Senate committee to vote on labor board nominees, rejects business groups’ plea for hearing

October 12th, 2009 Calendar of major business events for WednesdayMajor business events and economic events scheduled for Wednesday: WASHINGTON — Treasury releases federal budget for September and fiscal year 2009, 2 p.m. WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve releases minutes of Federal Open Market Committee meeting of Sept.

October 7th, 2009 Labor nominee clears divided Senate panelWASHINGTON — A sharply divided Senate panel on Wednesday approved New York state's labor commissioner for the No. 3 post at the Labor Department, despite GOP claims that she gave lawmakers inaccurate testimony.

October 5th, 2009 Senate committee vote slipsWASHINGTON — It's going to take a little longer for the last congressional committee writing health care legislation to finish its work. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana had hoped for a final vote by his panel on Tuesday, but a cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office isn't ready yet.

September 30th, 2009 Justice asks high court to OK labor board rulingsWASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to let a federal labor board continue working even though three of its five seats are vacant. The National Labor Relations Board, which resolves conflicts between unions and management, has worked with three vacancies for nearly two years because of political wrangling in the Senate.

September 8th, 2009 Correction: Labor board storyWASHINGTON — In a Sept. 6 story about gridlock at the National Labor Relations Board, The Associated Press misspelled the surname of one of the nominees for a seat on the board.

September 6th, 2009 INSIDE WASHINGTON: Labor board in gridlockWASHINGTON — Another Labor Day, another year of dysfunction in the agency that's supposed to protect workers from unfair labor practices and referee clashes between unions and management. The enduring stalemate at the National Labor Relations Board, the longest in its history, comes as evidence that elections don't always settle political tugs of war.

August 4th, 2009 Senate panel endorses Asia ambassador nomineesWASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate panel has endorsed Utah Gov.

July 16th, 2009 Democrats to set first Sotomayor vote next weekWASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman says he'll set a vote in his panel next week on confirming Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy says the vote will be Tuesday unless committee Republicans object.

July 15th, 2009 Sen. Kennedy's committee passes health care billWASHINGTON — The Senate health committee has passed legislation to revamp health care, becoming the first congressional committee to act on President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling the system this year. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 13-10 along party lines to pass a $600-billion measure that would expand coverage to nearly all Americans by requiring individuals get insurance and employers to contribute to the cost.

June 12th, 2009 Business groups to meet to plot strategy on healthWASHINGTON — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is convening business groups on Friday to plot strategy as alarm grows over the direction of Democratic health care overhaul proposals.

May 1st, 2009 Appeals Court cancels 300 NLRB decisionsWASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has wiped away with one opinion some 300 decisions made last year by the Bush administration's labor relations board. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said Friday that all the decisions handed down in 2008 by the National Labor Relations Board are invalid because they were made by just two members.

April 28th, 2009 Senate set to confirm Sebelius as health secretaryWASHINGTON — The Senate was set to approve President Barack Obama's nominee for health and human services secretary Tuesday, giving the agency a leader in the midst of the swine flu outbreak. Morning debate and an afternoon vote were scheduled to confirm Kathleen Sebelius, the two-term Democratic governor of Kansas.

April 28th, 2009 Senate set to confirm health secretaryWASHINGTON — The Senate was set to approve President Barack Obama's nominee for health and human services secretary Tuesday, giving the agency a leader in the midst of the swine flu outbreak. Morning debate and an afternoon vote were scheduled to confirm Kathleen Sebelius, the two-term Democratic governor of Kansas.

April 22nd, 2009 Senate hears from FEMA and immigration nomineesWASHINGTON — The president's nominees to lead the nation's disaster response and immigration enforcement agencies are headed to Capitol Hill for confirmation hearings in the Senate. Federal Emergency Management Agency nominee Craig Fugate faces questions from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about hurricane preparedness and response.

April 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The hearing on the bipartisan Kerry-Lugar bill, which seeks 1.5 billion dollars of annual assistance to Pakistan for five years, has been postponed indefinitely. The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations had scheduled a full committee hearing on Wednesday, but it had to be postponed for technical reasons.