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Labor Secretary nominee withdraws
Fast-food CEO Puzder faced growing concern from Senate GOP
Fast food executive Andrew Puzder drops out of consideration for Cabinet post a day before hearing.
WASHINGTON — The troubled nomination of fastfood executive Andrew Puzder to become President Donald Trump’s labor secretary collapsed Wednesday amid growing Republican opposition.
Puzder, CEO of California-based CKE Restaurants, the parent company of the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s chains, abruptly withdrew just a day before he was to face a Senate confirmation hearing.
He had faced aggressive attacks in recent weeks by Democrats, unions, workers’ rights advocates and fast-food employees for labor law violations at his company’s restaurants and his opposition to a significant increase in the federal minimum wage.
But his decision to pull out was triggered by concerns from a growing number of Senate Republicans about decades-old allegations of spousal abuse and an admission that he had employed a housekeeper who was in the U.S. illegally.
“After careful consideration and discussions with my family, I am withdrawing my nomination for secretary of Labor,” Puzder said in a statement emailed by his spokesman. “I am honored to have been considered by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Labor and put America’s workers and businesses back on a path to sustainable prosperity.”
Democrats rejoiced as they succeeded in helping knock out one of Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
“His withdrawal from consideration is good news for hard-working Americans across the country,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “It’s time for President Trump to stop looking out for his billionaire buddies and name a secretary of labor who will stand up for workers.”
The collapse of Puzder’s nomination adds to a tough week for Trump’s young presidency. After seeing his controversial travel ban blocked by federal courts last week, Trump lost one of his early key supporters with the forced resignation Monday night of Michael Flynn. The former national security adviser was pushed out over false statements he made about his December contacts with a Russian diplomat.
Trump issued no statement Wednesday regarding Puzder’s decision.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer blamed Senate Democrats for delaying and politicizing the confirmation process. “It’s just ridiculous. He was not given a hearing,” he said.
Puzder, 66, helped CKE Restaurants overcome severe financial difficulties in the 1990s before becoming chief executive in 2000. He raised the profile of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s with ads featuring scantily clad women eating over-sized hamburgers.
Puzder also was an outspoken opponent of increased government regulation, criticizing the Affordable Care Act and the Obama administration’s attempt to expand the number of workers eligible for overtime pay. He also mused about the benefits of increased automation in his restaurants.
Democrats targeted Puzder for defeat. And opponents got extra time to build their case after several delays in his confirmation hearing as senators awaited his ethics and financial disclosure forms.
Last week, Puzder admitted that he had employed for years a housekeeper who was in the U.S. illegally. Puzder paid back taxes related to the employee after being selected by Trump in early December.
Puzder also dealt with the fallout from his divorce in the 1980s. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and other Republicans expressed concern over a 1990 episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in which Puzder’s ex-wife, Lisa Fierstein, made allegations of abuse.
Last month Fierstein wrote to the leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee saying she had retracted those accusations. She called Puzder a “a good, loving, kind man.”
But by Wednesday, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Tim Scott, R-S.C., Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and John Thune, R-S.D., had all expressed reservations.
Puzder drew resistance from some on the right for views he once expressed in support of immigrant labor. That alarmed some conservative groups that advocate limiting the influx of foreign workers so they won’t compete with Americans for jobs.
In an editorial Wednesday morning, the conservative National Review came out against Puzder’s nomination, saying he “has been a reliable font of cliches in favor of higher levels of legal immigration.”
The White House has not identified a replacement. One candidate could be Peter Kirsanow, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board whom Trump met with in November.
Meanwhile, Trump’s choice to run the White House budget office cleared a Senate hurdle Wednesday. But Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a tea party lawmaker from South Carolina, has attracted opposition from Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, RAriz., who says Mulvaney’s record of support for military operations in Afghanistan and the Pentagon budget generally is too soft.