The Senate confirmed Keith Sonderling as Labor secretary on a 47-41 vote Wednesday, advancing President Trump’s workforce agenda over Democratic warnings about overtime rules and unions.
Senators approved Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Labor after the chamber’s committee advanced the nomination, locking in a longtime labor-policy hand who had already been running the agency on an acting basis.
The New York Post reported the 47-41 confirmation came as the Senate prepared to head home and campaign for the midterm elections.
Sonderling had served as acting secretary since April. He was confirmed as deputy secretary in March of last year and returned to the department in Trump’s second term after earlier service there.
The vote filled the vacancy created when the White House announced that Lori Chavez-DeRemer would leave the post for a private-sector job. Her exit followed multiple allegations that she had abused the power of her position.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairs the committee that sent Sonderling’s nomination to the full Senate. Cassidy said it was clear the nominee was qualified.
Cassidy stated:
"I’m confident that he will protect workers, help businesses create more jobs, and help workers navigate AI-driven changes in the workforce,"
That pitch matches the department’s core mission: administering federal labor laws so workers get fair, safe, and healthy conditions on the job.
Sonderling is no outsider to the building he now leads. He worked as a senior advisor in the Department of Labor during Trump’s first term.
He later served as a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He also taught as an adjunct professor at George Washington University, covering the same labor laws the department enforces.
In short, the Senate installed someone who has already held senior roles at Labor, sat on the federal workplace-bias commission, and taught the statutes he will now administer.
Democrats opposed the confirmation. They cited disagreement with administration policies, including the management of some Department of Education grant programs now handled at Labor.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., spoke against the nomination during Sonderling’s confirmation hearing.
Murray said:
"I fear any vote to confirm you is for more of the same: to strip overtime protections for our workers, to undercut our unions and to let giant corporations get away with robbery, literally,"
Those lines framed the Democratic case: overtime rules, union leverage, and corporate enforcement. Republicans answered with the nominee’s experience and a focus on jobs and technology shifts in the workplace.
Part of the Democratic objection tied to Labor’s role managing certain Education Department grant programs. Trump has worked to fulfill a campaign pledge to close the Department of Education entirely.
Moving or consolidating education-related functions into Labor is one piece of that larger reorganization fight. Sonderling now holds the cabinet seat that oversees those pieces along with classic wage, hour, and workplace-safety duties.
The 47-41 tally shows a divided chamber, yet the nomination cleared both committee and floor. After the vote, senators left Washington to campaign.
Sonderling’s path ran from first-term senior advisor, to the EEOC, to classroom instruction on labor law, to deputy secretary last March, to acting secretary in April, and now to full confirmation.
He takes over after Chavez-DeRemer’s announced departure for private work, a change the White House tied to her exit and that followed the abuse-of-power allegations reported against her.
Supporters cast him as prepared to protect workers and help employers hire. Opponents cast the same confirmation as a green light to weaken overtime and unions. The Senate record is the 47-41 vote and the two parties’ stated reasons.
A cabinet department that writes and enforces the rules for American workplaces now has a confirmed secretary who already knew the building, the statutes, and the policy fights waiting on his desk.
Voters who want labor law run with competence and common sense just got a secretary with the résumé for the job, and a Senate majority willing to put him there.
