Last Friday, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Labor, Rep. Hilda Solis, appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to confirm her appointment.
We've compiled a short round-up of the media coverage surrounding Secretary-designate Solis' confirmation hearings. From Washington-insider publications like the National Journal, to local papers like the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the consensus is clear: Hilda Solis appears to be headed towards confirmation, and her eagerness to begin working on behalf of all the working people in our great nation has earned her bipartisan support.
National Journal/Congress Daily: Senate Committee Gives Rep. Solis Friendly Treatment
Labor Secretary-designate Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., will likely sail to confirmation despite the intense partisan divisions over labor policy on display today at her hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
"I intend to support you," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah...
"If I am confirmed I will first and foremost be sure that we attend to the goals of the Department of Labor," (Solis) said. In her testimony, Solis laid out four priorities for her tenure: expanding job training and creating green jobs; enforcing workplace safety laws; enhancing retirement security; and eliminating discrimination. Solis has a strong record of backing organized labor, and unions have praised her nomination.
New York Daily News Blog: Solis Likely To Skate To Labor Post
The second Obama pick to face a confirmation hearing chaired by Kennedy in as many days, Solis is expected to be confirmed without much fanfare or fireworks. "We come away from the hearing with a strong sense of your caring about these issues, opened the hearing talking about some of these issues and the plight of so many working families," Kennedy told Solis at the end her hearing. "We look forward to working closely with you. You have an extraordinary reputation."
Reuters: Obama Labor pick vows to boost job training
President-elect Barack Obama's pick to become the top U.S. labor official said on Friday her priorities would be to boost job training and search assistance to fight a deepening U.S. recession. Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis, tapped by Obama to become labor secretary, also told her Senate confirmation hearing she would fight job discrimination and ensure employees "get the pay they have earned working in safe, healthy and fair workplaces."
NBC's First Read: Solis confirmation appears assured
At her Senate confirmation hearing this morning, Labor Secretary-nominee Hilda Solis pledged to focus on protecting the interests of the American worker by improving employer rights and wages and fighting job discrimination. Solis's confirmation seems to be assured, with members present at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing expressing their full support for her nomination.
The Nation: Senator Kennedy Approves
On Friday, Solis offered every indication that Kennedy, and working Americans - would finally have an ally at the Department of Labor. Pledging to change the department so that it would, to paraphrase Obama, "once again stand up for working families," Solis told the committee that "we need to restore the respect and integrity of those individuals in the workplace." Even Republican senators on the committee generally treated Solis with respect Friday. And Kennedy, still the master at making things happen on Capitol Hill, has left no doubt that her confirmation process will move toward a smooth and swift approval by the committee and the full Senate.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Solis a solid choice for labor
"She could emerge as an unusually effective labor leader, because she has something to offer besides policy expertise. Past labor secretaries have been academics, policy intellectuals, not politicos," said Taylor Dark, assistant professor of political science at Cal State Los Angeles. "She knows unions, she has worked closely with them. She has made union issues a key part of her political career."
