President Trump’s choose as labor secretary confronted pointed questions from each events at her Senate affirmation listening to on Wednesday over her previous help for pro-union laws, a difficulty that might complicate her nomination.

The nominee, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican congresswoman, was pressed repeatedly about her stand on the Defending the Proper to Arrange Act, often called the PRO Act — a sweeping labor invoice that sought to strengthen collective bargaining rights. She was a co-sponsor of the measure, a prime Democratic precedence that has but to win passage, and certainly one of few Republicans to again it.

Requested if she continued to help it, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer demurred, saying she was now not in Congress and would help Mr. Trump’s agenda.

“I don’t consider that the secretary of labor ought to write the legal guidelines,” she informed the Senate Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions Committee, which performed the listening to. “It is going to be as much as the Congress to put in writing these legal guidelines and to work collectively. What I consider is that the American employee deserves to be paid consideration to.”

However in response to questions from Rand Paul of Kentucky, certainly one of a number of Republican senators who’ve expressed opposition to her affirmation, she stated she now not backed a portion of the laws that Mr. Paul stated undermined “proper to work” states, the place unionization efforts face stiff authorized and political limitations.

The weird nature of Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination was obvious within the make-up of the viewers within the committee room, which was full of members of the Teamsters union, identifiable by their logo-emblazoned fleeces and jackets. The nominee performed up her private connection to the union on Wednesday, saying in her opening assertion, “My journey is rooted within the values instilled by my father, a proud Teamster who labored tirelessly for over 30 years.”

The union’s president, Sean O’Brien, spoke on the Republican Nationwide Conference final summer time, and the Teamsters withheld any nomination within the presidential race, a call that many thought-about a tactical victory for Mr. Trump. In November, Mr. O’Brien advisable Ms. Chavez-DeRemer to Mr. Trump for the labor position.

Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, a former mayor of Joyful Valley, Ore., served one time period within the Home, narrowly shedding to a Democratic challenger in November. Along with being a co-sponsor of the PRO Act, she backed the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which might guarantee collective bargaining rights for public workers nationwide.

Her choice by Mr. Trump was seen as a nod to Mr. O’Brien. (In a critical editorial on Tuesday, The Wall Road Journal referred to as her choice a “quid professional quo.”)

Her nomination has additionally highlighted divisions throughout the Republican Social gathering. Senator Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana said in November that he would “have to get a greater understanding of her help for Democrat laws in Congress that might strip Louisiana’s capability to be a right-to-work state, and if that can be her place going ahead.” On Wednesday, Mr. Cassidy appeared largely happy with Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s responses to questions on the PRO Act.

Different Republican senators, corresponding to Josh Hawley of Missouri, have courted labor unions — Mr. Hawley has referred to as for strengthening and supporting unions as a pillar of what he calls “pro-labor conservatism.” In Wednesday’s listening to, he described Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s file as “actually excellent.”

Mr. Paul has stated the nominee could lose no less than a dozen Republican votes on the Senate ground. If that holds after Wednesday, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s success might rely upon whether or not she attracts any Democratic help.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an unbiased who serves because the committee’s rating minority member, had expressed cautious openness to Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, and stated on Wednesday that her file was “superb.” However he, like Democrats on the committee, raised considerations about whether or not she would uphold federal labor legal guidelines or be a “rubber stamp” for the Trump administration.

The listening to additionally grew to become a referendum on Mr. Trump’s latest government actions, together with dismantling the federal work drive and empowering Elon Musk, whose Division of Authorities Effectivity staff has established a presence within the Labor Division and elsewhere. Democrats on the committee wished to know if Ms. Chavez-DeRemer would respect appropriations legal guidelines and shield delicate data within the division’s databases.

“I don’t consider the president goes to ask me to violate the regulation,” Ms. Chavez-DeRemer stated.

Requested a number of instances about help for elevating the federal minimal wage, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer stated Congress ought to decide that.

A number of Republicans on the committee requested what she would do to crack down on corporations utilizing baby labor. Some, like Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, raised considerations a few scarcity of visas to help employees in her state’s seasonal industries.

Mr. Sanders didn’t seem inspired by Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s solutions concerning the PRO Act. She referred to as it an “imperfect” invoice, saying she was “now not a lawmaker” and would perform Mr. Trump’s agenda. “I help the American employee,” she stated.

“I don’t imply to be impolite,” Mr. Sanders interjected. “I’m gathering you now not help the PRO Act.”