Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder will get his first confirmation hearing on Feb. 16, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee announced Wednesday.
His first hearing had been postponed four times over questions regarding how he divested his personal investments, but those concerns have apparently been resolved.
“The committee has received Mr. Puzder’s (Office of Government Ethics) paperwork and will notice a hearing tomorrow for Thursday, Feb. 16,” a spokesman for committe Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told the Washington Examiner in an email.
Puzder is the last Cabinet appointee of President Trump who remains unconfirmed and is likely to face stiff opposition from Senate Democrats. As the chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s franchises, he has been an outspoken critic of federal regulations, prompting staunch opposition to his nomination from labor groups.
The repeated delays as well as controversies over his hiring of an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper and allegations of abuse by Puzder’s ex-wife, which she has repeatedly disavowed, caused many on Capitol Hill to think that he might be pulling out. Sources close to nominee have vehemently disputed that Puzder was getting cold feet.
The nominee’s critics vowed to continue their fight against him. “While much speculation surrounds the repeated delays, today’s announcement makes one thing clear—President Trump and Senate Republicans are doubling down on a nominee whose policy positions are bad for U.S. workers. Now, senators will have an opportunity to show where they stand,” said Celine McNicholas, labor counsel for the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
