April 9, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 61 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page S2317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Cheryl Marie Stanton

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I come to the floor tonight to oppose 
the nomination of Cheryl Stanton to serve as Administrator of the 
Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.
  The Wage and Hour Division enforces some of our Nation's most 
important workplace laws, including the Federal minimum wage, overtime 
pay, child labor laws, and family and medical leave. Yet, Ms. Stanton 
has a very long history of siding with employers when they have 
violated workers' rights. So I will be voting against this nomination, 
and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
  I also want to object to the Senate moving on Republican labor 
nominees without approving nominations for the Equal Employment 
Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.
  Last Congress, in an unprecedented display of obstruction, my 
colleagues across the aisle blocked the confirmation of Chai Feldblum 
and Mark Pearce for terms on the EEOC and NLRB, respectively.
  Even though both of these nominees were highly qualified, respected 
by their peers, Senate Republicans refused to give them a vote.
  These are critical Agencies that are responsible for protecting 
workers' rights. Yet my colleagues across the aisle were more 
interested in tilting the playing field even more in favor of 
corporations than providing the Commission and the Board with balanced 
voices.
  Despite longstanding practice to confirm majority and minority 
members to independent Agencies, my colleagues across the aisle jammed 
through Republican nominees only to the Board without Mr. Pearce, the 
Democratic nominee.
  Republican leaders allowed one Senator to block the nomination of Ms. 
Feldblum to the EEOC, meaning that important civil rights agency is 
unable to do some of its most critical work.
  In this moment, as our Nation is grappling with how to address the 
epidemic of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace, 
hamstringing the Agency that is responsible for protecting women's 
rights and safety is absolutely the wrong message to send to women, to 
workers, and to businesses.
  So I am going to keep fighting to make sure the nominees to the 
National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity 
Commission represent all voices, as they are supposed to, not just 
corporations.
  I urge every man, woman, and worker who believes workers should have 
a voice to join me in that.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.