“Andy Puzder has the experience and ability to make an excellent labor secretary,<br />but I respect his decision,” said Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the labor committee.<br />WASHINGTON — The fast-food executive Andrew F. Puzder withdrew his nomination to be labor secretary on Wednesday as Republican senators turned sharply against him, the latest defeat for a White House besieged by infighting<br />and struggling for traction even with a Republican-controlled Congress.<br />“It is extremely unfortunate that the confirmation process has resulted in a qualified<br />and dedicated man withdrawing from the labor secretary nomination,” said Cicely Simpson, executive vice president of the association.<br />“The fact that someone so anti-labor was even nominated shows how far President Trump is from where he campaigned.”<br />As the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains, Mr. Puzder had come under intense criticism from Democrats and liberal groups<br />that accused him of mistreating his workers and supporting automation in the workplace.<br />“Puzder should never have even been nominated to lead the Labor Department, and Senate Republicans clearly recognized this, too,” Mr. Schumer said.<br />A spokesman for Mr. Puzder, George Thompson, said his treatment had been “an unprecedented smear campaign.”<br />In a statement, Mr. Puzder thanked the president and those who supported him for their<br />optimism about the “policies and new thinking” he would have brought to the job.
