Julie Su, the Biden administration’s labor secretary nominee, appeared earlier than the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions committee on Thursday, the place she tried to make the case for her affirmation as she was grilled by Republicans over her document.
The Democratic majority on the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held Thursday’s listening to, appeared largely supportive of Su’s nomination. However she has not but secured the help of different key Democrats within the Senate – suggesting she may face an uphill battle to affirmation when the total chamber casts its vote.
If confirmed, Su could be the Biden administration’s first ever Asian-American Cupboard secretary, main the Division of Labor amid a time of broad financial considerations however low nationwide unemployment. If Su doesn’t persuade sufficient senators to get on board along with her nomination, she could be the highest-ranking nominee but to fail amongst a current string of candidates introduced ahead by the Biden administration who’ve failed to maneuver by means of the affirmation course of.
Su, who joined the administration in 2021 because the deputy secretary of labor, has lengthy confronted scrutiny for California’s dealing with of unemployment advantages through the Covid-19 pandemic – notably her oversight of the state’s Employment Growth Division. In the course of the pandemic, the division delayed approving unemployment advantages and paid out billions on fraudulent claims. Su has mentioned EDD’s techniques weren’t ready for the variety of unemployment claims made and on Thursday, she informed the panel that she made modifications to this system to forestall additional fraud throughout the system.
Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney asserted that Su “selected to waive” pointers that led to $31 billion in fraud. However Su argued that California’s auditor by no means discovered that her choice to waive eligibility necessities resulted in any of the pandemic unemployment help fraud mentioned.
Romney requested, “Have you learnt understand what $31 billion {dollars} would have meant to the individuals of Ukraine, had we been capable of double our navy help?”
Su responded that in California, “as quickly as we noticed that there was fraud taking place, I shut the entrance door to that fraud. I made modifications to this system that made certain that folks couldn’t get by means of the entrance door.”
“The buck stops on the high,” Romney mentioned. “You’re the individual working (unemployment insurance coverage in California). You’re the one who determined to waive guardrails. … The thought of selling an individual who has had that form of expertise to a place of management for all the Division of Labor is senseless in any respect.”
Su tried to make clear, stating, “California’s unemployment insurance coverage fraud price, which was completely different from the unemployment help, was actually about akin to what it was earlier than. The excessive charges that you simply’re speaking about have been in a program that didn’t have the safeguards in its design.”
Su’s critics have argued that her coverage stances are hostile to small companies.
The highest Republican on the committee, Sen. Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, expressed considerations about her help for A.B. 5, a California regulation that goals to reclassify sure gig employees as common workers, in addition to joint employer provisions critics have mentioned make it tougher for franchisees to function in California.
“She’s made public feedback in help of a brand new joint employer rule which might influence the just about 800,000 franchises in our communities,” Cassidy asserted. “Saddling franchisers with legal responsibility for hundreds of franchise house owners that function as small companies could be a certain option to destroy the system of franchising, a mannequin which has represented underrepresented teams within the enterprise group, comparable to girls and folks of shade, giving them the chance to stay the American dream.”
Su informed Cassidy that she would decide to not attempting to implement an A.B.5-like federal regulation. She additionally indicated to Cassidy that the Labor Division wouldn’t pursue modifications in joint employer laws if confirmed, saying it’s not within the company’s regulatory agenda and “it won’t be in our agenda that comes out in June.”
Romney additionally pressed Su on her document, mentioning that, in contrast to her frequent conferences with union teams, she didn’t have conferences with enterprise associations for her first two years within the administration.
Su informed the panel that she was with then Labor Secretary Marty Walsh “for the 20-hour negotiation between rail employers and rail unions in our workplace.” The high-stakes negotiations final yr led to a tentative settlement, however disputes led the White Home to name on Congress to implement it.
In a tricky alternate, Romney requested, “To work behind Marty Walsh is one factor, and to be taught from him, however you haven’t had expertise negotiating a significant deal between unions and administration, and your management of an enterprise resulted in $31 billion {dollars} of fraudulent funds. What am I lacking?”
When Su responded that she’s “somebody who’s communicative, clear and actually sees that there (are) super areas of widespread floor between employers or job creators and workers,” Romney retorted: “That’s as correct as it’s irrelevant to your competence to have the ability to lead a negotiation fraught between unions and administration.”
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith later challenged assertions that Su didn’t have expertise negotiating massive labor contracts, saying the nominee has performed an “essential function in contract negotiations between the Worldwide Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Affiliation – and apparently this morning they’ve simply acquired a settlement.”
This story has been up to date with further developments.
Supply: CNN
