President Trump has given little indication that he intends to formally nominate Deputy Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella to replace departing Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta. Instead, he appears to be willing to leave Pizzella in place for the foreseeable future as “acting secretary” only, a move that would allow Pizzella to avoid a likely tough nomination fight on Capitol Hill.

“Everybody at the White House is perfectly happy with Pizzella,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, citing conversations he has had with administration officials. He doesn’t see the White House replacing Pizzella or putting him up for Senate confirmation, arguing that the latter move would just suck up time and energy that the Trump administration would rather use to get others, such as judges, through the nomination process. “There’s no advantage to nominating Pizzella, but there is an opportunity cost to it.”