Transcripts For CSPAN3 Labor Secretary On Department Policies And Priorities 20171129

And the workforce will come to order. Good morning, everyone. And welcome to todays hearing. The committee is honored to welcome our distinguished guest, secretary alexander acosta. Secretary acosta has been at the helm of the department of labor since april and were grateful he could join us to testify for the First Time Since his confirmation. Mr. Secretary, welcome to the committee. We look forward to your testimony. Which we are sorry did not arrive earlier. And discussing the department of labors policies and priorities under the new administration. The department of labor is on the front line of the issues facing workers and job creators. It sets policies that have a widespread impact on our nations economy, employment growth, Retirement Security, and more. Whether they relate to health care, worker protections, retirement planning, Workforce Development, or employee wages and benefits, its the responsibility of this committee to am sure these policies are in the best interest of workers, employers, and taxpayers. I have said it before, but ill say it again. No matter what Party Controls the administration, this committee is dedicated to robust oversight. We take our oversight responsibilities very seriously. Today hearing is the latest step in our effort to hold federal government officials accountable. The American People are counting on that accountability, especially at a time when the economy is still improving. Were all encouraged by the Economic Growth we have seen this year. In the Third Quarter of 2017, real gdp increased at an annual rate of 3 . Thats a remarkable improvement considering its twice as much as the near 1. 5 growth rate we saw during the final year of the Obama Administration. Its also great to see more and more americans getting back to work. Nearly 1. 5 million jobs have been added since february. Meaningful progress has been made, but theres no question we have more work to do after eight years of lost opportunities. However, even though the Unemployment Rate is down, we still have 6. 5 million workers out of work. Including 1. 6 million on a longterm basis. 4. 8 million workers are working part time because their hours have been cut back or because they were unable to find a fulltime job. At the same time, we have 6. 1 million jobs unfilled, due in part to our nations skills gap. Expanding pathways to career success is a critical component in closing this gap and helping more americans find good paying jobs. Thats why congress and the administration have made Workforce Development and skillsbased education a leading priority. This happens to be National Apprenticeship week, so were eager to hear from you, mr. Secretary, on the steps the Department Plans to take to promote apprenticeships and other skillsbased education programs. This is something our community has been focused on for quite some time now. Its encouraging to have a partner in the white house and the department of labor. We look forward to further discussion of how we can Work Together to expand Educational Opportunities and empower more americans to realize their godgiven potential. In addition, i hope youll be able to provide the Committee Members and the public with your views about the departments efforts to advance Economic Opportunities for workers by strengthening workplace democracy, insuring safe and healthy workplaces, enhancing Retirement Security, and providing workers and employers more Affordable Health care options. Were also very interested in hearing more about the departments regulatory and enforcement agenda. This committee spent the early part of this year advancing resolutions under the condwre Congressional Review Act to clean up the mess from the Obama Administration to deliver r regulatory relief for hard working men and women. 5 of the 14 cr resolutions signed into law originated from this committee. And just last week, the house passed the save local business act, to roll back the obama era joint employer scheme that threatens 1. 7 million jobs, according to the American Action forum. We know the department has its work cut out after eight years in an unprecedented regulatory rampage, but we look forward to building on the progress we have made together so we can get government out of the way and unleash prosperity and opportunity. There are also a number of issues impacting Retirement Security that require our attention. This includes the need to protect access to affordable retirement advice and empower more americans to plan for the future. As the department that oversees so many important priorities, i feel i barely scratched the surface. We have a lot of ground to cover today, so mr. Secretary, thank you again for joining us. I look forward to our conversation. With that, i recognize Ranking Member bobby stotts for his opening remarks. Thank you, madam chair. I want to thank secretary acosta for appearing before the committee. Secretary acosta, youre the first agency head to appear before this committee. We have jurisdiction over health and human services, education, as well as labor. Youre the first one to come before the committee since the administration took over ten months ago. And i want to join the chairs criticism for the lateness of the arrival of your testimony. I also want to add that were disappointed you have given limited time, insufficient time for all the Committee Members ask fiveminute questions. Its been six months since the departments fiscal year 2018 budget request was submitted to congress, and although were already well into the fiscal year, this hearing is still timely since the appropriations legislation is still under deliberation. As the secretary, youre the steward of legislation this committee has passed over many decades that have made our economy fairer and workplaces safer. In appearing before this committee, i want to direct your attention to the portraits on the wall to your left. These leaders have secured passage of legislation that measurably improved the lives of millions of workers. Mary nortd norton, the first woman to chair the committee, chaired the passage of the fair labor starnz act of 1938. Carl perkins who spearheaded the health and safety administration. Tonkins who authored title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Behind me is george miller, who led the fight for the fair minimum wage act of 2007. And today, the department of labor bears the tremendous responsibility of implementing and enforcing employment laws covering about 10 million employers and about 125 million workers. However, in its first ten months, there are troubling questions about whether this department has reversed important progress made in Previous Administrations and laid the groundwork to undermine workers wages, Retirement Security, workplace safety, Affordable Health care, and skills development. First, the department of labor has taken steps to replace a rule issued by the Previous Administration that would have expanded overtime benefits for 4 million salaried workers. This rule increased the salary threshold beneath which most fulltime salaried workers would be eligible for overtime pay from 23,660 to over 47,000 and covers 35 of fulltime salaried workers. Unfortunately, a District Court in texas blocked the rule, and the department under your leadership decided not to defend this threshold in the court of appeals. Rather, dol has indicatesed it will issue a revised overtime threshold, and i understand in senate testimony, mr. Secretary, you mentioned 33,000 as overtime salary threshold based on inflation adjustment. There are lujitdimate questions about where to set the baseline. Do you base it on the 2004 level when 13 of fulltime Salary Workforce had overtime protection, or do we base or do we base it on the 1975 levels when 62 had overtime protections. Second the department is seeking a delay in protections for retirement savers. A study by the Previous Administration found as much as a quarter of a workers hard earned savings can be depleted by conflictinged a irs vice over 35 years. They required Financial Advisors to put the best interests of their clients before their self interests. There are questions about whether the departments actions regarding the fiduciary role of placing the demand of wall street ahead of the interests of workers. Third in line in line with the efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care act the department has released an interim rule that allows employers to eliminate coverage in the Health Care Benefit plans for contraceptive care based on religious or vaguely defined moral objections. This is squarely at odds with the Affordable Care act requirement that those services are discovered raises legitimate questions about the constitution. The department has also been directed to expand access to association plans, Association Health plans which as the committee has heard over and over again would steer Young Healthy people into low cost junk plans and leave sicker and higher cost people behind, there are increasing the price for everybody that doesnt get into one of these health plans. 40, the worker safety protections are under attack. While Previous Administration rules helped end the scourge of black lung disease and prevent deaths from silicareled diseases the current dol proposed a rollback of protections for construction and Shipyard Workers who are exposed to the toxic beryllium that is jetsons worked on toxic chemicals and combustible dust. It is unclear whether the dol will finalize a december 1 deadline for employers and hire Hazard Industries to reveal some logs. Without that data there are questions about how osha will secure information needed to target inspections to those work sites where workers are greatest at risk. You are aware that only relatively few inspections can actually be made. We want to make sure they are targeted. Without this information it cant be done. A fifth of the departments budget request cuts Work Force Development programs by 40 compared to current levels. This cut threatens access to job and skills Development Programs that workers need secure better paying jobs and while i hope the expansion of apprenticeships remains a bipartisan issue, the questions regarding the departments plans. For example, the department signaled it will allow federal support for apprenticeships relying solely on employer established standards but there is no clarity on whether this will produce high quality Transferable Skills credentials comparable to registered apprentice ships and no indication how we will ensure that federal dollars are only spent on quality programs. Mr. Secretary i look forward to your testimony and yield back the balance of my time. Thank you very much mr. Scott. Pursuant to Committee Rule 7c all members will be permitted to submit written statements to be included in the permanent hearing