President Donald Trump scored a majority victory on Monday evening when the Senate, led by Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), confirmed his union-backed nominee to lead the Labor Department.
With members voting 67-32 in favor of former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (D-OR), the upper chamber has given its blessing to all secretaries in Trump’s second-term Cabinet. Trump now has 21 Cabinet-level nominees confirmed, leaving only Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who has been tapped to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations but has yet to get a floor vote as Republicans contend with a slim majority in the House and New York Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul is reportedly expected to slow-walk the election to replace her.
Seventeen Democrats joined with the majority of Republicans in supporting Chavez-DeRemer while Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Ted Budd (R-NC) banded together with the rest of the Democrats and independents in voting against her.
“I’m deeply honored to be confirmed as the 30th [Labor] Secretary under President [Trump],” Chavez-DeRemer said in a post on X. “As promised, I’ll work tirelessly to put American Workers First by fighting for good-paying jobs, safe working conditions, and secure retirement benefits. Let’s get to work.”
All 21 positions in Trump’s “formal” Cabinet have now been approved by the Senate in the seven weeks since Inauguration Day, according to Fox News’ Chad Pergram, who also noted that former President Joe Biden did not have his Cabinet completed until March 22 of 2021 — when the Senate confirmed Marty Walsh as labor secretary.
The Trump 2.0 Cabinet includes: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and Chavez-DeRemer.
Some of the confirmation votes have been very tight while some nominees have breezed through. The closest vote happened in January when Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaker to confirm Hegseth. Gabbard was confirmed in a 52-48 vote and Kennedy Jr. in a 52-48 vote. Rubio, himself a former U.S. senator from Florida, received the most bipartisan support among all the nominees with a 99-0 vote. Other top officials not in Cabinet positions have also been confirmed, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
