Republicans don't want Obama's Labor Secretary to work on key labor issue, but Bush's Labor Secretary (Mitch McConnell's wife) could fight it

Apparently, Republican Senators want to establish a new standard for the Secretary of Labor: Stay out of pro-worker legislation. Wonkette captures the situation perfectly in the post titled, "Labor Nomination Held Up Due To Nominee’s Support Of Labor."

Of course, there were no similar restrictions applied to Secretary of Labor for George Bush, Elaine Chao, who was the wife of GOP Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell, when she was working against the interests of working men and women. If the Republicans get their way, Hilda Solis would be prevented from working on pro-worker policy, particularly the Employee Free Choice Act:

Underscoring the bitter debate over a proposal to make it easier for workers to form unions, Republican senators are suggesting that President Obama's pick for Labor secretary must recuse herself from lobbying for the bill's passage.

A Senate committee will vote today whether to confirm Rep. Hilda L. Solis, a Democrat from El Monte.

In a written exchange with Solis, Republican senators indicated they are wary of her ties to a tax-exempt group dedicated to helping workers unionize.

That's beyond absurd. The Republicans, at the behest of their corporate masters, are apoplectic about the Employee Free Choice Act. They really, really don't want to give workers a chance to unionize. Preventing a cabinet secretary from working on an issue of direct concern to the cabinet secretary's domain is just unheard of. They wouldn't tell Geithner to stay out of issues involving the Federal Reserve, even though he ran the NY Fed. The Republicans have a special disdain for America's working men and women.

Now, this won't come as a surprise, but it's also pure hypocrisy. Elaine Chao used her bully pulpit to fight against the Employee Free Choice Act. She railed against the legislation in on the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal on January 14, 2009, less than a month ago. But now, Republican think it's wrong for the new Labor Secretary in the new administration, which supports the Employee Free Choice Act, to speak out. Wow. They really have no scruples. None.