record. Without objection the hearing record will remain open for 14 days toy a lou such statements and other extraneous material referenced during the hearing to be submitted for the official hearing record. Its now my pleasure to introduce our distinguished witness, the honorard r. Anderson acosta is the secretary for the u. S. Department of labor. Among his career highlights he has served in three president ially appointed Senate Confirmed position. In 2002 he was appointed to serve as a member of the national lep Labor Relations board. In 2003 he was appointed assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the u. S. Department of justice. And from 2005 to 2009, he served as the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of florida. Secretary acosta, i ask you to raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth . Let the record reflect, secretary acosta answered in the affirmative. Before i recognize you to provide your testimony, let me briefly remind you of our lighting system. We typically allow five minutes for each witness to present, although ill be somewhat flexible with your testimony give you are our only witness today. When you begin, the light in front of you will turn green. When one minute is left, the light will turn yellow. At the fiveminute mark the light will turn red. Members will each have three minutes to ask questions. And we understand you have a busy afternoon and have asked for a hard stop at noon. Secretary acosta, you are recognized. Member of the committee, thank you for the invitation to appear today. And let me just im honored to be the first cabinet officer to appear before your committee. I found out about that just a minute ago. I appreciate the opportunity to appear here to represent the administration and the hard working men and women of the department of labor and to provide an update on our critical work. At the outset let me just ta this has been a remarkable year of growth for the American Economy, for American Workers, for american job seekers and american job creators. Some highlights as the chairwoman mentioned since january 2017 the American Economy has created nearly 1. 5 million jobs. Gdp has grown at 3 or more for two consecutive quarters. This in particular is great news for Retirement Savings. The Unemployment Rate has decreased from just under 5 to 4. 1 , the lowest in just about 17 years. And the number of open fulltime positions in the American Economy is at a near alltime high of 6. 1 million open and unfilled jobs. Job creators want to hire. And job seekers want to work. And the fact that we have 6. 1 million open jobs speaks to the strength of the American Economy. Since becoming labor secretary, i have made it a point to travel to leave washington when i can and visit different places across the nation. I visited the ford rouge facility in michigan are a new f150 rolls off the Assembly Line every 49 seconds. I met with some apprentices there that are doing amazing work and receiving wonderful and strong workplace education. Nevada is another place that i visited. If you havent been there, i would commend that to you. It lookslike a modern university. It is a very hightech, very high touch training center. I went to the Graduation Program for dozens of steam fitters and pipe fitters who are working hard to educate themselves so they can go back home and educate new apprentices a train the trainers program. Throughout my travels, one thing struck me as very clear, our nations work force is an amazing work force. Its the American Work force. And it issi why we are doing so well as a country. It is the best work force in the world, which is one reason why we need to focus so much on Work Force Education. We at the department are hard at work to increase Employment Opportunities for all americans, to enforce safe, healthy, and fair workplaces, to promote strong benefit programs, and to ensure that the departments regulations are common sense regulations that make sense. So, i think its particularly as a chairwoman mentioned fitting that im here this week, National Apprenticeship week. President trump signed an executive order on apprentice ship expang. And this is an issue that is so important. We should be growing apprentice ships in this nation. Members of the task force included leaders from business, from labor, from educational associations from trade associations, to governors, Community Organization leaders, public individuals, all coming together to talk about how to expand apprentice ships across industries, especially into those industries where apprentice ships are underrepresented. One important takeaway from that meeting was that the apprentice ship programs as currently envisioned are not scaling. They are not growing at the rate that they could grow. Current lesion its. 3 of the American Work force and division is to scale and to grow these further. And we are engaged in discussions as how to how to do that. Let me also say that the trump administrations focus on expanding access to health coverage. On october 20th the president signed an executive order directing the department to consider how to best allow for more employers to form associations and offer Association Health plans. Yesterday, the department sent to the office of information and Regulatory Affairs a notice of proposed rule making regarding ahps. That notice became public this morning. Finally, in conclusion, let me say on november 9th, the Charlotte Observer published an op ed that was coauthored by the chairwoman and myself. And i want to, to sort of conclude by reading from this op ed because i do think it captures much of what we are looking for on the Work Force Education issue. And it says, when americans make career choices, they should be encouraged to consider a broad range of options that fit their diverse talents and interests. For many, their career path will take them to Higher Education. That was the case for us, referring to dr. Fox and myself. A University Degree is right for many young people, yet it is not the only route to career success. We need the change the perception of a single right career path. To that end we are encouraging leaders from business, labor, educational institutions and trade associations to recognize the benefits of apprentice ships. It goes on to say, were partners when it comes to modernizing the workplace education process. With over 6 million americans looking for johns and more than 6 million open jobs nationwide its time to modernize how we prepare americans for the work force. And that starts with a commitment to respecting all career choices americans make to develop the skills that will lead them to excellent family sustaining and to excel in family sustaining jobs. Finally, let me just acknowledge that my written testimony did not make the committees deadline. I apologize for that. The responsibility is mine. I heard your comments. I am not happy that it did not make the deadline, but it is on me, and i do want to apologize to the committee. Thank you. Thank you very much, mr. Acosta. As i mentioned in my opening remarks, we will have to because i believe in the interest of all the members here, to give every member an opportunity to ask questions, because of the hard stop, we will confine our questioning time to three minutes. I will recognize myself for three minutes. Mr. Secretary, i appreciate the recent efforts to encourage success in the Job Corps Program including by suspending or ending individual Center Operations when those centers consistently fail to meet the needs of the students. What additional actions will the department take to ensure student safety and hold Center Operators accountable . Chairwoman, thank you for the question. And let me note that we received a very detailed letter with questions from your office. Were in the process of answering those. They touch been other agencies as well because as the chairwoman is aware, the department of agriculture runs several of the Job Corps Centers. And so were in the interagency process on those. To address your question specifically, we are very concerned about the level of safety and the level of violence in these Job Corps Centers. We have implemented a zero tolerance policy where if individuals engage in violence or if there are safety concerns, individuals will not be at the job center. They will not be part of the program. That zero tolerance policy is a start. In my opinion, we need to take a hard look at how the Job Corps Centers are organized. We need to ask if it makes sense to have such a broad range of ages within a Job Corps Center. Currently, there are some centers that have students ranging in age from 16 to 25 all housed in a residential center. And for me, that is an issue of grave concern. And i think more broadly, we need to look at the Job Corps Center program and measure it based on outputs as opposed to inputs. It is not how many students are there but how many students graduate, how many students go on to get jobs, how successful are the centers. I think sometimes we just measure, you know and you see this times in Higher Education, where many people are familiar with enrollments, but they are less familiar with the Graduation Rates and the job rates. And in taking a page from a trend that we see in Higher Education accreditation that focuses on output measures i think its important in a the job centers also focus on output measures. Thank you mr. Second. You may not have enough time to answer this entire question, but i want to get it on the record and then ask that we get a more robust response from you. I appreciate the departments actions in rescinding the harmful persuader ruchlt but i would like to ask about what further plans you have for the office of Labor Management standards, olms, specifically, what steps will you take to ensure this agency can again provide robust oversight on behalf of Union Workers . And again in the interest of time, i will ask that you give us a written response to that so that i dont impinge on the time of other members. Certainly, chairwoman. Thank you very much. I understand the Ranking Member will defer. So i will recognize miss davis for three minutes. Thank you madam chair. And mr. Secretary, thank you very much for joining us this morning. I know that you agree with me on the importance of apprentice ships. And in your testimony you describe a system where sector by sector standards would be set by certified subject matter experts. Along with a few of my colleagues i had the opportunity to visit switzerland and to take what we all thought was a reasonably deep dive into their system and to understand the really the infrastructure that has been built around it of course over many years. It was clear to us that while the industries lead the programs, that there is government involvement in establishing the prestige and the quality of apprentice ships. Could you give us and i know inside a short amount