Steve Rosenthal has a post over at Huffington on Obama's nominee to be Secretary of Labor: Hilda Solis. He also exposes the growing outrage among the business groups because Barack Obama nominated a pro-labor Secretary of Labor. What an outrage, huh? But, the corporate folks (you know, the ones who teamed up with Bush to destroy the American economy) are furious and have launched a campaign to stop Solis:
Earlier this week "Americans for Job Security" announced that they are launching a grassroots effort to bring down Secretary of Labor nominee Congresswoman Hilda Solis. You'd think with a name like "Americans for Job Security" they would be interested in helping American workers instead of greedy corporate interests.Idiots. Of course, they're getting help from the GOP Senators who want to block Solis from even working on the most important piece of pro-worker legislation to be considered in a long time: The Employee Free Choice Act. Yes, Republican Senators want to prevent Solis from supporting workers, but the last Labor Secretary (who was married to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell) could aggressively screw workers over. No hypocrisy there, huh?
Imagine a Labor Secretary who actually cares about workers. Rosenthal says that's Solis:
Hilda Solis is exactly the right type of person to do this work. As the daughter of two immigrant workers and proud union members, Hilda Solis is the embodiment of the American Dream. Solis is an experienced leader who has been an advocate for the middle class and working families throughout her entire career. She has consistently supported efforts to increase the minimum wage and to increase unemployment benefits. Lastly, Solis authored the "Green Collar Jobs Act of 2007" which gives her a unique perspective on how to make the new jobs created in the Economic Recovery Plan the most effective.Last night, John and I wrote several questions in the off chance the President called on me at the press conference (you never know). This was one of the questions:
Republican Senators have suggested your nominee for Secretary of Labor, Representative Hilda Solis, should recuse herself from the debate on one of the most important pieces of labor-related legislation: The Employee Free Choice Act, which your administration supports. What are your thoughts on that Republican suggestion for your Labor Secretary and what is the time frame for consideration of the Employee Free Choice Act?Now, I'd probably include a line asking what he would say to corporate leaders who oppose having a Labor Secretary who actually cares about workers.
