The Workforce Protections Committee Puts the Screws on Julie Su as Her Nom to Secretary of Labor Languishes

In a headline that begs credulity, the Washington Examiner reported, “Democrats optimistic as Julie Su’s labor nomination languishes Senate.”

It’s been nearly four months since President Joe Biden nominated Julie Su to become labor secretary, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has not yet set a date to hold a vote on the floor, a key sign that her nomination still doesn’t have the votes.

But Senate Democrats and the White House are projecting optimism as they attempt to sway moderates who have been noncommittal.

“Her nomination is on track, but we need everybody here to vote,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told the Washington Examiner on Thursday while leaving the Capitol after a vote. “I absolutely think she’ll make it through, she’s going to be a terrific secretary of labor.”

However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer still has not bothered to bring the nomination to the floor.

The campaign to gaslight the public that Su’s ascendency to Secretary of Labor is a lock continues apace and POLITICO prognosticates that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is their ace in the hole to cross the aisle and get Su over the finish line.

Labor nominee JULIE SU’s backers are hoping that one of JOE BIDEN’s favorite Republican senators, LISA MURKOWSKI, will help rescue her embattled nomination. But, so far, the Alaskan appears uneager to enter the fray.

The White House and Senate Democrats are struggling to nail down 50 votes for Su, the first Cabinet replacement fight they’ve faced in Biden’s presidency. The nomination has been pending longer than any Cabinet nominee did during the first months of the president’s term.

The problem: there are not yet 50 out of the 51 Democratic Senators ready to vote for Su. And, for now, Murkowski is passing responsibility to them.

“I don’t know that all the Democrats are supporting her,” Murkowski said Thursday when asked if she’s decided how she would vote on the floor. “I’m wondering what the Democrats are going to do.”

More accurately, Murkowski is discovering what is in it for her. She has flipped before, first voting against Su for Deputy Labor Secretary while it was in the Senate HELP Committee, then changing her vote when Su’s Dep. Labor Secretary nomination came to the full Senate. So, those interested in ensuring Su’s nomination fails best keep an eye on Murkowski and her moves.

However, the signs reflect that Su’s nomination is on life support. Case-in-point? Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who as chair of the HELP Committee has given full-throated endorsement to Su, is working to reintroduce the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO Act) back on the Senate docket.

After failing to pass the bill in 2020 and 2021, left-leaning lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., have reintroduced the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.

The National Right to Work Committee has warned that the PRO Act would radically overhaul the country’s economy—for the worse.

“Right to Work brings freedom to American workers, accountability to American unions and jobs to American cities,” the organization said in a legislative analysis.

The Democrats would not bother to resurrect this problematic work-killing act if they knew Su was going to be confirmed and could enact changes within the Department of Labor through regulatory fiat to accomplish what the Democrat Senate could not accomplish legislatively through passage of the PRO Act. Senators have a bigger hill to climb to push this legislation for a third time, and that is how it should be.

Another ill wind that has blown through this nomination is the June 7 House Education and Workforce Committee hearing with Julie Su. These hearings are standard operating procedure for the Labor Secretary, as the Workforce Committee is the oversight body for the department. While the Secretary of Labor nomination is still under Senate deliberation, Su is de facto acting Secretary. But her behavior toward this hearing is another reason why she should never attain the office. As reports indicate, Su and her staff did their best to dodge the appearance and had to be threatened by Chairman Virginia Fox (R-NC) that Su would be subpoenaed if she refused to appear, as the Workforce Committee briefing detailed:

The Committee tried time and time again to schedule Su’s appearance. This came after she repeatedly provided insufficient answers to the Committee’s oversight requests. Finally, under threat of subpoena, Su made her statutorily mandated trek to Capitol Hill so that the people’s elected representatives could conduct oversight of the DOL.

Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) kicked off the hearing with a tone-setting question. Referring to a late Friday evening correspondence with Su’s staff claiming that she was unavailable for today’s hearing, Chairwoman Foxx asked in her opening statement, “What was so important that you were willing to stop the work of a Congressional Committee, upend the schedules of 45 Members of Congress, and leave the American people’s concerns unanswered?” Committee members are still waiting for a response.