of time but where do you see that federal role . And could you address registration the registration process, certification, and really what happens with federal dollars, especially if we need to mitigate against what people might call quick upstarts that providing the kind of background that students need. Certainly congresswoman. And let me say that i share that you and i do share a great interest in Apprenticeship Programs. They are critical. As we go forward it is critical and important that we maintain high quality apprenticeships. As we talked to leaders across the nation, theres great interest. But the registered Apprenticeship Program is viewed as cumbersome. The registration process with the department of labor takes a long time. In addition to registering at the department of labor, individuals have to register with various state work force committees. And so an individual or a company that is interested in lets say having 30 or 40 apprenticeships, by the time they look at the registration process at the department of labor and then the registration with the various state work force committees they are making a calculation that maybe they shouldnt engage at all. That is unfortunate. We are looking to develop a system to streamline the certification process and it would be flexible and really depend industry by industry. Lets take the Building Trades. In the Building Trades you have the Labor Management groups that come together and they have really scaled up the Apprenticeship Programs in amazing ways. The Building Trades spend nearly 1 billion of private sector money, no federal money actually involved, setting up 1,600 Centers Across the nation. The vision is wouldnt be wonderful if we could find ways to bring parties together, labor, management, trade associations, in seth up apprenticeships that are scaleable that have portable credentials that can go from institution to institution. I appreciate that. And i know in a were talking beyond those the trades as well, and they provided a great example. But i hope that you will be open as well to sort of seeing how we integrate that. Because i think what we heard repeatedly there was that you do need to have that overarching role. And i appreciate your certain. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you ms. Davis. Dr. Roe you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you madam chair. And i welcome mr. Secretary to the committee. I want to get three quick questions. One im very excited about the Association Health plans. As a Business Owner, a Small Business owner, being able to associate and then to buy insurance across the state line has incredible opportunities to help us lower cost and increase and provide more affordable coverage for people. So we see the success in the self insured plans, we see success in the chichb sharing ministries. Can you go over that and when you believe it will be rolled out . Certainly. As i mentioned the draft was send to omb and is pending at omb. Im limited how much i can talk about it because its currently a draft for internal circulation. Let me say health plans will provide and do provide an opportunity for often Small Businesses to come together and create scale that scale will reduce the cost of health care in important ways. First, because there is scale, there is more negotiating power with health insurers, because there is scale, rather than every business having to have its own plan that it administers there is one central administration. So that also reduces cause. Finally because there is a larger risk pool, the variation lessens as the risk pool grows, as you well know. As a result there is more predictability, theres more certainty. Therefore the cost of uncertainty is lessened and not passed on to the american individual who is buying health care. And so for all those and other reasons, the you know, if you look at Association Health plans there is a history of them reducing the price and benefitting the consumer. I totally agree. Im very excited about being able to group up and get larger. I know it will lower our costs. Second, quick lesion i have a passion and have always had for pension savings. One of my concerns, certainly i agree with the best i agree with my colleagues on that, completely do. But my concern on fiduciary rule is with lower income people and new business. I was a new business at one time in my life and we were able to start a pension plan without a fiduciary and then grow our plan to where we then did have a fiduciary. Could you kmep on where that rule making is right now . Congressman as you are aware the best interest standard went into effect in june. The other part of that rule, which had to do with many of the remedies and the remedy options that are available, are the subject of a notice of proposed rule making that is pending at omb. The title of that notice would make clear that there is an 18month extension if that notice goes forward. I yield back. Thank you mr. Secretary. Thank you dr. Roe. Mr. Courtney, you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you madam chairman. And just to begin because of the short time, mr. Secretary i would invite you to come up to eastern connecticut and see a sizing up of Apprenticeship Programs that has been happening seeded from the u. S. Department of labor using fitzgerald act standards custom again applies not only to the shipyard where we are recap talizing the submarine force with the virginia classroom but also the supply chain, the small guy who is again have initial fears about taking on apprenticeship regulations and found actually that the process was very, very flexible and manageable. Again, i think you would i think benefit from seeing again a sizing up, dramatic sigz up, 3,000 hires this year as again we move forward to enlarge our undersea fleet. Again i have a letter from the eastern Connecticut Work force board which again has data and statistics about the again tremendous success thats happening with fitzgerald act standards in place. Madam chairwoman . Without objection. The other question i wanted to jump in real quickly, a number of us have been working on Workplace Violence trends that are happening. Again your department reported again this year an uptick of Workplace Violence. 27,000 incidents reported this year up from the prior year. Again, the last administration committed to using the general duties clause under osha to develop workplace standards and guidelines to help again the front lines in the Opioid Crisis who are dealing with whats coming through the emergency room doors with violent patients that are causing series injuries. We had an even here in the capitol where a nurse who worked in a psych unit was punched out by a young man, shattered her hip and femur bone and is permanently handicapped as a result of that. Do you believe that Workplace Violence is an issue for your department to set up standards and help people who are trying to do the right thing, the caregivers in our society . Congressman, thank you for both questions. First with respect to the first, quickly let me say i appreciate the comments. I have actually heard very, very good things about that particular shipyard and just to put something on the table and allay any concerns, irrespective of what alternatives we provide, the registered Apprenticeship Program Going Forward. This does not have to be an either or proposition. We are interested in expandsing the atrend tisship program but that does not mean that we would pull back on anything that is already working. With respect to the second point, certainly Workplace Violence is a very important issue to address, and im happy to maybe follow up with your staff, get some more deals on your particular kern and address it and follow up. Thank you. Thank you mr. Courtney. Mr. Guthrie, you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you very much. Thank you mr. Secretary for being here. I appreciate it. With the Previous Administration i worked extensively with them on esomes. I have seen experience and seen the Employee Stock ownership plans one particularly in my district has not just given people Retirement Security but great wealth when had he they resired. People who worked in Grocery Stores when they retired had to have Financial Counselling had to have education on how much their lifestyle would increase when they retired. The problem is in the last seven years the Previous Administrations enforce meant against esomes there were more nfrts meant against esomes than in the last 35 years. There was a concern in that commune that the department of labor, maybe previously but id like to talk about esons and your view of them were trying not to increase esomes or move forward. I understand the argument is we dote want peoples entire retirement tied up in one enterprise but i think we have learned they are tied up in the existence of a single enterprise. Just because you have a guaranteed pension if your business goes out of business that guaranteed it to you they lose that guarantee. A good example was whenever there was an enforcement action against an esome it started with sps. It didnt start with lets go and see whats moving forward. And i think everybody here would say there needs to be adequate regulation and appropriate enforcement. So i would like if you would talk with esomes and your view of them and is the department of labor intentionally trying to keep them from growing . And would you be willing i know we talked about publicly we talk about working with the esome community to make sure one people are protected but two that they are allowed to create the wealth that they create for people. Congressman thank you for the question. I think its important because let me start off by making that the broad statement that we as a policy matter do not have any concerns about esopss. In fact i think they have many many advantages. Making employees part owners allows some skin in the game. It empowers individuals. Many companies have done quite well using esops as parter this strategy towards making employees feel like they are part of the company. One subject that i would like to talk about in the apprenticeship context is lets not make something a job. Lets make something a career path. Lets have for example, a cashier to store manager series of Work Force Education programs so that someone feels they are not just doing a job but that they have a career path with a certain employer. I have five seconds left and i wanted to say that Beverly Tobin ford who is with the great onyx job corps at mammoth kay is here. She is interested in job korish use as well. I appreciate that. I know the chairwoman is going to tell me i have im over my time. Thank you. Ms. Fudge, you are recognized for three minutes. Mr. Secretary, do you and the Department Support the rise to organize and collectively bargain . Yes, both i and the department recognize individuals right to organize and to collectively bargain. