Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a 28-page letter to President Donald Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, Andy Puzder,
Warren is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, which is scheduled to hold Puzder’s confirmation hearing Thursday, Feb. 16.
“As a member of the HELP Committee, I will attend this confirmation hearing to ask you questions that will help me determine whether you are qualified to fulfill the Department of Labor’s mission to “foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States,” Warren said in the Monday letter.
The Massachusetts Democrat came out strongly against Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, grilling the school-of-choice advocate during her confirmation hearing Jan. 17.
The senator is the recipient of over $400,000 in donations from labor unions since her election to the Senate in 2012. She has ramped up her image on the national stage, releasing a new book just hours before blasting Attorney General Jeff Sessions Feb. 7.
Puzder, a fervent critic of a $15 minimum wage, asserts that a raise to $15 would eliminate low jobs in establishments like Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., and expedite the shift to automation in the fast food industry.
Puzder has publicly acknowledged that he (and his wife) employed a housekeeper that was not legally permitted to work in the U.S.
“I was unaware that she was not legally permitted to work in the U.S.,” Puzder said in a statement Feb. 6. “When I learned of her status, we immediately ended her employment and offered her assistance in getting legal status.”
The 66-year-old father of six grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he had an interesting stint with Rock n’ Roll. Puzder explained that he was friends with Tom Kriss of the “James Gang” in a 2009 interview with Daniel Miller of the Los Angeles Business Journal.
“I got up a couple times and played bass while Joe Walsh and Jimmy Fox were playing,” Puzder told Miller in 2009.
Puzder practiced law in St. Louis, Mo., where he represented the Carl’s Jr. CEO Carl Karcher. He rose from counsel to CEO of what is now CKE Restaurants.
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