President Trump’s new pick for labor secretary will have to wait a bit longer before he gets a hearing.
Alexander Acosta’s confirmation hearing, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, was pushed back a week because the chairman of the committee overseeing his confirmation is traveling with Trump to a rally in Nashville.
The announcement Sunday came from the office of Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee who heads the committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Acosta will now appear before the committee March 22. Committee members will vote on Acosta’s nomination the week after that, according to Alexander’s office.
Acosta, a lawyer who led the Justice Department’s civil rights division for two years under President George W. Bush, is Trump’s second pick for the job.
Fast food executive Andrew Puzder withdrew his candidacy in February after several Republicans said they would not support him. Democrats and labor activists attacked Puzder’s record on worker rights.
Other controversies, including a decades-old domestic abuse allegation, also troubled Puzder’s candidacy.
Unlike Puzder, Acosta has spent much of his career in public service. He is now the dean of the Florida International University law school.
Trump’s appearance in Nashville on Wednesday won’t be the first time he’s held a rally as president. Trump rallied supporters in Melbourne, Florida, on February 18.
