The confirmation of radical unionist Hilda Solis, Democrat congresswoman from Los Angeles, to be Obama's new Secretary of Labor has hit a snag.
While the Senate has approved other Cabinet nominees left and right -- including a Treasury Secretary who has admitted to failing to pay income taxes -- Solis has yet to make it out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The Pasadena Star-News has more:
At least one unidentified Republican senator is using a parliamentary procedure to holdup Solis' confirmation, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, alleged from the Senate floor Thursday.
The anonymous hold -- as the informal delay tactic is known -- essentially prevents the full Senate from voting on Solis' confirmation by threatening a filibuster. It could be lifted at any time.
The hold was placed on the nomination because of Solis' support for legislation aimed at facilitating union organization and regarding pay-discrimination, and for non-responsive answers during her confirmation hearing, the Washington, DC-based Congress Daily reported Friday.
President Obama is asking the Senate -- and the American people -- to approve as Labor Secretary a Congresswoman who chose not to -- or can't -- answer questions about worker freedom, secret ballots, or prevailing wage laws. As we recently wrote, Solis told the HELP Committee that she is "not qualified" to discuss Right to Work.
Solis has made a political career of carrying Big Labor's water -- first in the California legislature and more recently in the U.S. House of Representatives. She sports a 100 percent lifetime AFL-CIO rating. In fact, the union bosses hand-picked Solis in 2000 to challenge then-incumbent Congressman Marty Martinez (D-CA) because Martinez "only" voted with Big Labor 80 percent of the time.
Here is what she said at the recent U.S. Senate confirmation hearing in which Solis dodges questions on basic issues any Labor Secretary nominee should be able to address -- issues like card check and Right to Work. Check out the video below:
