Senators Praise Nominee for Labor Secretary

WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary-designate Lynn Martin was praised today by Democrats at the opening of her Senate confirmation hearing for having bucked President Bush on minimum wage legislation.

The former House member “is the first and only secretary of labor ever to be nominated by a President, after having voted in Congress to override the President’s veto on a critical labor issue,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, in a written statement as the committee opened confirmation hearings.

Martin is expected to win Senate confirmation easily.

“That speaks well of you, Mrs. Martin, and it also speaks well of President Bush,” Kennedy said of Martin’s 1989 override vote on legislation that would have raised the minimum wage to $4.65 an hour.

“I hope that you’ll take the bit in your teeth and run with it, even though there may be some in the White House who are saying, ‘slow down,’ or are giving you static,” said Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio).

“I hope you’ll say to them . . . I’m not just going to be a political hack sitting in the job. Knowing of your past record, I know that won’t be the case,” Metzenbaum said, adding that he expects her to win easy Senate confirmation.

A full Senate vote on the nomination could come before Congress recesses Feb. 11 for the President’s Day holiday.