WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has informed the White House that Andrew Puzder, President Donald Trump’s choice to serve as the next labor secretary, lacks the votes to win confirmation in the Senate.
The news, confirmed by a senior senate aide who requested anonymity, came amidst growing resistance from Republicans and conservative organizations concerned about Pudzer’s personal background and business record.
At least seven Republican senators have said they planned to withhold support for Puzder, a restaurant executive and Trump campaign supporter, saying that they wanted to see how the political novice fares at his confirmation hearing, scheduled for Thursday morning.
Additionally, a prominent conservative publication announced its opposition to the pick on Wednesday, saying that Puzder’s support for more legal immigration is at odds with Trump’s position.
Puzder, the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, was set to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for a long-delayed hearing amid a protracted review of his vast personal wealth, details of a rancorous divorce more than 25 years ago and revelations that his family once employed an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper.
Democrats on the panel who opposed Puzder were vowing to show racy images of bikini-clad models eating hamburgers that appeared in television commercials run by his restaurant chains. His supporters were planning to eat biscuits from Hardee’s – one of Puzder’s burger chains – for breakfast while tracking the hearing from a makeshift war room.
Before the hearing, Republicans were showing a notable level of skepticism about one of Trump’s last Cabinet nominees – and certainly the most imperiled – to proceed through Senate confirmation.
“He’s got an awful lot of people who speak highly of him, but all these nominees have a process that they have to go through where they’ve got to respond to the questions people have on their backgrounds and their records, and I want to have that opportunity,” said Sen. John Thune, S.D., the third-ranking Senate Republican, among those withholding support.
Although Republicans had questions about Puzder’s personal employment practices, Democrats had planned to question him about allegations – long since recanted – that he assaulted his ex-wife, his past criticism of minimum-wage laws and his personnel practices, as well as advertising campaigns at his restaurant chains that women’s groups consider sexist.
“I expect straightforward and clear answers,” Sen. Patty Murray, Wash., the top Democrat on the committee, said Wednesday as she met with representatives from women’s organizations that oppose Puzder.
As a restaurant executive, Puzder has spent much of his career speaking out against wage and labor regulations. The former commercial trial lawyer has been a staunch opponent of rules finalized by the Labor Department last year – and since put on hold – that would have expanded the number of people eligible for overtime pay. He also has been critical of substantially increasing the minimum wage, arguing that it could push companies to cut jobs and encourage businesses to invest more money in automation.
Puzder would have been the first labor secretary since the Ronald Reagan era to take the job without some public service experience. He made a minor foray into politics in 2011, when he served as an economic adviser and spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who recently endorsed his nomination.
In 2016, Puzder was an avid Trump supporter. In addition to serving as an economic adviser to his campaign, he and his wife, Deanna Puzder, contributed a total of $332,000 to Trump’s bid, joint fundraising committees and to the Republican National Committee, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Despite public resistance to Puzder, White House officials and top Republican aides insisted as late as Wednesday morning that the confirmation hearing would proceed as scheduled and that Puzder would be confirmed.
“I’m a strong supporter of Andy Puzder. I think he’s uniquely qualified for this job,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. “We hope we’ll be able to get his hearing this week and deal with him when we get back” after next week’s congressional recess.
Senators often do not weigh in on a nominee publicly until after a confirmation hearing, but Republicans have been mostly in lock-step to support Trump’s top Cabinet nominees. Only one other pick – Rex Tillerson to serve as secretary of state – drew as much public wavering among Republicans before his hearing, when five GOP senators expressed doubts. Ultimately, all of them voted for Tillerson.
In addition to Thune, Republican Sens. Rob Portman, Ohio, Thom Tillis, N.C., Susan Collins, Maine, Johnny Isakson, Ga., Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, and Tim Scott, S.C., said this week that they were on the fence regarding Puzder. Collins, Isakson, Murkowski and Scott sit on the HELP Committee while the others do not – signaling that the concerns about Puzder are widespread.
Thune’s hesitancy is notable because his leadership role makes him responsible for helping to build support for big-ticket GOP causes. But he told reporters Wednesday that he wanted to know more about why Puzder employed an undocumented housekeeper and how he paid her. Tillis cited the same concerns.
Puzder revealed to a Senate committee this month that he was unaware of the woman’s immigration status when he hired her. She was terminated and Puzder later paid federal and state back taxes.
Collins and Murkowski also voted against Betsy DeVos, Trump’s choice for education secretary, forcing Vice President Pence to become the first vice president to cast a tiebreaking confirmation vote for a Cabinet member. Both senators are among several who have seen footage of a 1990 “Oprah Winfrey Show” episode in which Puzder’s former wife appeared in disguise to describe allegations of domestic violence.
The HELP Committee requested that Winfrey’s production company provide copies of the episode for senators to review. Puzder has always denied the allegations, and his ex-wife, Lisa Fierstein, recanted the accusations in a letter to senators last month.
Aides said Portman was still reviewing Puzder’s history and did not want to weigh in yet, but the senator represents a state where labor unions are building support against the nomination. Portman won reelection last year with the endorsement of several labor unions, a rare feat these days for a Republican.
On Wednesday, Puzder’s nomination was dealt another blow when the conservative National Review announced its opposition. The publication cited Puzder’s past support for increased levels of legal immigration for high-skilled or seasonal workers – a position at odds with Trump’s calls for limited legal immigration.
“The case for his confirmation has diminished to the point of disappearing,” the publication wrote in an editorial. “Not only is Puzder a representative of the worst reflex of corporate America on one of Trump’s signature issues, he is now significantly weakened.”
The magazine’s editors acknowledged “the impulse of the White House and the Senate to try to bulldog through rather than to give obstructionist Democrats a scalp.” But they added, “The country, and the administration, can weather a redo on this one.”
Amid that opposition, Puzder’s allies were preparing for an aggressive campaign to boost his chances. Restaurant groups especially were intensifying attempts to persuade skeptical senators.
The National Restaurant Association arranged for 10 senators, including Isakson and Scott, to meet Wednesday with a group of CKE employees who the association says enjoy working for Puzder’s restaurants.
“We need to make sure that our next secretary of labor understands how to create jobs, understands how to get businesses and the government working together. And you’ve got that in Andy Puzder,” said Leslie Shedd, a spokeswoman for the restaurant group.
On Thursday, the association had planned to host a “war room” with other industry groups, including the National Retail Federation and the International Franchise Association, that would have been able to respond quickly to issues raised during the hearing.
The group had also planned to munch on those Hardee’s biscuits, delivered from one of the chain’s restaurants in Glen Burnie, Md.
— The Washington Post
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