[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 72 (Friday, April 28, 2023)] [House] [Pages H2108-H2112] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-28
Chamber: HOUSE
Mr. MORAN: I thank my friend from California (Mr. Kiley) for gathering us here today for something very important: to speak out against President Biden's nomination of Julie Su to be the next United States Secretary of Labor. As a former Republican member of the California Legislature, Mr. Kiley knows all too well why this should not happen, and the rest of the country should take notice. As a former small business owner, I also understand why this should not happen because I understand both the needs of the employer and the employee. I have seen firsthand how empowering your employees, Mr. Speaker, is a leading factor in the overall success of a business and how managing with wise and prudent decisionmaking is the right way to go. That is something that Julie Su has not done and has proven that during her time in California and here in Washington, D.C. During her time as the secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, she repeatedly put big businesses and their wants ahead of the needs and concerns of the workers. In fact, she put unions ahead of the rights and needs of workers. During this time, she championed California Assembly Bill 5, which reclassified independent contractors, harming them by considering them employees and, in fact, taking that ability to be independent contractors away from many categories of workers who were intending to build their businesses and build their lives. In doing so, it forced them into these formal employment relationships intended for no other purpose--and I want to pause here--for no other purpose than to drive up union enrollment. She is simply doing the bidding of big unions. On top of this, during the pandemic, Ms. Su's office facilitated the distribution of more than $30 billion in fraudulent claims, the largest exhibition of fraud in California State history. When we look at what we want out of a Labor Secretary, we certainly want wisdom, and we want the ability to manage the Department. Neither of those is present as characteristics in Ms. Su. I am deeply concerned about the fate of hardworking Americans under the direction of Julie Su as Secretary of Labor. She does not understand the needs of workers and the responsibilities of employers, and she has repeatedly demonstrated, as I mentioned, poor judgment in her official capacity. To try to dissolve the ability for workers to have that independent contractor relationship is simply misguided. Unfortunately, Julie Su is just another example of the Biden administration nominating someone who is neither qualified nor possessive of the right judgment to lead the Department. Rather than work toward enacting meaningful policy that will benefit all Americans, the Biden administration continues to nominate individuals like Ms. Su who are sure to enact the President's liberal agenda and proposed policies, allowing him and his administration to bypass Congress and the American people. The misguided policies executed in California under Ms. Su when she was secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency there do not reflect the needs and wishes of the east Texans that I represent nor Americans as a whole.  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject the nomination of Julie Su for Labor Secretary.