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, we are rapidly approaching the 2020 census, and we know that it is mandated by constitution, and we know why we have it, because so many resources are determined by what is in the census. But past directors have said it is woefully underfunded. What are you doing to ensure that we have an accurate census in 2020 . Well, congresswoman, i certainly thing that having an accurate census is prorn aimpord critical. As you are aware the Statistical Agency within the department of labor is the department of labor statistics that conducts surveys on Unemployment Rates, on open jobs. And it does work with the department of the census or with the census bureau. The census, i would argue, however, is under the department of commerce. And as a result the primary budget responsibility for the census really should go to the department of commerce. Let me say, though, that the statistical agencies all work very closely, and im certainly happy to take this back to the bureau of labor statistics and ask them if they have any suggestions that i could then pass along to my colleague, secretary ross. I just want to bring to your attention that right now we believe that it is significantly underfunded and we want to be sure that we have an accurate census. Thank you for looking into it. Thank congresswoman. Mr. Secretary, in october this year, the administration announced two interim final rules that would allow moral and religious objections to contraceptive coverage. On what Legal Authority did you do that . Well, congresswoman, as you mentioned, the interim final tluls were rules that were announced does not mandate but allows individuals to exit. I understand what it does. I said on what Legal Authority did you do. Those rules were enacted to the administrative procedures act, the apa is wellknown and is set out by congress. And it allows agencies to enact rules through proper notice and comment. And all those rules went through apa. They went through the omb process. And they were promulgated in full accordance with the law. Its not based in law. Its just based in process, in policy. Thank you very much. I yield back. Thank you very much. Mr. Barletta, you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you. Secretary acosta, thank you for being here today. Im honored to serve as the republican cochair of the job corps caucus because it is a program that i truly believe in. And i have seen the benefits of it firsthand. In my home town of hazelton, the keystone Job Corps Center play as significant role in our community. Back when i was mayor students from the keystone helped build sidewalks around city hall and design trash receptacles during the downtown beauty fix project. I have also had numerous students intern in my hazelton district office. This is a program that benefits everyone involved. Thats why i was disappointed to see earlier this year the employment and Training Administration which falls within your department announce severe cuts to job corpss student slots despite a 1 funding increase from congress. I appreciate that your department rescinded these cuts just last week but i would also like to make sure that a similar situation doesnt arise in the future. Can you please provide any information on why eta initially sought to cut job corps student slots given the increase in funding from congress. And given fiscal management and contracting challenges under the Obama Administration can you detail what you are doing to determine that eta is appropriately managing the job corpss budget . Congressman, thank you for the question. I noted there was an article i believe in the hayeselton paper that addressed this issue more generally. Let me say, the letter that went out from from the eta Agency Within the department of labor, my understanding that went out in anticipation of what would be perceived as a funding reduction when in fact as you just mentioned the funding reduction did not materialize. And although we dont have a final conference bill, you know, it appears at least on the house side and on the senate side that there is the funding reduction may not materialize in fact. Given that, we have rescinded the level. Now if the funding levels change obviously we will have to address. That let me say more generally, it might make sense if this is a job corps caucus to start a discussion among the coe chairs of that caucus because the Job Corps Program in one way is a Wonderful Program that provides a lot of Work Force Education and can lead to jobs. It can change lives. In another way, there as the chairwoman mentioned there is significant safety concerns. There are inefficiencies. There are many sole source contracts that raise concerns for me. Sole sourcing is not the traditional way to issue government contracts. And i think it is appropriate for more fulsome discussion so that we can determine how best to use the taxpayer dollars in a way that fulfills the mission that you just mentioned, putting individuals to work. Thank you. And thank you for your work. Thank you mr. Bartletta. Mr. Pole you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you chairwoman. As you mentioned this is National Apprenticeship week. I think we all agree apprenticeships are a promising model to help put students on a path to strong good paying jobs. In colorado several Hundred High School students today are participating in addition to the renlsterred Union Apprenticeships we have had for many years in colorado. They are transferable should a student choose to go on to a two or four year university. Currently employers can provide up to 5,250 of tax Free Education assistance to their employees. This provision in our tax code is a linchpin. Unfortunately the house tax bill in its current form that we are vogting on this week eliminates that benefit. Secretary, do you support eliminating employee sponsored Education Assistance from the tax code . Thank you for the he q. Let me note at the outset. It sounds like these are examples of apprenticeships that arent registered and precisely the types of apprenticeships as you mentioned we want to support and expands, which goes back to the discussion about should there be alternatives to the registered apprenticeship. One of the topics that the task force is going to take up is what are the appropriate incentives to provide to support apprenticeships. Now the tax code is a large and complex code. And we want to strive to make it fairer and simpler and simplify it. So putting aside whether or not this particular provision is the most appropriate, let me just say that obviously we want to find ways to support and incentivize Apprenticeship Programs, whether registered or it sounds like this is a dual Enrollment Program where individuals are receiving wouldnt it do the opposite of incentivizing if you were to get rid of the opportunity for employees to provide 5,000 of Education Support to their employees. Well i will give you an example. I made the point that University Offer a semester abroad and offer a semester at sea. Why not offer a semester working in a Public Defenders Office or state Attorneys Office for pay as part of an Apprenticeship Program. Thats correct. If you want all the students to do apprenticeships and government jobs its useful. If you want them to do real jobs in the private sector creating value the Tax Deduction is important. I have additional questions about protecting workers that i will submit in a written format since were out of time. Mr. Burns you are recognized for three minutes. Mr. Secretary thank you for coming today. One of the things that unites everybody around this table is we share your passion for doing something about the Work Force Development of all of our workers in america. I share your frustration with the number of duplicative and ineffective job programs within our agency and really across the national government. Within the employment and Training Administration alone, there are nine nine programs administered primarily at the national level. So two part question. What can you do about that duplicative and ineffective problem weve got there . And what can we do to work with you to make sure we do something about all that . Congressman. Thank you for the question. So let me say this. I have spoken to governors from both sides of the aisle. All of whom have expressed frustration over the limitations on the spending in Work Force Education. They have said, my state is not like the other state. And my state is different. And in my particular state i think we should do it this way. And ive heard from governors on both sides of the aisle on this. I have very little discretion in waiving restrictions on how to spend work force money. And i have very few or very little discretion on how to eliminate duplicative programs. We have in the budget that was submit issed asked for waiver authority. And i have told governors that im all you know, that i would favor waiver authorities so long as governors would provide a plan for this is how we are going to do it. And and this is the important part. And an outcome goal. And so for me its less a question of how are you going to spend it and more are you going to provide this number of graduates, this number of Job Opportunities . How do you develop the outcomes . Ultimately, those questions are in congress, and you have the authority authorize waivers or not. You have the authority to merge those programs. Weve asked for that in budget documents, but that authority will come to congress. Im going to ask my last question. You may not be able to finish it in the time youve got. So if you could give me a written supplement i would appreciate it. Asser aware, many multiemployer Pension Plans are underfunded which threatens the entire system and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation which back stops multiemployer paimtsz plans estimates there are more than 100 multiemployer pension mance that are in critical or declining status. I know chairman wallburg is well aware of these issues and takes them very seriously. What steps are you taking to address this issue that threatens Retirement Security . Congressman, this is a critical issue. It is an issue that has not been fully addressed in the past and that is rapidly not rapidly becoming but actually is past the point where there is an easy solution. This is something that we will have to work closely with congress on. And im happy to follow up. My time is up, if you would give us a more thorough written response i would appreciate it and i yield back. Thank you mr. Burn. Ms. Bond myrtle beachy you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you madam chair. Secretary acosta thank you for being here. You are the first cabinet level secretary to be at this committee this year. And i trust the chairwoman and members agree that hearing from members of this administration is important especially