[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 Representative Owens for those very on-point remarks. He said it very well, that this nominee is antibusiness, antigrowth, and antiworker, as well. I think it is important for us to have a sense of perspective here that this is such a vital moment and a moment of vital importance for the American workforce. We are coming out of an era of unprecedented upheaval, and we are heading toward an era of, in many ways, unpredictable transformation. For the top labor position in America, we need a Secretary who is competent and qualified, who is proworker and pro-small businesses, who will work with Democrats and Republicans alike, who is fair, and who understands what has made the American workforce the greatest engine for human progress the world has ever known. Simply put, Julie Su is not that person. Her record in California makes that all too clear. Indeed, during the pandemic, Julie Su and her Employment Development Department, known as the EDD, became the national poster child for government failure.  {time}  1145  I saw this firsthand as a State representative. Millions of Californians had their legitimate unemployment claims wrongfully withheld for weeks, months, or sometimes indefinitely under Su's mismanagement. You don't need to take my word for that. In July of 2020, 61 of the 80 members of the California Assembly, mostly Democrats, wrote the following: ``In our fifth month of the pandemic, with so many constituents yet to receive a single unemployment payment, it's clear that EDD is failing California: ``Millions of our constituents have had no income for months. As Californians wait for answers from EDD, they have depleted their life savings, have gone into extreme debt, and are in deep panic as they figure out how to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.'' The lawmakers went on to explain how the EDD, under Su's management time and again, failed to take responsibility and failed to correct its mistakes. They wrote that they had been met with long-winded excuses, fumbling answers, or unclear and inconsistent data, along with a lack of transparency and accountability, obfuscation and dishonesty in their dealings with Su's agency. We have exhausted all avenues at our disposal, they said, as the agency has addressed only a few of the many issues we have highlighted for months and was only scratching the surface of the disaster that is EDD. ``The disaster'' is how the California Democrat supermajority characterized Julie Su's agency. The frustrated legislators lamented how little has improved at EDD over the course of the pandemic. Independent reports confirmed the extent of mismanagement and deception from Su's agency. While the EDD had said in July of 2020 that its claims backlog would be cleared by September, a report found 1.5 million claims remained unresolved and the backlog was increasing by 10,000 each week. The Independent Legislative Analyst office likewise found the EDD mischaracterized the crisis. Even allies of the Governor and Secretary Su concluded that she was responsible for this. Democrat Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, who is the chairwoman of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee responsible for overseeing the EDD said that Su `` . . . has not done a good job at running the Employment Development Department,'' saying Su's mismanagement ``caused heartache for millions of Californians.'' That is the top Democrat on the committee that oversaw her work in California, saying she did not do a good job at running the Employment Development Department. What reason is there to think she is going to do a good job then running the U.S. Labor Department? It gets much worse. As so many hardworking citizens waited in vain for their checks in California after they were told they weren't allowed to work during the COVID shutdowns, as these folks who were entitled to their checks waited for them, one group seemed to have no trouble at all getting benefits and those were people who were not entitled to them, those who perpetrated a massive fraud against the State government of California. In fact, it was the largest fraud of taxpayer dollars in history. An estimated $32 billion was wrongfully paid out from the EDD to State prison inmates, international crime syndicates, and other criminals. Payments were made to murderers, rapists, child molesters. 133 death row inmates received over $400,000 alone. These hardened criminals didn't have to try hard. They used names like Dianne Feinstein and John Doe. The district attorney of Sacramento County called the scheme ``relatively easy.'' The individual most responsible, once again, was Secretary Julie Su. She made the inexplicable decision to forego a basic fraud prevention system. She ignored the Federal Government's guidance that claims are to be cross-checked against the prison rolls, which was standard practice in other States. The agency sent hundreds of benefit cards to the same address, sent cardsdirectly to correctional facilities, issued benefits to infants and centenarians. A January 2021 report from the California State auditor notes that the EDD fraud occurred for three main reasons: First, EDD waited about 4 months to automate a key antifraud measure; second, EDD allowed claimants to collect benefits, even though they were using suspicious addresses; and third, EDD removed a key safeguard against improper payments without fully understanding the significance of the safeguard. Yet, perhaps worst of all is that Julie Su has refused to accept responsibility. Just last week at her Senate confirmation hearing, she said, ``As soon as we saw that there was fraud happening, I shut the front door to that fraud.'' That is her testimony just last week. ``As soon as we saw that there was fraud happening, I shut the front door to that fraud.'' However, California's independent State auditor has found that ``despite repeated warnings, EDD did not bolster its fraud detection efforts until months into the pandemic.'' There is no predicting what will happen to our country, to our workforce if that level of mismanagement is brought to the U.S. Department of Labor. Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss one more facet of Ms. Su's tenure in California, but before doing so, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. McCormick). Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I too have major concerns about this nomination. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition of President Biden's nominee for Secretary of Labor, Julie Su. America's labor secretary should defend both American workers and understand the economy which provides jobs, feeds families, and keeps our communities strong. Unfortunately, Ms. Su oversaw and distributed about $32.6 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims paid out to death row inmates, international criminal syndicates, and other fraudsters. She has tried and failed to obscure this fact in front of the Senate Committee. While she was doing this, Su also denied or delayed over 5 million legitimate unemployment insurance claims. She was also an architect and key enforcer in California law that effectively outlaws freelance work in California, destroying the livelihoods of thousands of families. Our Nation's 1099 employees are just as important to this country as the liberal elite donors that are so set on destroying the American working class. The facts are clear, President Biden should pick someone else to be his Labor Secretary. I urge my colleagues in the United States Senate to stand with America's workers, to stand for American prosperity, and stand for a better nominee for the Department of Labor.