Labor Secretary Nominee Sonderling Faces Senate Questions on Ethics, AI

Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Thursday set the stage for yet another Cabinet confirmation vote along party lines.

Democratic members of the committee grilled Sonderling on issues such as the Workplace Development Partnership between the Department of Labor and the Department of Education—a partnership which transferred some DOE program funds and detailed staff to the DOL—as well as Sonderling’s backing of President Donald Trump’s labor policies.

Meanwhile, Republican members prompted Sonderling to discuss his positions on artificial intelligence in the workforce, the missing participants issue and alternative assets in retirement plans.

“American workers are the best in the world, and they deserve a Labor Department that is effective, accountable and responsive to their needs,” Sonderling said in his opening statement. Citing rising wages and 401(k) balances reaching record highs, he claimed Trump’s “pro-growth agenda is creating unprecedented opportunities for American workers through manufacturing, expansions and business investment.”

Sonderling added that the DOL’s accomplishments under Trump include “restoring compliance assistance, pursuing rulemaking that replaces uncertainty with clarity, [and] expanding retirement investment opportunities.”

Sonderling’s DOL Background

Trump nominated Sonderling to head the Department of Labor on June 29. Sonderling first took charge of the department on an acting basis in April after former Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned following a shaky tenure.

Prior to becoming acting secretary, Sonderling served as deputy secretary of labor after being confirmed by the Senate in a partisan 53-to-46 vote in March 2025, with one senator abstaining. Sonderling served in previous administrations as well: He was commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from September 2020 until August 2024 and had served as the acting and deputy administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division from 2017 to 2020.

“As a public servant, it is clear [Sonderling] is qualified,” said Senator Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, in his introduction of Sonderling.

Democrats Press Sonderling

Senator Patty Murray, D-Washington, critiqued Sonderling for his association with Trump, for the DOL’s rescinding in May of an overtime rule adopted by the DOL in 2024 under former President Joe Biden, and for the department’s current attempt to rescind a different 2024 rule that addresses the classification of independent contractors.

“You are not a bystander to this administration’s anti-worker policies and agenda,” Murray said. “This department treats its own employees exactly the way it is letting the worst employers treat theirs.”

Murray cited the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce since taking office in January 2025 and the firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in August 2025 after a weak jobs report.

Regarding ethics—given Trump appointed Sonderling the acting director of the United States Office of Government Ethics in June—Senator Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, asked Sonderling: “If directed by the president to take an action that would break the law, would you follow the law or follow the president’s directive?”

“The president wouldn’t happen do that, and I would follow the law,” Sonderling answered.

Hassan asked whether there were any actions by the Trump administration in the last year, including ethically and financially, about which Sonderling has concerns. Sonderling answered that he would rely—and has relied—on career officials from the Office of Government Ethics.

“That’s not my question,” Hassan replied. “I’m probing your judgment here.”

Sonderling responded that Trump’s financial disclosures have all been certified by ethics officials and that Trump and his family have attested to having no conflicts of interest.

Republican Support

Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, referenced during his allotted time a 2024 International Monetary Fund report that anticipated that artificial intelligence will affect nearly 40% of jobs worldwide, including replacing some jobs. Hawley asked Sonderling what the DOL needs to do to prepare U.S. workers for the effects of AI.

Sonderling said the DOL is working closely with National Science Foundation and the DOE to develop an AI curriculum that trains children from an early age. He added that the department: is talking to employers who have adopted AI; has launched an AI Action Work Hub; and has asked the Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine data on how AI is affecting the workforce.

Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, noted that retirement plans sometimes lose track of their participants, leading him to ask Sonderling whether he would commit to finish finalizing regulations regarding missing participants.

Sonderling answered that he is committed to finalizing the rule and that the DOL is looking at ways to work with employers—with emphasis on information flowing both ways.

“We have a lost and found website where somebody can type in their employer and see if they had a 401(k) there,” Sonderling said. “But that takes the employer giving us that information; that takes working with the plan sponsors.”

Cassidy spoke in support of the DOL’s investment selection rule during the hearing, to which Sonderling responded that parity between the pension and defined 401(k) systems is one of his “top initiatives.”

“At the Department, we don’t push one fund over the other,” Sonderling said. “We lay the neutral framework and let the employers decide under their fiduciary obligations, which is the best for their employees.”

The Senate HELP Committee has scheduled a vote for July 23. If Sonderling is confirmed at the committee level, he will also need to be confirmed by the full Senate.