to our oversight responsibilities and i hope well see secretary devos and the hhs secretary heran soochlt there are many issues we are talking about today. Im going to discuss the ability of oregonians to save and plan for secure retirement. We were making progress under the plan under the Obama Administration. Some of that is being rolled back. Most americans are not spending their days studying the markets they rely on financial planners. Do you agree that oregonians and americans deserve Financial Advice thats in their best interest . Congresswoman, obviously i do agree that saving for retirement involves significant financial decision and that they should receive the best Financial Advice available. Im going the reclaim my time because i have more questions. Is everyone who is saving for retirement in the United States now getting advice that is in their best interest . So, congresswoman, everyone is a very broad statement. It certainly is you know, there are millions and millions of individual americans. And we at the department prosecute cases where individuals have not received appropriate advice. And so everyone is certainly too broad. Again reclaiming my time. We sat in this Committee Room and had unanimous members of the financial industry say investment people investing deserve advice thats in their best interests. I so i hope that the department will indeed implement the conflict of interest fiduciary rule. Will you provide assurance to the American Public who are trying to save for retirement that the department will protect their hard earned Retirement Savings . Congresswoman, we are working quite diligent to do what is the best interest of as my colleague said, from and mrs. 401k. We understand that americans have worked very hard for their Retirement Savings. It is important to protect those Retirement Savings. I appreciate that i want to get another question in. Workers in oregon and across the country with limited access to employer sponsored retirement programs have limited access and congress has not expanded access to those programs. So some states, including oregon, stepped up and established private savings programs for private Sector Workers who do not have an employer sponsored plan. But this year, trump signed legislation that nullified rules that make it easier for states and localities to set up these programs. What would you say to the workers now whose access to good Retirement Savings programs is in jeopardy . What should they do now . Congresswoman this goes to a broader question. I think it is important particularly as bls comes out with a study on the economy this spring that we engage in a. Lumbar discussion so that individuals that have various employment relationships can have access to employer benefits. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you madam chair. Thank you ms. Bond myrtle beachy. Mr. Lewis you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you madam chair. Over the past years, this committee has conducted numerous hearings focusing on the departments overtime rule making which was initiated under the Obamacare Administration in 2014. The committee has significant concerns with the Previous Administrations approach. We have heard testimony about the negative approach of this rule making on a number of stakeholders adversely impacted. In july the wage and Hour Division initiated requests as wed understand it relating to the regulations for white collar employees. Could you update us with respect to the information collected where we are in this process how its going to be used to reform the revisions Going Forward and what kinds of clarity we will need for reviewing the information. Certainly, as the congressman is aware, this was also brought up in a federal court, and the federal court joined the implementation of that overtime rule. I have said previously and ill just repeat here, it has not been updated since 2004 and it is in need of updating. Life has become much more expensive. Going to the 47,000 level not only created a shock to the system. What was found to be unlawful by a federal court. And so the request for information allowed us to gather data to ask some important questions to the public about how we are going to write a new overtime rule that will be in accordance with legal standards. We are in the process of doing that. I believe we received over 200,000 comments and we are in the process of reviewing those comments. Let me also say we have appealed the decision. And we have appealed it because that decision was somewhat we believe it was clear but it could be read as less than clear with respect to the departments authority to set the overtime rule in the first place. In one of the issues with the overreach it brought into question the departments authority. And so we are appealing that decision to have certainty that the department actually has the authority to write this rule, which i believe we do. Any personal views on if once you get the authority, the deleterious effects of having the executive agency determine who is a manager and who isnt and what level they should be paid . Well, the department of labor has been in we have determined that for decades now, right . So the overtime rule has been in effect. The focus of this particular exercise is to update it. And it does need to be updated. There is certainly room for a broader discussion. But for now, this particular question on the table is how should the overtime rule be updated . It hasnt been updated since 2004 and it really is in need of updating. My time is up. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Takano you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you madam chair. Mr. Secretary thank you for joining us this morning im eager to ask you about the administrations priorities. Mr. Secretary, i had prepared longer remarks but since we are short on time i just want to note that on the issues of join employer, the fiduciary rule and worker safety this administration has consistently sided with business interests instead of workers and worker advocates. I find that deeply troubling. But i want to focus right now on the overtime rule. You know, in 1975, more than 60 of fulltime salary workers fell below the salary threshold for overtime protections. In 2016, that number was less than 7 . The obama rule would have covered 30 of salaried workers at the 47,000 level and change. But the threshold of 31,000 only covers 13 . A mere uptick of maybe four or five Percentage Points of the work force is covered. I would argue this is not a time for modest change. We needed to update this a long time ago. I understand the shock argued but we are talking about only 7 of salaried workers being covered. I think its time to stand with American Workers who deserve to be paid for their overtime. Now, let me just say that, you know, last year the Obama Administration issued a rule that would have expanded overtime protections to over 4 million workers and strengthened protections for an initial 9 million. That threshold was set just above 47,000 and was supported by the National Employment law project and other worker advocates. Big business organizations including the chamber of commerce believe in addition the threshold should have been significantly lower. Does the Administration Support the threshold set by the Obama Administration and supported by worker advocates or does it support the business communitys position . Congressman, thank you for the question. And let me note at the outset. When we talk about the overtime rule we tend to talk about it in the context of salary thresholds but if you look at the law passed by this congress, this congress did not say whether or not you are exempt or not exempt, whether or not you are sub to overtime or not is set by a salary level. But it set a very different test. So the salary level is in essence a shorthand way of getting to the law. Now a federal court looked at this, and the federal court said that the way the 47,000 was set, and that level was not in accordance with the law. And so its not simply do we support and you chose not to contest or appeal that decision. And you do believe that the that you have the authority to set the salary threshold; is that correct . So i was saying it is irrespective of whether we support or not and we cosmos not to support that level because we believe both it is a shock to the system and not in accordance with the law. We do believe we have authority to set a salary level that acts as a proxy for the test set out in the statute. To be clear, you do believe you have the authority yet your department cosmos not to appeal that decision . Congressman, we appealed the decision with respect to the authority not with respect to the salary level. Thank you. My time is up i yield back. The gentlemans time is expired. Mr. Wahlberg, you are recognized for three minutes. I thank the chairman, and i thank the secretary for being here. I appreciate a number of things that you have pushed forward and worked on. Let me ask you, Retirement Security issue is big on our venue and our consideration. Policies that empower americans to put money aside for retirement is a leading priority for this committee. Safe harbor, annuity safe harbor issue, we believe, needs some more clarity in how its dealt with. So let me ask you this question does the Department Plan to revise the existing annuity safe harbor to make sure it provides the certainty that Plan Sponsors need to provide these types of products . Congressman, i will have to consult with the department and get back to you with that answer. I would appreciate that. That is an issue that comes up as we consider the pbgc question and that was addressed thus far. Anything relative to making sure that we have safe harbors, that we have better opportunity, it would be greatly appreciated. So congressman . Yes . Let me just say as a general matter i think safe harbors are very important. I think having there is a value to certainty and predictability. And that value is substantial. And so i understand the premise of your question. Okay. Thank you. Jumping over to a totally different area, silica. Under the Previous Administration, osha promulgated a rule related to the exposure of silica in the Construction Industry that i and many other members of congress have concerns with. We believe its extremely challenging for many in the Construction Industry to implement and comply with this rule. Are you willing to further stay the enforcement of this rule until you have worked to ensure that this rule is feasible and your employees are able to adequately educate employers throughout the country . Congressman thank you again. The silica rule is a major rule. My understanding is that it is in litigation. My understanding is that the parties were close to resolution as to what would be a sensible outcome. We provided a 30day extension to provide the parties time to address this. The