Its one thats been underutilized here so i am very, very thrilled with the mish tiff. I look forward to working with the administration to create scalable Apprenticeship Programs across the country. And with that i have about a minute. I do have a question. One of the areas that businesses have been concerned osha in my district is on compliance, and in fact employers understand that it is important to provide a safe workplace, a healthy workplace for their employees. But our concern 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 they have a safe workplace . Mr. Acosta congressman, thank you 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 the v. P. P. Which is in essence a compliance assistance program, a voluntary 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 enforcement program. And so where you have an employer that has engaged in repeated violations and willful violations, my view is you have to enforce and enforce vigorously. As a former u. S. Attorney, if need be, you should even refer those where there was willful violations that result in death or serious harm, refer those for prgs. So i think its prosecution. So i think its important to have compliance system and Compliance Systems for those employers that are trying to do the right thing. While we acknowledge with every situation that the congresswoman earlier asked me to say, does every american you know, not every employer is like that and where the employer is repeated and willful, then there needs to be vigorous enforcement. Ms. Foxx thank you. Mr. Norcross, youre recognized for three minutes. Mr. Norcross thank you, madam chairman. Secretary acosta, good to see you again. Were hearing a lot about the Apprenticeship Program that has been around for the middle agets. We are ages. They refer to it as the other fouryear degree. Its a system that works. Unfortunately, the United States primarily doing a great job. When you talked about the job centers and the issues taking place there, i was really happy to hear you talk about Graduation Rates and does it lead to a job. A piece of paper on the wall Means Nothing if you dont 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 that have a proven history doing, we dont want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Their Graduation Rates are between 80 and 90 . What we had found over the course of the last decade, not everybodys following that. Everybody becomes firstyear apprentice and stays there. They never graduate. And this is indicative of a program that isnt working. When youre looking at creating the next generation, you keep the very issues we talked about in mind, Graduation Rates and does it lead to a job. Secretary acosta congressman, absolutely. I think the outcome measurements are so critical, whether its a university, whether its an Apprenticeship Program, whether its a hybrid. How many graduate and does it lead to a job is the goal and thats what we should focus on. Mr. Norcross one of the issues we found coming off the great recision was we have all these openings. Training somebody for a job that doesnt exist is not short of cruel. These cycles in the construction, ebbs and flows. So if we have the amount of people ready to go to work today, that means they were unemployed for many years. So the industry does react. Theres always a lag here. The system works remarkably well, 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. So when we go to look at the new system, as susan davis talked about, we want to make sure were in partnership. That joint programs are the ones that work best. And i yield back the balance of my time. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Norcross. Mr. Ferguson, youre recognized for three minutes. Mr. Ferguson thank you, madam chairman. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being here today. A couple of questions. First of all, as i understand it on july 6 of this year, the department of labor published a request for information examining the fiduciary rule, is that correct . Secretary acosta i dont recall if thats the exact date but generally. Mr. Ferguson now the Comment Period is closed, i am assuming the agency is considering the next steps . Secretary acosta congressman, thats correct. Mr. Ferguson have there been discussions with the s. E. C. With the fiduciary regulation . Secretary acosta congressman, i in an wall street journal opinion editorial i suggested that the s. E. C. Should be a partner in this effort. The s. E. C. Declined to be a full partner in the past administration, and i do believe 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. Mr. Ferguson and that is good to hear because we heard a lot from our constituents that believe that the d. O. L. And s. E. C. Should be collaborating on this to address the issues and solve the problems associated with it so thank you for your commitment to continue going down that road. Also, i want to just make a approval of the 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. You know, 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 and its a step in aligning our Education System with, you know, with the direction that economy is going. So i know that you and the administration are very much focused on closing the skills gaps as something thats vitally important to do. And we believe that innovative apprenticeships are a very valuable part of this. So, again, want to thank you for the work you are doing on this. I think its something that every person on this committee can agree with that preparing our young people to take advantage of the jobs that are being created are is vitally important so thank you. Madam chairman, i yield back. Secretary acosta thank you, congressman. Ms. Foxx thank you very much. Ms. Adams, youre recognized for three minutes. Ms. Adams thank you, chairwoman foxx and Ranking Member scott and thank you, mr. Secretary, for being here. I was interested in the response that you gave to congresswoman fudge so i want to followup for just a moment. Controlling family timing and 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 help women achieve their education and career goals. And so with all of the economic benefits that access to contraceptive brings, it seems bit ill lol for me that the agency would erode preventative care. Have you done a department have you done a complete assessment of the number of women and dependents in erisa plans that could lose access to contraceptive coverage and if so whats the number . Secretary acosta congresswoman, as i said previously, the rule recognizes that for some organizations the religious freedom should allow them to not offer that coverage. It provides the option for that organization. It was enacted truant to the administrative procedures act. Within the a. P. A. , there is a requirement that a. P. A. Process, engage in a costbenefit analysis and that would be contained within that costbenefit analysis. Thats something we can certainly provide to you or to your staff. Ms. Adams so you have that in an assessment . You know how many, is that what youre saying . Secretary acosta i am saying within a rule there is a costbenefit analysis that takes place and that assessment is required by the administrative procedures act and so that assessment can ms. Adams ok, thank you very much. So according to the National Women law center, when we think about the way someone raised the question about the minimum wage, the federal wage minimum wage is 7. 