May 23--WASHINGTON -- The prospects seemed strong Thursday for Penny Pritzker becoming Commerce secretary after a two-hour confirmation hearing, as she drew praise from both Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the top Republican on the Senate panel that questioned her, told reporters: "I'm very impressed with her qualifications." Thune said he expected the committee to vote in favor of her nomination, though would not say how he will vote.

The committee could vote in mid- to late-June, said its chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. His vote for Pritzker is assured.

"I think she did great," he said. "She's so thoroughly prepared."

Pritzker fielded questions on fisheries, cybersecurity, tourism, trade, regulation and a host of other topics.

Several issues related to Pritzker's background as a business executive and member of the wealthy Chicago family were potentially controversial. They included the use of offshore trusts and the family's investment in Superior Bank of Hinsdale, which failed in 2001. But neither issue became a sticking point in the hearing, though Senators could use follow-up questions in writing to probe further.

Thune questioned Pritzker about Superior Bank, which had engaged heavily in subprime mortgages. He said he understood there were uninsured depositors who lost more than $100,000 in savings when the bank collapsed. He said one depositor put her entire retirement savings in the bank just months before it sank.

"What do you say to people who lost a substantial amount of money?" Thune asked.

Pritzker, who had chaired the bank in earlier years, noted that her family owned 50 percent of the bank and had paid on its own volition some $450 million to compensate for losses. "I regret the failure of Superior Bank," said Pritzker, who called it a situation she felt "very badly about."

To another Thune question, she said the bank failure taught her the importance of diversification, risk management and "having solid governance."

Thune said he has additional questions for Pritzker, which will be posed and answered in writing. Other committee members have the option to ask more questions, too. She's already answered several committee questions in writing.

Under the Senate rules, it takes only a single senator putting a "hold" on a nominee to throw a wrench into the works -- so while prospects appear positive for Pritzker, by no means is her appointment a done deal.

Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, is a longtime business woman and investor. She graduated form Harvard and has a law degree and MBA from Stanford University.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., took up Hyatt labor strife with Pritzker, asking how she regarded worker safety issues and whether she believed in out-sourcing jobs to minimum-wage workers. Labor organizers said housekeepers at some Hyatt properties have lost jobs to cheaper employees of outside contractors.

Pritzker said she did not favor such outsourcing. She said she believed in the right of workers to organize and called worker safety was a priority. There's no success in business, she said, without good relations between management and labor.

Thune, late in the hearing, asked Pritzker whether it was hypocritical for President Obama to attack the offshore, tax-avoidance schemes utilized by others when she has been a beneficiary of such holdings.

"Senator, I am the beneficiary of off-shore family trusts that were set up when I was a little girl," Pritzker answered. "I didn't create them, I don't direct them, I don't control them. I have asked the trustee to remove themselves and appoint a U.S. trustee."

More than 100 spectators packed the hearing room, some wearing red T-shirts with a union logo, "UNITE HERE," and more watched on television from another room. On hand for the hearing were officials from the White House and Commerce Department.

Before the hearing, Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., introduced Pritzker to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. They chatted about her at a coffee Thursday morning with constituents.

From Kirk: "When somebody from your state gets nominated for a top job, which often happens when your president is from your state, today I'm going to be introducing Penny Pritzker of Chicago to be our next commerce secretary. Pretty excited to do that."

He called her "a vibrant part of the Jewish world, of the charitable world in Chicago." He also heralded her for starting her own business with 3,500 people working for her.

Durbin saluted her as a talented woman who had reached the highest levels of corporate governance and said not only had she "inherited a few dollars," but she had "made a few dollars in her life."

"She also participated in the Iron Man triathlathons," he said. "I'm not ready to take her on it that."

Angela Martinez, 53, from Chicago's Northwest Side, came to the hearing with 30 people from UNITE HERE, a national union embroiled in a long-running feud with Hyatt hotels.

Martinez, a hotel housekeeper and shop steward, said of Pritzker: "She's a shame to the Democratic party. She's not a trustworthy person." Martinez said she cleans 16 rooms a day for $14.60 an hour, is not paid for her lunch break and suffers from shoulder and arm pain from lifting heavy mattresses.

Martinez, who said she is working under an expired contract, left Guerrero, Mexico, in 1985 and soon settled in Chicago. She spoke through a Spanish translator.

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