statement, filled with the requisite amount of triumph and glee.

"What a novel concept: a secretary of labor who supports the rights of workers... Over the past eight years, the Department of Labor could have been renamed the Department for Corporations. America's workers saw their wages fall flat, there was no enforcement of minimum wage or overtime pay, minimal health and safety oversight, fewer resources for worker training and development, and finally, no attention paid to workers' rights. Anyone who thinks it's time for the DOL to stand by the side of working people is cheering for Hilda Solis today."

During our current economic crisis, it's important that we have a strong Secretary of Labor as the voice of working people. Hilda Solis will be responsible for unemployment benefits, enforcing the minimum wage, and managing job creation and training programs.

Hilda Solis is a champion of the middle class. She's fought for green jobs, the Employee Free Choice Act, fair pay for women, and children's health insurance. Raised by two union members, Solis is an experienced leader who has fought to restore balance to our economy and fairness for working families throughout her entire career.

President Obama nominated Hilda Solis for Secretary of Labor more than two months ago. It's time she was allowed to get to work.


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