Solis Gets Committee Vote Tomorrow
President Obama's Labor Secretary nominee, former Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), will get her long-awaited confirmation vote in the Senate labor committee tomorrow, a aide to that panel just told me.
Solis' nomination had been slowed down by Republicans seeking to twist her arm on the Employee Free Choice Act, a longtime priority of the labor movement and a stated goal of the Obama administration. (Here's more from Matt on the internal politics of that debate.)
The committee has the votes to approve Solis even if every GOPer dissents. The question then is if, and how quickly, a Republican senator subsequently places an anonymous hold on her nomination. We'll be watching.














This is good news.
February 4, 2009 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why the Hell did this take so long?
February 4, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Elana, at the Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions committee website the hearing at 2:00 tomorrow is described as "Executive Session", and includes both the House and Senate committees.
'Executive session' to me says 'closed to press and public'. Is that a misreading, an error in description on the committee site, or...? Would a confirmation vote ever be anything but public?
February 4, 2009 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
on the website of Senate HELP Committee it says:
2/5 Executive Session - Any Nominations Cleared for Action; SD-430, 2:00 p.m.
February 5, 2009 12:02 AM | Reply | Permalink