{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=D2FA9A9D-1815-4199-AB21-B7F5B6191041", "Senate HELP Committee Approves 3 Nominees to Education Department, 4 Nominees to Labor Department", "2017-12-13", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, December 13, 2017 \u2014\u00a0The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today approved and sent to the Senate\u00a0floor seven nominees\u00a0for the Department of Education and Department of Labor.\r\nFor the Education Department, Brigadier General Mitchell\u00a0Zais is nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary, James Blew is nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, and Johnny Collett is nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.\u00a0\u00a0\r\nFor the Labor Department, Kate O\u2019Scannlain is nominated to serve as Solicitor, Preston Rutledge is nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, Scott Mugno is nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health and Dr. William Beach is nominated to serve as Commissioner of Labor Statistics.\r\nOn General Zais,\u00a0Chairman Lamar\u00a0Alexander\u00a0(R-Tenn.)\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cGeneral Zais\u00a0has an excellent and deep background \u2013 having been a college president and a member of South Carolina\u2019s Commission on Higher Education \u2013 to serve as the Deputy Secretary of Education. I look forward to working with him to continue working on implementing the law to fix No Child Left Behind as it was written and working with him\u00a0to reauthorize the Higher Education Act to make it simpler and easier for students to go to college.\u201d\r\nOn Mr. Blew, Alexander said:\u00a0\u201cI look forward to working with Mr. Blew in his capacity at the Department of Education, where he will be responsible for helping develop policies and manage the budget, and ensure that programs are working as intended.\u201d\r\nOn Mr. Collett, Alexander said:\u00a0\u201cMr. Collett\u2019s long history in special education makes him uniquely qualified for his position as the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.\u201d\r\nOn Ms. O\u2019Scannlain, Alexander said:\u00a0\u201cAt her confirmation hearing, Ms. O\u2019Scannlain confirmed that one of her priorities would be \u2018consistency in application of our laws.\u2019 I welcome her confirmation and will work with her to make sure that guidance is guidance and laws are laws.\u201d\r\nOn Mr. Rutledge, Alexander said:\u00a0\u201cIn his role at the Department of Labor, Mr. Rutledge will be tasked with protecting the interests of Americans who participate in employee pensions and welfare benefit plans. I look forward to working with him in his efforts to protect American workers.\u201d\r\nOn Mr. Mugno, Alexander said:\u00a0\u201cWorkplace safety is important to me. My father was a safety director at a plant in Alcoa, Tennessee, and I could see his pride when the plant would go a long number of days without an accident. I trust that Mr. Mugno, as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, will work to keep our nation\u2019s workers safe.\u201d\r\nOn Dr. Beach, Alexander said:\u00a0\u201cDr. Beach has a deep history and understanding of how data can show how our economy is performing. I look forward to voting to confirm him in the full senate to serve as Commissioner of Labor Statistics.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=D2FA9A9D-1815-4199-AB21-B7F5B6191041"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4840641524642706, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}