Confirmation hearings for two people who may have a significant effect on OFCCP went in significantly different directions this week. While the new head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was confirmed on a unanimous vote of the Senate on Wednesday, April 24, a committee vote on the confirmation of President Obama's nominee to be Secretary of Labor was put on hold until at least May 8.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell was confirmed to head OMB on a 96 to 0 vote in the Senate. Ms. Burwell previously served as deputy budget director at OMB during the Clinton administration. Ms. Burwell will have a significant number of items on her plate as she begins her tenure at OMB, including oversight for recent budget proposals by the White House and management of various regulatory initiatives by federal agencies. Ms. Burwell's selection is important in the OFCCP context because OFCCP has a number of proposed regulations, including its massive proposed changes to the regulations concerning veterans and persons with disabilities, that are awaiting approval by OMB.
More important to OFCCP is the continuing absence of a Secretary of Labor. Thomas Perez, who is President Obama's choice to fill the role of the departed Hilda Solis, has run into opposition from Republican members of the Senate. Perez's nomination was supposed to go before the full Senate by the end of April, but instead the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee scheduled another day of hearings on May 8. While Perez appears to still have the support of the President, it is not clear when or if his nomination will receive a full vote by the Senate.
The absence of a Secretary of Labor is important in a number of ways to OFCCP. First, the agency may be reluctant to move forward a number of major initiatives until there is someone leading the Department of Labor who can approve these initiatives. Second, a new Secretary of Labor, whether it is Thomas Perez or someone else, may have different ideas about where OFCCP should focus its attention. It is even possible that a new Secretary of Labor may decide that there should be a new leader at OFCCP.
(Information for this post was taken in part from various news reports available on the web at sites like Politico and the Huffington Post.)
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