of the Obama-era DOL , and he already ran the WHD once from 2014 until early 2017 .
During his first stint at WHD , Weil gained a reputation as a staunch opponent of gig-economy businesses like Uber . Unions generally approved of his record on employee classification issues at WHD where he pushed hard against users of the IC classification ; however , the building trades unions found his enforcement of Davis-Bacon rules lackluster . Nevertheless , the building trades agreed to allow Weil ’ s nomination to proceed unopposed , and on January 13 , after months of Republican stalling tactics , the Senate Health , Education , Labor and Pensions committee finally voted in favor of Weil ’ s nomination to be the U . S . Department of Labor ’ s wage and hour administrator . Weil ’ s nomination was entered by the Biden Administration in early June of 2021 ; the committee was deadlocked on the nomination for nearly a year , displaying the degree to which an evenly split Senate makes things like installing administrators a challenge . Weil even had to be nominated a second time for the role in January , a procedural move that is very rare and reflects the Biden administration ’ s desire to move a pro-labor agenda via regulation , since it seemingly cannot pass in an evenly divided Senate . The vote in the Senate committee to advance him for a vote by the full Senate happened along partisan lines , as Weil had no Republican support in the committee . Weil ’ s nomination then moved to the full Senate .
But on Wednesday March 30 , the Senate voted against the nomination of David Weil . This was a 47-53 vote on a motion to proceed with Weil ’ s nomination , which blocked a final vote on Weil to be the Labor Department ’ s Wage and Hour Division administrator . This nomination was rejected by the Senate in large part because business groups were opposed to Weil serving a second term at Wage and Hour - notably including franchise operators , who have been a favorite target of Weil ’ s . CLDA was also among those groups advocating for a less actively hostile administrator for the Wage and Hour Division . Our efforts focused on outreach to several moderate Democratic Senate offices - and those efforts clearly bore fruit . Sen . Joe Manchin ( D-W . Va .), who expressed concerns about Weil ’ s nomination last year , voted
‘ no ’ in the procedural vote . CLDA ’ s Government Affairs team has been in close contact with Sen . Manchin ’ s office on many issues , including the Department of Labor ’ s posture in regards to ICs , for more than two years now . We were not alone in this , of course , and Sen . Manchin likely voted against Weil because of pressure from West Virginia business groups , which has been reported on before in the political trade press .
More surprising , however , were the no votes of the Arizona Senate delegation . Because CLDA has very strong roots in Arizona , and passionate volunteers from that state , we have spent a good deal of time in educational meetings with the offices of Sens . Kyrsten Sinema ( D-Ariz .) and Mark Kelly ( D-Ariz .), trying to show them how important the IC is to Arizona ’ s economy . It appears our efforts were not in vain , as both of the Arizona Senators also voted against Weil ’ s nomination , closing the door on the possibility of an immediate return to Obama-era anti-IC enforcement efforts from the Wage and Hour Division . But besides CLDA ’ s involvement in this nomination fight , the situation also illustrates how difficult it has been for the Biden administration to muster Democratic votes in the Senate , even on issues like labor policy , that are bread and butter issues for the Democrats historically .
Additionally , the aforementioned foreign policy crises , which do not appear to be nearing a resolution after several weeks of warfare , and the economic shocks from the sanctions the Biden administration is pursuing against Russia , also threaten the possibility of another economic crisis which could further distract the Democratic party from their domestic policy goals . The focus of the Senate in particular has completely shifted to the Ukrainian issue and negotiating legislation to slap more economic penalties on Russia for invading Ukraine . Senate leaders have reached a compromise on an oil import ban , but disagreements on a separate bill to revoke normal trade relations threatens to stall action on both .
Republicans and Democrats have agreed to advance two bills in tandem , but have yet to set a time to take
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