Senate HELP Committee votes 12–11 to advance Keith Sonderling nomination

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12–11 to report the nomination of Keith Sonderling to be deputy secretary of labor, the clerk announced after a roll call Friday.

The committee recorded the tally after an attempt by Senator Bernie Sanders to use the hearing to press for an oversight investigation and a subpoena for Elon Musk. Senator Sanders moved that the committee, pursuant to its rules, authorize an investigation into actions by agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction and subpoena Mr. Musk for testimony; the chair ruled the motion out of order and the committee proceeded to the previously noticed roll call on the nomination.

The committee clerk conducted a roll call that produced a 12–11 vote to advance the nomination. The committee did not take a separate recorded vote on Senator Sanders’s motion to subpoena Mr. Musk; the chair maintained that the panel would remain on its published agenda.

After the vote, a senator raised concerns about Mr. Sonderling’s refusal to provide a written answer for the record to a committee question about the number of Department of Labor employees who have been fired, furloughed, or placed on administrative leave since Jan. 20, 2025, and how many of those employees were veterans. The written question for the record (QFR) was distributed to members, the senator said; the transcript shows committee members pressing for the information but does not record the nominee providing the figures during the hearing.

The committee’s action sends the nomination forward to the full Senate with a favorable committee report. No further formal committee action on the Sanders motion appears in the transcript.

Votes at a glance: 12 ayes, 11 nays — nomination of Keith Sonderling to be deputy secretary of labor (committee report favorable).