Feb 11, 2009

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Solis Clears Panel – New Sec. of Labor Before President’s Day?

[UPDATE: Senate Confirms Solis as Secretary of Labor - Click Here for Story]

Hilda Solis, the California Congresswoman who has had to go by “President Obama’s pick for Secretary of Labor” for a good two months now, just got one step closer to leading the DOL today when the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee voted to approve sending her name to the floor for a vote.

Solis’s approval vote had been delayed most recently because of concerns over money her husband paid to the IRS, presumably in back business taxes, on the day before the vote was scheduled.

But Solis’s story goes back farther than that – as a pro-union member of Congress, Solis invoked the ire of conservative lawmakers by refusing to answer whether she would support such new initiaves as the Employee Free Choice or Ledbetter Acts if confirmed.  According to reports by labor committee spokesman (by way of Reuters), two Republican Senators – Tom Coburn (OK) and Pat Roberts (KS) dissented.

The Boston Globe, is reporting that the Senate is hoping to vote Rep. Solis into her new position before the President’s Day break.