President Joe Biden's controversial nominee to be secretary of labor was cleared Wednesday by the Senate Education and Labor Committee on a strict party-line vote. But it is uncertain whether Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, onetime secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and deputy under former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, can muster the votes needed to be confirmed by the full Senate.
What critics call Su's record of favoring unions over business has prompted a nationwide campaign by various urging her rejection.
The almost-certain absence of California's ailing Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein means that Su will get — at the most — 50 votes in the Senate, assuming that all 49 Republicans oppose her nomination. Should two of the three Democrats who are presently undecided — Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, and Mark Kelly of Arizona — or should one of them plus Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who is also undecided, vote "no," Su will be the 10th Cabinet nominee in American history to be rejected for nomination and only the fourth since 1925.
Charles B. Warren, who had served as U.S. ambassador to Japan and Mexico, was nominated by President Calvin Coolidge to be attorney general in 1925. Warren was under fire from Senate Democrats and progressive Republicans for an alleged conflict of interest from his work as counsel to the Sugar Refineries Company (or "Sugar Trust"). The first vote on Warren’s nomination was a 40-to-40 tie, with Vice President Charles G. Dawes dashing from his suite at the Willard Hotel only to arrive in the Senate too late to cast the tie-breaking vote.
On a subsequent vote, the lone Democrat senator to have supported Warren switched to opposing him and thus the nomination was killed 41-39.
In 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower's nomination of retired Adm. Lewis Strauss to be secretary of commerce stirred up major controversy. Although Strauss had been confirmed by the Senate for three previous appointments, he was a particular target of liberals for his role as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in denying atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer a security clearance in 1954 over alleged Communist ties. With Oppenheimer considered the "father of the atomic bomb" and an increasingly revered figure by 1959, Strauss was considered a malevolent figure by most Democrats and some liberal Republicans.
Former President Harry Truman sent a telegram to the Senate Commerce Committee claiming Strauss had exaggerated his role in convincing Truman to support the H-Bomb. Several witnesses testified against Strauss, including one who finally admitted never having had dealings with the nominee or meeting him. After a highly fractious debate in the Senate, Strauss was rejected by a vote of 49-46.
President George H.W. Bush's 1989 nomination of former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, to be secretary of defense was initially considered a slam dunk. The Texan had been chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chaired an eponymous commission that investigated the Iran Contra scandal of the Reagan administration. But testimony from conservative activist Paul Weyrich that the nominee had been intoxicated on occasions and accompanied by women other than his wife opened up an opportunity for former colleagues who disliked Tower to come out against him. Led by Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., with whom Tower had clashed on the Armed Services Committee, a campaign began focusing on reports of the nominee's alleged misbehavior. The final vote was a rejection of Tower by 53-47, whereupon Bush named House GOP Whip (and future Vice President) Dick Cheney to be the civilian chief of the armed services.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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