parties were a little late at coming back to the table. But it is my hope that the parties can come together, that they can express their concerns, and that we can find a sensible outcome to this rule. That would be an improvement. So i appreciate that. Thank you. Madam chairman, i yield back. Thank you very much. Mr. Rochester you are recognized for three minutes. Thank you chairwoman fox, Ranking Member scott and secretary acosta for being here. In your testimony your written testimony you briefly discussed employment of people with disabilities. As im sure you are aware nearly one in five americans have a disability. Almost 57 million individuals. And in the super of time ill submit the bulk of mi questions in writing. But i would love to hear about competitive integrative employment, also collaboration amongst agencies like rsa, and how you are going to Work Together. But because i have very limited time, i want to focus on one other question. The president s proposed budget calls for about a 40 cut to Work Force Innovation opportunity act programs and also the elimination of the Senior Community Service Employment program even though Congress Just reauthorized the Older Americans act on a bipartisan basis. What is the rationale behind eliminating the Senior Community Service Employment program . Congresswoman, briefly first let me say that i thank you for the questions on individuals with disabilities. Something that i heard that i thought was a useful way to think about this is that we are all temporarily abled because at some point in our life most of us at some point will have a disability, particularly as time goes by. Going to your second question, the hope in the budget, and ultimately that will be up to congress and congress may not agree, is to try to consolidate all the disparate programs into one Large Program so there is efficiencies and flexibilities at the state level. The budget made some hard decisions. And congress has the discretion to change those decisions to pass the budget that it wishes but the intent of the budget was to rather than having the money in separate programs, to combine them into one Large Program. So mr. Secretary, its my understanding that on this program in particular, which has been around maybe since 1965, that the Performance Measures the Program Actually exceeded the Performance Measures. So can you just help me understand. If you are going to consolidate wouldnt you maybe get rid of programs that arent effective but maintain ones that impact Senior Citizens across our country . By school dating it doesnt mean that the program isnt in economistence. It means its not a separate budget item. Where it is successful i would argue you want to continue programs that are successful that have positive outcomes and you want to look at those Outcome Measures and focus the monies, whether they come through a general budget line or through a desk budget line on just those outcomes. So we are getting to the same end point. My time is expired but i would encourage you to support senior employment programs in addition to employment of peel with disabilities. Thank you so much. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. Mr. Smucker, you are recognized ford three minutes. Thank you madam chair. Thank you mr. Second for being here. I would like to just take briefly a minute or so to thank you for your leadership in the department and thank the administration for the focus on creating opportunities for americans through a job creation through creating an environment where businesses are focused on growing and creating those jobs. I can tell you that businesses in my area are responding. Just was part of a round table recently in my area where a Business Owner a family farm, said we feel like we have been unleashed again. So businesses are investing. They are growing their businesses. And they are creating jobs. So thank you so much. Its refreshing to see that kind of approach and that kind of focus. Im also very pleased with the attention and focus on Apprenticeship Program. One of the things i have always noticed having served in the state senate and now in this position, you have individuals who are unemployed and at the same time you have businesses on the other hand who are looking to fill jobs. And its becoming they are almost desperate to fill jobs. So what it really takes in fact the best way to promote upward mobility, promote lifting people out of poverty is connecting people with great paying jobs that are available. I think Apprenticeship Program is a tremendous tool a tremendo do that. Its one thats been underutilized here. Im very very thrilled with the initiative. Looking forward to working with the administration to create scaleable Apprenticeship Programs across the country. With that i have about a minute. I do have a question. One of the areas that businesses have been concerned about in my district is on osha compliance. In fact, employers understand that it is important to provide a safe workplace, a healthy workplace for their employees. But are concerned about the approach that osha has taken over the past number of years where its more punitive rather than collaborative. So id like to hear your thought on that. What ideas do you have to create an environment where businesses are receiving assistance to comply and to ensure that they have a safe workplace . Congressman, thank for your words and thank you for the question. Briefly let me say on the one hand we have asked for additional funding for a program called vpp which is in essence a compliance assistance program, a volunteer compliance program. As a general matter where you have employers that are trying to do the right thing. You want to help them do the right thing. Let me say that has to be balanced with a vigorous employment program. As a former u. S. Attorney, if need be, you should even refer those where theres willful violations that result in death or serious harm, refer those for prosecution. So i think its important to have compliance assistance and a very full compliance assistance for all those employers trying to do the right thing. We acknowledge what every situation the congresswoman earlier asked me to say does every american, you know, not every employer is like that. Where the employer is repeated and willful, there needs to be vigorous employment. Thank you. Mr. Norcross, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madame chair. Secretary, good to see you again. Seems were hearing quite a bit about the a prpprenticeship prom which has been around the middle ages. We are slow but usually not that bad. They refer to it as the other four year degree. It is a system that works. Unfortunately, the United States primarily the Building Trades who are doing such a great job and when you were asked about the job centers and some of the issues that were taking place there, i was really happy to hear you talk about Graduation Rates and does it lead to a job. The piece of paper on the wall Means Nothing if you have a job. When we were in switzerland, they said the United States has the best trained Unemployed People in the world which goes to the point in the question that we want to talk about. White collar commercial jobs is a nice area that we can go into. But we want to make sure particularly with the trades who have a proven history of doing this great, were not throwing the baby out with the bath water. Their Graduation Rates are between 80 and 90 . But what we had found over the course of the last decade, not everybodys following that. Everybody becomes first year apprentice and stays there. They never graduate. And this is indicative of a program that isnt working. So when youre looking at creating the next generation or youre going to keep the very issues that we talked about in line, Graduation Rates, and does it lead to a job. Congressman, absolutely. I think the outcome measurements are so critical whether its a university, whether its an Apprenticeship Program, whether it is a hybrid. How many graduate and does it lead to a job is the goal. Thats what we should focus on. One of the issues we found coming off the Great Recession is we have all these openings. Training somebody for a job that doesnt exist is nothing short of cruel. The cycles and the construction ebbs and flows. So if we had the amount of people ready to go to work today, that means they were unemployed for many years. So the industry does react, but theres always a lag here. The system works remarkably well. And as you pointed out, with virtually no federal or state money. But there are standards. And we heard from others. Nobody wants to burden the employers. They have a great way of giving input. But everybody cant create their own standards. No core competency. When we go to look at the new system as susan davis talked about, we want to make sure that were in partnership. A joint programs are the ones that work best. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you, mr. Norcross. Mr. Ferguson, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madame chairman and mr. Secretary. Thank you so much for being here today. A couple of questions. First of all, as i understand it on july the 6th of this year the department of labor published a request for information examining the fiduciary rule. Is that correct . I dont recall if thats the exact date, but thats generally correct. Now that the Comment Period is closed im assuming the department is refusing and considering the next steps. Congressman, that is correct. We are. Have there been discussions with the sec on the next steps with the fiduciary regulation . Congressman, in a wall street journal editorial that i published, i very publicly as a matter of fact suggested that the sec should be a partner in this effort. The sec declined to be a full partner in the past administration and i do believe that they have an Important Role to play. They are part of the regulatory structure of this industry. And should be a partner and therefore, yes, we have had discussions. And that is good to hear because weve heard a lot from our constituents that believe that the d. O. L. And s. E. C. Should be collaborating to address the issues and solve the problems associated with it. Thank you for your commitment to continue going down that road. Also i want to just make a comment about the approval of the georgia application. I know some of your staff came down to the district to look at one of our programs. I want to thank you so much for that support and learning whats going on in our district. The being able to do this and work with states and particularly the Georgia Consortium for advanced technical training, we see this as a great opportunity to begin to prepare our young people to go to work in a 21st century economy. Its a step in aligning our Education System with, you know, with the direction that the economy is going. So i know that you and the administration are very much