Despite this damning evidence, the legacy media appears to want to carry water for the nominee.

Su appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee for nearly four hours on Wednesday and faced tough questions from House Republicans. The purpose of her testimony was supposed to be on a White House proposal that would raise the Labor Department’s budget by $1.5 billion.

The last thing any of these regulatory agencies need is more money—particularly the Department of Labor. An oversight committee should be asking tough questions no matter what the purpose of the meeting. With port workers disrupting the supply chain and threatening further strikes because they still do not have a contract, It appears that Su has not been able to do much to move port authorities and port workers into an agreement—a key role of a Secretary of Labor, and a role that Su is apparently unable to fill. Malfeasance and incompetence continue to rule the day. Julie Su as acting Labor Secretary is doing her best Pete Buttigieg impression.

While her confirmation as Secretary of Labor would be disastrous for our economy, Julie Su would be responsible for addressing the work stoppages & disruptions at our ports.

I asked her what a port shutdown would do to the economy. Here’s what she had to say: pic.twitter.com/2cqyadkwnN

— Rep. Michelle Steel (@RepSteel) June 7, 2023

The Congressional members of the Workforce Committee did ask tough questions about Su’s role in California’s AB5, and the $32 billion unemployment fraud that happened on her watch as the state’s Labor Secretary. Su’s testimony glaringly showed why she attempted to wriggle out of this hearing.

Ill-prepared, and flustered by questions that she should have been able to easily answer, Su bumbled, stumbled, and produced word salad statements about “the government’s role,” and “bona fide independent contractors,” which failed to address the issues of why someone who had failed the people of California would not bring the same failure to the nation’s workforce infrastructure.

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and Fox merely allowed Su to expose herself. Beyond her incompetence, Su’s testimony also exposed her mendacity.

Julie Su lost $32.6 billion in taxpayer funds to fraud in CA.

Years later, Su still can't name one thing she would have done differently.

The CA State Auditor found Su's EDD ignored repeated warnings and suspended a critical fraud prevention safeguard. pic.twitter.com/NRU7Yt5trN

— Rep. Kevin Kiley (@RepKiley) June 9, 2023

Su allowed all of America to see that she is clearly out of her depth, but that she had no qualms about pushing a horrible law like AB5 or allowing fraud to run rampant while remaining unapologetic about it. Kiley pushed her to answer the question, “Is AB5 a good law?” Su dodged, obfuscated, and ultimately whiffed it. Kiley masterfully left the question hanging in the air, allowing Su’s non-answer to fill the chambers.

Julie Su championed and aggressively enforced #AB5 in CA, destroying countless livelihoods.

Su actively supports a national version of #AB5, putting millions of jobs at risk.

Now, she's distancing herself from her record and refused to even answer whether #AB5 is a good law. pic.twitter.com/V9k27q6vsL

— Rep. Kevin Kiley (@RepKiley) June 7, 2023

One final blow to any argument that Su is doing a fine job as acting DOL secretary has been the increase in child labor. Biden’s Border crisis has allowed unaccompanied illegal children to be trafficked into the U.S. as slave labor. When questioned by Kiley, Su was not able to give any clear or cogent steps on how the Department of Labor planned to combat this.

The US is facing a child labor crisis, with a 70% increase in child labor since 2018.

Then Deputy Labor Sec Julie Su doesn't know if she brought this to the attention of the White House prior to this year, even though it's the Labor Department's job to prevent child labor. pic.twitter.com/u4SvuVQM1L

— Rep. Kevin Kiley (@RepKiley) June 12, 2023

Despite these examples of Julie Su’s gross incompetency and inability to execute in the role, failing up continues to be a Democrat calling card. As citizens whose livelihood may depend upon it, we must keep the pressure on the Senate and demand they do not confirm Julie Su as Secretary of Labor.