Daniel Aronowitz testifying June 5 at a Senate confirmation hearing. Credit: Senate HELP Committee
Members of the Senate today voted 51-47 to confirm Daniel Aronowitz, the nominee to be the assistant secretary of Labor who serves as the administrator of the Employee Benefits Security Administration.
As head of EBSA, Aronowitz will run U.S. Labor Department efforts to oversee employers' benefit plans, including their defined contribution retirement plans and their health plans.
Aronowitz will also play a key role in helping the Labor Department and the rest of the federal government interpret and apply laws such as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Affordable Care Act.
The vote: The Senate considered the Aronowitz nomination through an unusual process designed to overcome Democratic members' decision to stop casting votes in favor of President Donald Trump's nominees.
A presidential nominee normally would need at least 60 votes to have a confirmation vote come up on the Senate floor without fear of a filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader, R-S.D., the Senate majority leader, used a new arrangement to have the Senate confirm Aronowitz and some other nominees through a procedure that allowed the nominees to be approved with just a majority vote.
All Republicans who participated voted for the nominees, and all Democrats who participated voted against the nominees.
Two Republicans — Jim Banks of Indiana and Mike Lee of Utah — did not vote.
Daniel Aronowitz: Aronowitz started as a labor lawyer. He later was the president of Ullico's Ullico Casualty subsidiary.
When he was nominated to the EBSA post, he was the president of Encore Fiduciary, a firm that sells liability insurance and other products and services to benefit plan fiduciaries.
Hub International's Specialty Program Group acquired Encore, which was then known as Euclid Specialty Managers, in 2023.
Aronowitz has been well-known as a labor law blogger. He has had enthusiastic support from benefits groups such as the ESOP Association and the National Association of Plan Advisors.
When the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee considered his nomination, two Democrats — John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Tim Kaine of Virginia — crossed party lines to vote for him.
Related: Senate committee backs nomination of Daniel Aronowitz to lead federal benefits agency
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