Facing mounting criticsm and GOP opposition, Andrew Puzder, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Labor Department, has withdrawn from consideration, according to numerous published reports.
A source told CBS News Wednesday, a day before Puzder's nomination hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, that Puzder was expected to withdraw because he's ”very tired of the abuse.”
A day before his nomination hearing, top Senate Republicans had urged the White House to withdraw Puzder as its pick for Labor secretary, a senior GOP source told CNN on Wednesday.
CNN said that the GOP source said there are four firm Republican no votes and possibly up to 12.
Puzder needed at least 50 votes to pass with the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence, and Republicans only hold 52 seats.
“No matter how you cut it, there is no worse pick for Labor secretary than Andrew Puzder, and I'm encouraged my Republican colleagues are starting to agree,” said Senate Miniority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in a Wednesday statement after hearing the reports of growing GOP concerns. “He does not belong anywhere near the Labor Department, let alone at the head of it. Puzder's disdain for the American worker, the very people he would be responsible for protecting, is second to none. President Trump should immediately withdraw this nomination and nominate a champion of worker's rights.”
Four Senate Republicans said Tuesday that they would withhold their support for Puzder — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Johnny Isakson of Georgia — until after the Thursday confirmation hearing.
Former Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, who's now running for chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Puzder “unfit” to serve as the next Labor secretary in an interview on CNN.
“He's unfit for the office,” Perez told CNN. “The Labor Department is about protecting workers; it's about lifting their wages,” noting that Puzder is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Labor's overtime pay rule.
A Texas federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in late November barring the department from implementing and enforcing its proposed new overtime rules, which were scheduled to become effective Dec. 1. The dispute is pending now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
