Biden’s nominee for DOL Secretary on shaky ground in Senate
There are battle lines forming as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee prepares for an April 20th hearing on the nomination of Acting Secretary Julie Su, as Republicans have called for her withdrawal.
To the AFL-CIO “there’s no one more dedicated and qualified” than Julie Su to serve as U.S. Labor Secretary.
But to some business groups and Republicans, Su is unqualified and made a mess when she served as California Labor Secretary.
These are the battle lines forming as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee prepares for an April 20 hearing on President Biden’s nomination of Su to replace former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
Su has been acting secretary since March 11, when Walsh left the department for a job heading the National Hockey League Players Association.
As he nominated Su, who had served as deputy Labor secretary, President Biden called the former civil rights attorney “a champion of workers.”
“Previously, Su was the Labor Secretary for the State of California where she worked closely with unions and employers to build High Road Training Partnerships to connect people—often those left out of prosperity—to good, union jobs,” Biden said.
Related: DOL’s ESG investing rule challenge alive, despite Biden veto
It was her work as California labor secretary that has—in part—galvanized opposition to the nominee.
“In California, Ms. Su was a top architect of AB 5—a controversial law that removed the flexibility of individuals to work as independent contractors,” said Sen. William Cassidy, R-La.
AB-5, passed by the state legislature in 2019, requires that companies pass a three-pronged test before they can classify employees as independent contractors. Many industries blasted the new requirements and in 2020, the legislature enacted legislation that exempted many industries.
Cassidy said the controversy over AB-5 “does not inspire confidence in her current position, let alone inspire confidence that she should be promoted.”
However, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Senate committee, endorsed Su. “I’m confident Julie Su will be an excellent Secretary of Labor,” he tweeted shortly after she was nominated. “I look forward to working with her to protect workers’ rights and build the trade union movement in this country.”
And organized labor also endorsed the nomination, and applauded Su for her tenure as state labor secretary.
“She addressed the delivery of unemployment insurance benefits, ensured workplace health and safety, and helped support small businesses and their workers through the ongoing recovery from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association. “She leads with kindness and empathy, building initiatives that inform workers of their rights and staunchly protecting workers who are victims of wage theft and other related crimes.”
Still other groups said they were pleased that Biden had nominated an Asian American for the post.
“Su, a nationally recognized expert on labor policy and workers’ rights, would bring her lived experience as a daughter of immigrants, a woman of color, and an Asian American to the role of U.S. Secretary of Labor, ensuring the concerns of all communities are prioritized in the workforce, labor, and employment goals set forth by the Biden Administration,” Asian Americans Advancing Justice said, following the nomination.
With the close partisan split in the Senate, the vote on Su’s nomination could be close.
And Republicans in the House have asked Biden to withdraw the nomination before it even comes to a vote, following a legal challenge of the DOL’s new ESG rule by Republican state attorneys general in 25 states. Biden vetoed the bill that would have blocked ESG investing for retirement funds that was passed by the House and Senate.
“Because of her misguided record in California, we have major concerns about potential disastrous ramifications at the federal level if Ms. Su becomes Secretary,” Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, and Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, wrote, in a letter to Biden last week.