focused on closing the skills gaps, something that we believe is vitally important to do. And we believe that innovative apprenticeships are a valuable part of this. We thank you for the work youre doing. That is something that every person on this committee agreed with that preparing our young people to take advantage of the jobs that are being created is important. Thank you, madame chairman. I yeield back. Thank you very much. Ms. Adams, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, chair woman fox and Ranking Member scott and thank you, secretary, for being here. I was interested in the response that you gave to the congresswoman. I want to followup for a moment. Controlling family time kpg size can be key to unlocking opportunities for economic success, education and equality and access to contraception can help women complete their education, join the work force, planning, delaying and spacing births will also appear to help women achieve their education and career goals. So with all of the economic benefits that access the contraception, it seems a little bit illogical to issue final rules that erodes a womans right to access comprehensive Preventative Health care. My question is have you done the department, have you done a complete assessment of the number of women and independents and plans that could lose access to contraceptive coverage and if so, whats the number . Congresswoman, as i said previously, the rule recognizes that for some organizations their religious freedom should allow them to not offer that coverage. It provides the option for that organization. It was enacted pursuant to the administrative procedures act. Within the apa, there is a requirement that the apa process, engage in a cost benefit analysis. That would be contained within that cost benefit analysis. Thats something that we certainly can provide to you or to your staff. So you have done an assessment . You know how many . Is that what youre saying . What im saying is that within any rule, there is a cost benefit analysis that takes place. And that assessment is required by the administrative procedures act. And so that assessment let me just thank you very much and i would like to receive that. So, you know, according to the National Womens law center, when we think about the wage and someone raised the fact raised questions about the minimum wage, the federal wage minimum wage now is 7. 25 an hour. The average cost of a full years worth of Birth Control pills without insurance was the equivalent of 51 hours of work before the acas contraceptive benefit was imposed. Women on average are paid less than men. I dont see how we justify, i dont see how you justify forcing them to pay more than men for Preventative Health coverage. Ill just submit my other questions to you. Thank you very much. Madame chair, i yield back. Thank you ms. Adams. Ms. Handle, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madame chairman. Good morning. Thank you, secretary, for being here. Just a quick question on the Work Force Innovation and opportunity act which as you know in july of 2016 instituted a new Accountability Program with measurable defined performance indicators. Do you have a sense a year plus later about how this is working . Has it been effective . If so, are there other programs within department of labor to which this type of approach could be applied . Congresswoman, thank you for the question. I believe that it was as you mentioned instituted a year ago. And that states were responsible for submitting the outcomes i believe about two to three weeks ago it was at some point in october. I dont remember the exact date. Were in the process of revealing that data. Once that data is reviewed im happy to provide further thoughts on what that data shows. Id also like to say that while most states did submit the data, i believe that theres seven states that are still working on the submission of that information. And were providing hopefully georgia is not one of them. If so, you would let me know and ill followup. I dont remember all seven, but i will we are working with them to provide compliance assistance so that they understand the responsibilities. Super. If you would be willing to, once youve sorted through all of the data, either you or someone from your team, perhaps send something in writing to chairman fox for the whole committee, i think we would all be very interested in how the Accountability Program is playing out. That is a fair request. Super. Thank you so much, madame chairman. I yeield back. Youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madame chair. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here today. Before accepting the nomination to be secretary of labor, you were the dean of a very successful i may add, dean of the Floridas International law school. Floridas International University has been at the forefront of standing with daca students. Do you stand by florida internationals commitment to support and protect our daca students . Congressman, i appreciate your question. It is certainly my hope that congress resolves this issue and finds a legal solution to this daca issue and i should add that its the clock is ticking, and so i Hope Congress does so expeditiously. My district alone has 2,400 Daca Recipients and a total of 5,800 total daca eligible recipients. Removing these individuals from our work force, our experts have said will decrease our gdp by an estimated 155 million. What are we going to do to fill this labor gap and other labor gaps across the country if this is not resolved . Do you have a plan for this as secretary of labor . Congressman, we have a skills gap. We have a substantial skills gap. We need to find a solution to daca. It is my sincere hope that congress can take this up and that congress can find the solution. Thank you. I am encouraged by your positive response and i may add that unfortunately we have not heard that positive response by other members of the administration, so i commend you. By your positive response, it only encourages the support for these young people that are members of our military. They are teachers. Theyre workers. Theyre students. I think theyre probably the best Economic Development program we can have for the nation where for their aggressive innovativeness, their entrepreneurship, their hung tore make america move forward. According to the news reports, the result of the administrations antiimmigrant rhetoric and the over aggressive Enforcement Effort department of labor have notices an uptake to file even accept back wages collected by the department on the workers behalf. What is the department of labor doing to monitor and respond to this situation and reaffirm its commitment to protecting individual information during the course of labor investigation . Will you commit to continuing to ensure that the department of labor enforces labor laws regardless of the persons immigration status . Congressman, that has been a longstanding practice that has been gone all the way up to the Supreme Court and it is my intent to continue that practice. Thank you so much. Thank you, madame chair. Yield back. Thank you. Mr. Allen. Youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, chair woman. Thank you, mr. Secretary for being here with us today. I was in the Construction Industry for 35 years before being in elected to congress. Just a point of clarification, if i understood you correctly on this rule, the has the rule been finalized or is it still being negotiated and is it being now implemented or is it going to be different . Ive got people that dont know what theyre out pricing and getting quotes and this is very expensive to deal with. And so where are we with this . Are they to comply by this exact rule now . What happens if it changes . Like i said, its very expensive to comply with this thing. Where are we with this . Congressman, i appreciate the question. I was smiling because the rule is complicated and has multiple dates which might be the basis for some of this confusion. Parts of the rule are in effect. Parts do not go into effect for some amount of time. The parties of litigation and all sides are represented in this litigation were im told close to settlement. Each side has their own set of concerns and my view is if theres some common ground, we should look for that common ground. We provided a further 30 day extension that has now expired in an effort to get the parties a little bit more time. I was disheart ended that rather than use that time the parties as often happens didnt come to the table until right up to the deadline. And so it is my hope that the parties come to the table and come to the table quickly so that we can get this issue resolve. Theres an awful lot of confusion. Like i said, there are people that are being faced with huge costs, disadvantages on work that theyve already estimated, contracts theyve already signed. And now this rule. They had no way to know what to anticipate the rule might say. Obviously it is very complicated. Is there any way we can that osha can somehow clarify whats going on and say all right, heres where we are, and give the industry some time to adapt to whatever rule we finally come up with . Because again, its very costly. These people are on fixed cost. They dont put, you know, these compliance things in their estimates. To complete the work. So all of a sudden, like you said, predictability is critical in the Business World out there. And it is critical that these people know where we stand with this. I understand, congressman. We are engaged in efforts to clarify and we will redouble those efforts because it is important that individuals know what is expected of them. I appreciate it. Thank you so much, mr. Secretary. