Record as she answered questions. It included Vaccine Mandates, apprenticeships, and child labor abuses. [background noises] [background noises] is nick any on education and workforce will come to order. I note the quorum is present. That objection the chairs authorized to call recess at any time the committee on Education Workforce will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to call recess at any time. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to todays hearing. Acting secretary su, i want to start by saying you have been a hard witness to schedule. The committee began working with the department to secure your in person testimony beginning in march. When you would not appear in may we honor your request to appear in june. Using a day, june 7, that was offered by your staff and to which you agreed. We have been more than accommodating to establish a mutual date for this hearing. So why is it that on late friday evening following the committees public posting of the hearing a week ago, your staff told us that you were, quote, no longer able to make june 7 work . What was so important that you were willing to stop the work of a congressional committee, up and the schedule of 45 members of congress, and leave the American Peoples concerns unanswered . The hearing is not about you or your pending nomination. It is about assessing the budget puzzle for the department of labor and the departments performance and adherence to its statutory mandate. However, your effort to evade transparency at the 11th hour calls into question your ability to fulfill your duty as a potential secretary of labor. Acting secretary su, you are sitting here today only because i implored you that i will issue a subpoena to compel your attendance at this previously agreed to hearing and you reconsider your cancellation. I am glad that you reconsidered the lapse in judgment. I am unaware of this committee ever needing to consider such action for departments annual hearing until now. You cannot run from this responsibility. Congress and the American People have questions about how you have been running the department. Overall, bidens fy 2024 budget calls for 1. 5 billion more in Discretionary Spending for the department of labor than it received last year. Considering your continued unwillingness to provide fully responsive answers to convey oversight request, the budget increase can only be seen as a tacit nod of approval by the president that the department can continue skirting accountability to taxpayers. If enacted, the budget would add 2000 new federal bureaucrats. If the current 17,000 cannot sufficiently respond to a single committee request, i dont think adding 2000 more would help the departments bureaucratic sclerosis. If anything, more bureaucrats will mean more paperwork and more redtape under which to bury our oversight requests. Course, this paperwork and red tape will bury workers and businesses trying to make a living. We should be shrinking, not expanding the size of the federal government. Nevertheless, after years of conducting oversight i have found that no amount of bureaucratic red tape cannot escape can obfuscate an objectively poor record. When a record speaks for itself and its complications and confusions on naturally resolved the clarity. We are here to talk about your departments record, acting secretary su, and it does not hold up well. The departments rap sheet is long. It includes over 100 planned rule makings and longterm actions. From its first day in office, biden reversed Many Trump Administration policies that would have promoted hiring, Employment Opportunities and he began pursuing radical policies that would expand the size and scope of government. The Biden Administration has amassed a troubling record of big labor bias at the expense of American Workers. This culture of union favoritism undermines workers rights. Washington should not be in the business of picking winners and losers in the economy, but that is exactly what the Biden Administration is doing whether it be through attempting to overthrow working long independent contracting, jeopardizing franchise businesses or rewarding unions with unchecked power acquiescing to every item on their wish list, proactive just one example of the union favoritism. It is championed by the aflcio big labor groups, socialist Bernie Sanders and now the department. By implementing the key features and pieces through regulation. They overwhelmingly prefer this work status. President bidens antiworker agenda is hurting the economy. We watched its impact on its workforce during covid. Acting secretary su, while you were the deputy secretary, the department imposed a tyrannical, illegal Vaccine Mandate on employers. The rule applied to nearly 84 million in the workforce. Not only was the department wrong on the science of covid, but it also compromised our economic supply chain because of its sweeping dictates. America needs a department of labor aligned with its priorities like filling the more than 10 million open jobs in the United States. At every action the Department Takes is one or two things. At best, it pushes a misguided union agenda. At worst, it subverts our economic stability and prosperity to do so. As i reviewed the budget request , i saw more of the same. In it, the administration requested 81 million more for the wage and Hour Division. This is currently a 310 million federal office responsible for enforcing several important workforce loss and the American People would be incensed if they knew just how badly it is run. Under your supervision, the number of workers receiving back wages is the lowest on record. It is down by more than 51 from four years ago. Over those four years, the whd has received a 10 bump in funding, yet it has received half the results. The taxpayers are not giving a blank check for the departments ineptitude. Whd does not deserve a dollar more. Acting secretary su, i could spend all day going line by line through this budget. There are places where we agree like expanding Apprenticeship Programs. Even here i think the department comes up short. It is hard to think of a worse response to our worker shortage. At heart we disagree on Guiding Principles and how we envision the governments role in the workforce. The government itself is not a job creator. It does not foster Economic Growth. The proper role the department is certainly not to universal unionization. Rather, we should promote job creation by removing the government as much as possible from the equation. Yes, that means subtracting from and not adding billions to your budget. With