Berry, Panuccio, Christine and Stuart Will Do Immeasurable Harm
WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 8, 2025 – In a recklessly rushed process, the Republican Senate majority voted in lock-step yesterday to confirm 107 Trump nominees en masse, including four with deeply troubling records who now will be in leadership positions where they can do great harm to women and families. They took this action at the same time that they continue to preside over a government shutdown because they refuse to govern responsibly and address urgent health costs that are set to rise astronomically for families.
These key roles at the Department of Labor (DOL), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will determine how fairness is defined – in offices, restaurants, warehouses and other workplaces across the United States – and what consequences companies and employers will face when discrimination and mistreatment take place at work. They will also be tasked with making critical decisions on issues that impact the health of everyone in this country.
Jonathan Berry was confirmed as the solicitor of labor, the chief legal officer of the DOL. He was the author of the labor chapter of Project 2025 and its plan to wage a war on workers and dismantle over 50 years of civil rights and gender equity protections.
Brittanny Panuccio will now serve as a commissioner with the EEOC, giving the commission a quorum to carry out the anti-worker, anti-civil rights agenda that has been laid out by the Acting Chair. During her confirmation hearing, Panuccio refused to affirm that the commission was designed by Congress to be independent from the power of the president and suggested that it has “prosecutorial discretion” that would allow it to abandon any group of workers, including women, if directed by President Trump.
At HHS, Dr. Brian Christine was confirmed as Assistant Secretary and will now be responsible for overseeing the Title X family planning program for domestic reproductive health services. Christine is a staunch opponent to abortion and has a history of vaccine skepticism.
Michael B. Stuart, who will serve as General Counsel of HHS, has a lengthy track record as a vaccine skeptic, and as a West Virginia state legislator, supported bills that would remove the rape and incest exceptions to the state’s abortion ban.
The confirmations occurred under new Senate rules that will allow dozens of executive branch nominees to be confirmed with a single vote. This rushed process will make it harder for Senators to raise concerns about and force votes on individual nominees.
“Today’s Senate vote to confirm Jonathan Berry, Brittany Panuccio, Brian Christine and Michael B. Stuart, along with 103 other nominees, is another clear sign that this administration is determined to erode longstanding civil rights and health protections at any cost,”said Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families. “Many of these nominees have troubling records that raise serious concerns about their willingness and commitment to uphold the law and protect the rights of all people. Such concerns should be discussed individually in full view of the American people on the floor where each Senator is accountable for their vote. In confirming these divisive nominees with questionable qualifications to positions of power, Senate Republicans chose partisanship and expediency over the public good.
“Rather than focusing on reopening the federal government, Senate Republicans changed the rules to rush through more than 100 nominees that will continue to dismantle critical government protections.
“The National Partnership condemns this confirmation process, and we will continue to fight alongside our allies to safeguard the financial security, physical health and reproductive freedom of women and working families across this country. We will use all the levers of democracy to continue to oppose this radical takeover of our nation’s most important infrastructure and agencies.”
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