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Allen. Youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madame chair and thank you for having this hearing. Mr. Secretary, thank you for your testimony and your tenor today. I dont finish youre attended a funeral of an American Worker who has lost their life in a workplace incident. I have. Ive represented an area of the bay area that has amongst geographic and per capita the greatest density of Hazardous Material facilities, refineries, chemical plants. Almost 20 years a constituent of mine lost his life because a fortune 500 Company Tosco was appealing over 100 citations issued by cal osha just the week before. Two of them, the most concerning that ill always remember that were at the root cause of this incident was that the backup indicators for temperature variations were outside the control room on the unit. Mr. Glansman was sent out to verify that they should shut the unit down even though it turned out later under inspection that the written policies that instructed them to do that were being overridden by oral instructions. He went out and the second citation that was being appealed was that they should replace the wa walkie talkie didnt work. We think the last words were shut it down, shut it down. That not only cost his life but raised the cost of diesel by more than 10 cents. A year later four employees lost their life in an explosion and burned to death. We shut them down for a year. The result of the audit was very succinct. So forgive me for being suspicious when i see a department thats being cut for 21 million over the funding of last year, 11 million more than the administration asked for and that your staff did a level thats consistent with the 90s and it would take 159 years for your inspectors to inspect every facility in the United States. So forgive me for being cynical. But you can help me with my skepticism. Last year on may 12th of 2016 the Previous Administration had a rule making that would instruct employers of over 20 employees in heavy Industries Like this to electric tron cally notify them when theres an illness or work force injury t. Seems like thats what youre after is efficiency. And better results. You have postponed that rule making. The website is up and capable of running as of august. We anticipate that over 300,000 reports will be in. Well be able to track these incidents better. So mr. Glansman of the future will not have it happen to them. I would like to finish youre setting this up and making it work december 1st and if not why . Thank you for the question. Let me briefly respond. I understand what your point that youre making. I understand that because we had a similar incident in miami. That incident was prosecuted criminally. People died. A boiler blew up. There was a flash steam result and people died. It was prosecuted criminally. And so i am very much aware of the importance of vigorous prosecution, particularly as i said earlier when addressing one of your colleagues, when violations are repeated and when violations are willful. And so cynical or not, this is something that we take very seriously. With respect to the particular rule that youre addressing, were looking at that rule. We are balancing the issues of privacy it was asking for some information that was very detailed and that identified individuals with the needs to get information so that we can engage in appropriate and targeted enforcement. We are moving forward on that. But that does not lessen the seriousness with which we will take instances in particular that are repeated and that are willful and im perfectly fine referring them to criminal prosecution. As a matter of fact, in other context, ive already made clear to my staff that were appropriate, they should refer things to the u. S. Attorneys office, that i am more than happy to encourage u. S. Attorneys offices to take our cases, because in addition to civil fines, where you have a culture that is not compliant and that disregards safety matters, that can be a criminal violation. Thank you. I appreciate the time the secretary took to answer the question and did not call time because i thought it was a very serious matter and i wanted to allow the time for that answer. I appreciate it. Mr. Thompson, youre recognized for three minutes. Madame chair, thank you. Secretary, good to see you. Thank you for your leadership. Weve heard the words skills gap. You used that. Certainly exists. We know that projections are by the year 20,206 million jobs will go unfilled because of a lack of individuals who are qualified and trained. The tax reform bill that will be on the floor here within the next 24 hours, thats been estimated to create conditions where a million additional jobs will grow. That will all be for nothing, though, if we dont have individuals who are qualified and trained to fill those positions. I wanted to get your reflections. I work with many colleagues in this macommittee. We introduced a piece of legislation, strength and career and Technical Education passed out of this passed out of the house unanimously. Now sits in the season. I really appreciated your support that youve and the administration generally have said about skills based education. Wanted to just get your given that many jobs that we need to fill and theres so much opportunity there, any reflections is the legislation we put forward to the senate, waiting on the senate, will that be helpful to creating those on ramp opportunity for americans, the American Families . Reporter congressma congressman, thank you for the question. I dont have the lotion in front of me so let me answer the question generally. I opened by saying ive been traveling to different parts of the country and i visited the carpenters facility is pipe fitters graduation, but ive also visited a Community College in los angeles. I have visited a Community College in reno. I have visited several Community Colleges and to an institution what i have seen is amazing. Whether its teaching nursing skills in pittsburgh, teaching hvac in reno, teaching welding in los angeles, what Community Colleges and Vocational Education centers are doing is creating not just creating jobs, but changing lives. I had an experience where i met with some young men and women and the folks that ran the institution were there. But i wanted to really hear from them, so i asked everyone else to leave and i just talked to the students. And i wanted to do that because they were kids that came from the street that hadnt finished high school. And were coming at this late in life. And what they said was that it was transformative. Because they now had apartments. One was about to get their first car. So i think taking a step back and recognizing that there is no right path for everyone, and that the question is what is the right option for an individual and does it lead to a good job, its critical. And so any measure that does that subject to all the fiscal issues that we always face as a government, i think is something that should be supported. Thank you very much. Youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, chair woman fox and thank you Ranking Member scott for calling this important hearing. Thank you, secretary, for coming. Im going to piggy back off of my colleague glen thompsons questions because i think this is really important. The bill is called strengthening career and Technical Education for the 21st century act is one that congressman thompson and i championed. It passed out of the house unanimously. And so that unfortunately doesnt happen enough with regard to significant pieces of legislation. Its extremely bipartisan. And so i wanted to just get your thoughts about this legislation, whether you and your staff could come back to us with your thoughts about it. Because we could definitely enlist your support to get it through the senate. This is something that employers are clamoring for right now. Its h. R. 2353 just in case youre wondering what the bill number is. And basically employers as well as workers, people in my district are clamoring for this bill to be passed. It basically increases transparency. It moves authority for spending a lot of the money from washington to local Community Colleges and high school districts. Increases some resources over time for cash strapped local school districts. It also requires if any federal job training dollars are spent employers have to be at the table so people arent trained on skills that are not in demand. Can we get your commitment to take a look at this bill and help us to usher it through the u. S. Senate . Congressman, you certainly can. And let me just pick up on something you said that was very important because in every Community College that i have seen and in all of them have been successful, there is an employer partner that is assisting with informing the Community College of what the skills are that need to be taught. And that is also very anxious to hire the graduates. So i think that is critical. Let me also say that one issue of confusion is that there is an office of Vocational Education at the department of education. We talked about overlaps of Work Force Education earlier. One of the large overlaps is we have the department of labor labor force education and the department of education Vocational Education. And i think the overlap between those two is quite substantial. Im more than happy to return and speak with your staffs. I also think its important to engage the department of education because i am told that ultimately this is within their jurisdiction. I understand the more allies we can have on this critical piece of legislation that will help our workers and employers the better. I definitely can use your help. Thank you for committing to us youre going to help us. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Rooney, youre recognized for three minutes. First, mr. Secretary, thank you for changing back the admth administrators bring something kind of sanity back to the Labor Department and the work force. It sure needs it. Id like to talk about work centers. Only 6 are represented by unions, but the National Unions bring in hundreds of millions of revenue per year. A comment was made about corporate culture, something i know about. Lets talk about union culture. Maybe dues paying Union Members would like to know where their money thats funding these Work Center System going. Yet another union boondoggle has been able to operate where theres no tracking of their spending, theyre inspection organizations, but the black hands of the union is behind them and not subject to union disclosure. What id like to know is what can we do to work to define these under the lmra as a Labor Organization and rein them and show theyre a front for labor unions . Thank you for the question. That question was raised briefsly at another meeting i was at. Its something that were looking at and im happy to followup with your office and your staff. Probably in a few weeks. I hope youll move aggressively because the people have been waiting a long time to return some balance to the e kwil lib reium to the corporate entities in this country that provide the jobs. So thank you for much. I yield. Thank you very much. Mr. Rooney. Mr. Scott. You want us to go ahead . Okay. Mr. Grossman, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you very how many employees do you have over there at the department of labor . Congressman, i believe we have about 15,000 give or take. How many do you get to hire . As you try to get a handle of this . Very few, congressman. I dont have an exact number. Less than 20 . Less than 30 . More than 30, but less than 100 i would say. Okay. A sear reeries of votes and e one later toochlt i do want to get to it. I want to thank you for being here. We open todays hearings there are 47 Million People in the world living with alzheimers. More than the entire population of spain according to a report by the alzheimers disease international. The number of victims who have alzheimers is projected to or likely to double every 20 years so we are in a race like few other diseasesau