Hilda Solis, Department of Labor and First Latina Cabinet Secretary, Resigns After Frustrating Tenure: White House Daily News Update

Hilda Solis, the nation's first Latina to head a federal agency, announced her plan to resign as Secretary of Labor.

Solis, a former California congresswoman, says she plans to return home, and speculation is high that she plans to run for office in Los Angeles.

The general consensus is that Solis' tenure at Labor was mostly good, but severely hampered by Republican opposition and occasionally undermined by President Obama's timidity during the campaign.

Solis was a fierce advocate for the underprivileged, particularly migrant workers, teenagers and those often overlooked by the federal government.

Under her direction, the Labor Department recovered $280 million in back wages for 300,000 workers in 2012, an agency record.

Solis oversaw the distribution of $67 billion in federal stimulus money for work programs and unemployment benefits, resulting in job training for 1.7 million people. However, due to the sluggish economy, many of those people still remain unemployed.

She pushed for management consultants to provide greater financial disclosure to regulators, a move that won her no love from conservatives or the finance industry.

But Solis suffered many setbacks and much frustration in trying to carry out some of her other initiatives.

Her bid to regulate the number of hours and kind of work children could perform on farms ran afoul of the farming lobby and Republicans, and Obama eventually dropped his support of the measure altogether.

Worker safety rules are still working their way through the regulatory process, after Republicans raised objections, and Solis was able to accomplish little in the way of regulation for mining companies and protections for miners, even after headline-grabbing accidents.

A measure that would provide federal protections to 1.8 million home healthcare workers has also been delayed.

Whoever her replacement is at Labor, they are likely to face similar issues.

Obama is coming under attack for his recent Cabinet nominations, all of whom are white men, and Solis makes the third woman to announce her upcoming resignation, following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Environmental Protection Agency Director Lisa Jackson.

Names that have been floated as Solis' replacement include Maria Echaveste, former deputy chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, as well as AFL-CIO executive vice president Arlene Holt Baker.

But perhaps that's just wishful thinking on the part of women's advocates, as Obama has made no indication of who he'll nominate.

And with several confirmation fights on the way, Obama may end up trying to pick someone less controversial than Solis - that is, less vocal and committed to workers' rights.