The daily business briefing: February 16, 2017

Labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder withdraws, Anthem sues Cigna for scrapping $54 billion merger, and more

Andrew Puzder departs after a meeting with Donald Trump
(Image credit: Getty Images)

1. Trump labor nominee Andrew Puzder drops out

President Trump's labor secretary nominee, Andrew Puzder, withdrew from consideration on Wednesday as growing resistance from some Republicans threatened to sink his confirmation. Some Republicans opposed him due to his past employment of an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper, while Democrats criticized him for several reasons, including his opposition to minimum-wage increases and more generous overtime benefits. Puzder's withdrawal added to the turmoil already dogging the Trump administration following the resignation of Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.