[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. KILEY: I thank Mr. McCormick for his words. Indeed, the President should pick someone else. Almost anyone else. What is so really puzzling, mind-boggling about this nomination is that the President has chosen to elevate the one person in the country who presided over a fraud on this scale, the single worst performing Secretary of Labor of any State in the country. Why would he do that? That brings us to the final facet of Ms. Su's tenure that I wish to discuss and that Mr. McCormick touched upon as well, which is her ruthless enforcement of the labor law known as AB 5, which President Biden has cited as his model for the Nation. Su's historic failure to deliver unemployment checks to millions of Californians along with her allowance of this massive fraud is disqualifying in its own right, but I actually think it is her mistreatment of California workers that is most concerning of all. AB 5 was a law passed in California in 2019. It rendered countless independent professionals unable to earn a living in our State. Writers, interpreters, court reporters, musicians, language pathologists, photographers, forensic nurses, people in literally hundreds of other professions were told they were no longer allowed to practice their profession and serve their clients as they had been doing their whole careers. Instead, their only option was to find a single hiring entity to monopolize their services and make them a W-2 employee. For many, that simply was not possible, and so they lost everything. Take, for example, a woman named Jodie, who said: I worked years to gain my skills as an American Sign Language interpreter. It was my goal since I was 9 years old. After AB 5, I lost all three of my agencies. The dream I worked for is lost. I can't provide for my family, and thousands of California deaf won't be serviced. Andy said: I work with underserved artists of color. None of my career as an artist, technician, designer, and producer would have been possible under AB 5. Artists of color will be less able to create their own work in a field that doesn't favor them. Jared said: AB 5 forced me to shut down my business. I went from making $80,000 a year in home services to a minimum wage employee. My family trade is gone. I have gone from working 4 days a week to spend time with my kids to not knowing if I can make ends meet working 7 days. Kathy said: I am a 71-year-old transcriber. I raised six kids and went to work in my 40s, but I had to retire at 62 due to health issues. I depend on my at-home transcription pay to survive and pay my bills. For 8 years, I did okay, until AB 5. Julie Su has been called an architect of this law, and she is supporting a Federal version that is estimated to cost millions of American workers their livelihoods. After her enactment in California-- and this is the important thing, given that this is now percolating up into Federal law--she used her position as labor secretary to broaden the destructive impact of the law by enforcing it as aggressively as possible. In fact--and I think this is maybe the most concerning thing--she exploited the COVID-19 shutdowns to hammer the law in even more. She continued with harassing audits, trying to find businesses to hit with fines and penalties. I personally asked the EDD to stop doing this during the COVID shutdowns, and they refused to do so, continuing to target small businesses. She even defied the will of Congress in the process. Congress had provided benefits to independent contractors through the CARES Act, but put States in charge of distributing those benefits. Under Julie Su, the EDD wrongfully withheld those benefits, as she aimed to exploit the sudden need that independent contractors had to interface with her department. She wanted them to go through the regular unemployment channel, which they weren't supposed to go through, so that she could get access to information that could be used then to conduct more audits and go after more small businesses and to put more people out of work. You don't need to take my word for this, either. California Congressman Adam Schiff wrote a letter to Secretary Su in April of 2020 rebuking her for failing to release the benefits independent contractors were owed under the CARES Act and requesting urgently that she do so. Now, tellingly, with Julie Su's confirmation for Secretary of Labor now appearing to be in doubt, her backers are making a last-ditch attempt to save her nomination by absurdly trying to dissociate her from AB 5. None other than the author of AB 5 itself, a major Su backer who now leads the California Labor Federation, told the L.A. Times that Su ``was not involved with the bill at all.'' Yet Su, in her own words, after the law was passed, described in detail her plans for enforcing AB 5 as California labor secretary: ``So we will be doing investigations and audits,'' she said, threatening fines and penalties, ``so that those who want to comply with the need to reclassify can do so and those who don't will understand that's not the kind of economy we want in California.'' ``Not the kind of economy we want in California,'' those are her words. Julie Su didn't want an economy in California where you can pursue your own calling, support your family on your own terms, and thrive. She doesn't want that for America, either. That is why Joe Biden has selected her for Labor Secretary, to wage his war on independent contractors, and we simply cannot let that happen.  In closing, there are many, many organizations across the country who have expressed their opposition to the nomination and confirmation of Julie Su for Labor Secretary. I will just list some of them: there is the Air Conditioning Contractors of America; American Hotel and Lodging Association; American Trucking Associations; Americans for Tax Reform; Associated Builders and Contractors; Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers; Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise; Coalition of Franchisee Associations; Consumer Technology Association; Franchise Business Services; Flex Association; Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International; Independent Bakers Association; Independent Electrical Contractors; Institute for the American Worker; International Franchise Association; International Warehouse Logistics Association; Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed; Leading Builders of America; National Armored Car Association; National Association of Home Builders; National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors; National Council of Chain Restaurants; National Federation of Independent Business; National Franchisee Association; International Franchise Association; National Grocers Association; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association; National Restaurant Association; Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association; DoorDash; Lyft; Competitive Enterprise Institute; TechNet; Fight for Freelancers; Freelancers Against AB5; California Business and Industrial Alliance; Workplace Policy Institute; Job Creators Network; Institute for the American Worker.  {time}  1200  You have also had State-level associations weigh in in opposition: for example, in Arizona, the Builders Alliance; Construction Trades; Franchise Action Network; Lodging and Tourism Association; Restaurant Association; Small Business Association; Transportation Builders Association; Trucking Association; and the Independent Electrical Contractors. In West Virginia, you have the Associated Builders and Contractors; Independent Electrical Contractors Chesapeake; the Franchise Action Network; the Hospitality and Travel Association; the Manufacturers Association; Oil Marketers and Grocers Association; Retailers Association; and Trucking Association. I encourage Members of the United States Senate to join this broad coalition of small businesses and workers across the country who know that we deserve and need better than the Secretary of Labor. I urge Members of the United States Senate to reject this nomination, and I urge the President to appoint a Secretary of Labor who will be on the side of American workers. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Duncan).