The Nation: It is time to confirm Hilda Solis

It is Time to Confirm Hilda Solis
posted by John Nichols on 02/23/2009 @ 8:46pm

Corporate America and its amen corner in Congress has worked overtime to deny Hilda Solis confirmation as Secretary of Labor.
But it looks like the California congresswoman's nomination will finally be approved by the full Senate this week.
The vote should come on Tuesday, and Solis is expected to win confirmation with relative ease -- despite the long and determined efforts of anti-labor senators to block her nomination.
Republican senators tossed every barrier they could in the way of Solis, the most union-friendly nominee for the Secretary of Labor post in decades.
Conservative senators tried to spin the fantasy that Solis had "tax problems" -- when, in reality, her husband's small business had some small liens, which he paid off when he learned of them.
They tried to claim Solis had conflicts of interest -- when, in fact, her record was that of standing consistently and ethically in favor of her progressive principles.
They tried to claim Solis was too pro-labor -- not realizing the absurdity of trying to prevent a friend of working people from obtaining a post that was originally intended to serve the laboring masses.
The attacks failed, again and again, because Hilda Solis really is the best person for the job.
"Lost in all the Washington procedural mumbo-jumbo since the Solis nomination is the recognition that this is truly a historic moment for all of America's workers. She is a true champion of America's workers. Solis will not be your boss's secretary of labor -- she will be YOUR secretary of labor," says the AFL-CIO's Marc Laitin.
"As the child of working class immigrants who both were members of labor unions in California, Hilda Solis is uniquely qualified to lead the Department of Labor during the current economic crisis," adds Laitin. "With hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost every week and millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, we desperately need someone who will fight for America's workers, not just the interests of CEOs."
The AFL-CIO is making a final push for approval of the Solis nomination, calling on its Working Families e-activist list to flood the Senate with calls urging the confirmation of Solis.
It is time -- not just to confirm this qualified nominee but, in so doing, help the Department of Labor to once more live up to its name.