25 an hour. The average cost of a full years worth of Birth Control bills without insurance was the equivalent of 51 hours of work before the a. C. A. s contraceptive benefit was imposed. When its a fact 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 for you and thank you sletch and madam very much and madam chair, i yield back. Ms. Foxx thank you very much, ms. Adams. Mrs. Handel, youre recognized for three minutes. Mrs. Handel just a quick question on the work opportunity act. They instituted a new Accountability Program with measurable defined performance indicators. Do you have a sense a yearplus later about how this is working, has it been effective and if so, are there other programs within department of labor to which this type of approach could be applied . Secretary acosta congresswoman, thank you for the question. I believe 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. We were in the process of reviewing that data. Once that data is reviewed, im happy to provide further thoughts on what that data shows. Id also like to say while most states did submit the data, i believe there are seven states that are still working on the submission of that information. And were providing mrs. Handel hopefully georgia is not one of them. If so i hope you tell me so i can follow up. Secretary acosta i believe there are seven. We are working with them to provide compliance assistance so that they understand the responsibilities. Mrs. Handel if you would be willing to once you sort through the data either you or someone from your team send something in writing to chairman foxx for the committee, we would be interested in how that Accountability Program is playing out. Secretary acosta ok. Mrs. Handel thank you, madam chairman. I yield back. Ms. Foxx mr. Espaillat, you are recognized for three minutes. Mr. Espaillat 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 dean of the Florida International law school. Floridas International University has been at the fore front of standing with daca forefront of standing with daca students. Do you support and protects our daca students . Secretary acosta congressman, i appreciate your question. Its certainly my hope that congress resolves this issue and finds a legal solution to this daca issue. I should add that the clock is ticking. So i Hope Congress does so expeditiously. Mr. Espaillat thank you. Now, 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 it will decrease our g. D. P. By an estimated 155 million. What in the world is going to happen 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 . Secretary acosta congressman, we have a skills gap. We have a substantial skills gap. And we need to find a solution to daca. It is my sincere hope that congress can take this up and that congress can find a solution. Mr. Espaillat thank you. I am encouraged by your positive response. I may add that unfortunately we have not heard that positive response by other members of the administration. So i commend you and by your positive response, it only encourages the support for these young people that are members of our military, they are teachers, they are workers, students. I think theyre probably the best Economic Development program we can have for the nation with their aggressive and innovativeness, entrepreneurship. Immigrant hunger to succeed or make america move forward. My final question is, according to the news reports from earlier this year, the result of the administrations antiimmigrant rhetoric under the department of homeland securitys overaggressive enforcement effort, the database of labor officials marked an uptick on workers to file complaints against employer take part in labor investigation and even accept back wages collected on workers behalf. What is the department of labor refirming its commitment to protect individual information during the course of labor investigation . Will you continue to commit to ensuring that the department of labor enforces labor laws regardless of a persons immigration status . Secretary acosta congressman, that has been a long standing practice that has been an issue that has gone all the way up to the Supreme Court and it is my intent to continue that practice. Mr. Espaillat thank you so much. Thank you, madam chair. I yield back. Ms. Foxx thank you. Mr. Allen, youre recognized for three minutes. Mr. Allen thank you, madam chairman. I was in the Construction Industry for 35 years before being elected to congress. Just a point of clarification if i understood you correctly on the silica rule. The is the rule finalized or is it still being negotiated and is it being now implemented r is it going to be different . I got people that dont know what i mean, 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. What where are we with this . Secretary acosta 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. You know, the parties to the 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 30day extension that has now expired in an effort to get the parties a little bit more time. I was disheartened that rather than use that time, the parties, as often happens, didnt come to the table until right up until 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 resolved. Mr. Allen there is an awful lot of confusion. People are being faced with huge costs, disadvantages on work they already estimated, contracts have already been signed and now this rule. They had no way to know what to anticipate the rule might say. Obviously it is very complicated. That any way we can osha can somehow clarify whats going on and then say, all ght, 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 costs and 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. Secretary acosta 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. Mr. Allen i appreciate it. I thank you very much, mr. Secretary. I yield back. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Allen. Mr. Desauliner, you are recognized for three minutes. Mr. Desauliner thank you, madam chair. Thank you for having this hearing. Mr. Secretary, thank you for your testimony and your tenor here today. Its encouraging. I dont know if you ever attended a funeral of an American Worker who lost their life in a workplace incident. I have. I represented for 30 years an area in the bay area that has amongst the geographic and per capita greatest has arduous material facilities, refineries and chemical plants. Almost 20 years ago, a constituent of mine lost his life because a fortune 500 company, costco, at that time was appealing over 100 citations issued by cal osha just the week before. Two of them, the most concerning that i will always remember, were at the root cause of this independent dent, backup indicators for temperature variations were outside the control room on the unit. Mr. Glansman this day was unfortunately he was sent out to verify they should shut the unit down even though it turned out later under inspection that the written policies instructed them to do that was being overwritten. The second citation being repealed they should replace the walkietalkie he was using because it didnt work. We think the last thing he said, we should it down, shut it down, but we will never know because he was eviscerated. That explosion not only cost his life but raised the price of gasoline and diesel on the west coast by more than 10 cents. A year later another employees at that facil