that, i look forward to the hearing today and yield to the Ranking Member for an opening statement. Thank you, dr. Fox and acting secretary su. Good morning and thank you for being with us. You are here with us now. We have had problems getting Previous Administration officials to the committee, but thank you for being with us today. We have an opportunity to discuss the work of President Biden and acting secretary su and what they have done for workers, dismisses, and the economy as well as investments we must continue to make. Committee democrats and i strongly support ms. Sus nomination to be secretary of labor because she represents the best of america. She is the daughter of immigrants who owned a strong small laundromat and franchise pizza restaurant and became the first of her family to attend law school. We support acting secretary sus nomination not just because of who she is, but for what she has done. Throughout her service as California Labor commissioner, secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development agency, deputy secretary of labor, she has been a committed Public Servant who has dedicated her career to supporting workers and families. Thanks to her and President Bidens leadership, and the responsible actions taken by democrats in the last congress, Unemployment Rates remain near historic lows. The job market is continuing to grow, and workers are seeing higher wages. Since taking office, the Biden Administration has created more than 13 million jobs. That is more jobs created in 28 months than any previous president has created in a single 48 month term. According to the white house, the last time we had such a long stretch of low unemployment was in the 1960s. The chair of working age americans in the workforce is at its highest level in 16 years. That is the record. I want to remind my colleagues that every Democratic Administration since the Kennedy Administration has left their republican successors a better deficit situation than the one they inherited. Every republican Administration Since nixon has left for their democratic successors a worse democrat son deficit situation without exception. President biden is continuing this trend as he creates Record Numbers of jobs. The evidence is clear that President Bidens economic agenda is working. This means that my republican colleagues have had to resort to baseless claims and desperate attacks to oppose ms. Sus nomination. Theres an old saying amongst lawyers. If you have the law on your side use the law. If you have the facts on your side and the fax. If you have neither the law nor the fax, pound the table. Julie su is an impeccably qualified candidate to serve as secretary of labor and she has been integral to our sustained economic recovery. Get ready for people to be pounding the table. Committee republicans may talk about Unemployment Insurance fraud in california. This is not ms. Sus doing. Under her leadership california implemented additional safeguards to help prevent ui fraud and stockton estimated tens of billions of dollars in fraudulent payments. They may talk about independent contractors. Do not be confused by republican attempts to conflate california state law with federal regulation. Proposed regulation does not implement California Law which adopts what is known as the abc test. In fact, the Biden Administration clearly noted that it is legally constrained from adopting the abc test. This line of attack does not hold up either. Committee republicans may talk about child labor. Ms. Su is certainly not among the republican state legislators who are working to rollback child labor protections. Unfortunately we can expect republicans on the committee to pound the table this morning since they have no substantive criticism of ms. Sus record in the department of labor. In contrast, Committee Democrats remain focused on concrete solutions, putting money back into workers pockets keeping them safe and healthy on the job and ensuring all workers can enjoy a dignified retirement. I hope my republican colleagues will put politics aside and work with us to deliver on these priorities. Thank you, ms. Su for your leadership and for joining us today. I hope we remain focused on what is most important, improving the lives of workers and their families. Thank you, madam chair. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Scott. Pursuant to Committee Roles all members who wish to insert written statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the Committee Click electronically in microsoft word format by 5 00 p. M. 14 days after the date of this hearing which is june 21, 2023. Without objection the hearing record will remain open for 14 days to allow such statements and other extraneous material referenced during the hearing to be submitted for the official record. I will now turn to the introduction of our distinguished witness and thank her for being here. We have before us today the honorable julie su, acting secretary of the u. S. Department of labor. Thank you, chairwoman fox, Ranking Member scott and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to testify today. I am pleased to appear before the committee to highlight the department of labors fiscal year 2024 budget request. An investment in the department of labor is an investment in our workers and the future of our country. Through this budget, we can build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out. I recognize that congress will be working under statutory budget caps for fy 2024 and i look forward to working with you to ensure that these priorities are reflected in the final bill. The American Dream that if you work hard you can make it has always been premised on having a good job. That is why this budget is fundamentally about investments in people. About what a good job does for an individual, a family, and a community. No worker should be injured or killed at work. The budget request will allow Occupational Safety and Health Administration or osha to improve Workplace Safety and health and be better able to help employers comply with the law. The budget request for the mine safety and Health Administration includes an increase to enable them to strengthen efforts to reduce accidents, injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. The departments request includes funding for the employment and Training Administration to build on the progress restoring and growing the economy following the pandemic. These resources will create pathways into the highquality jobs created by the landmark bipartisan infrastructure law, chips and science act, and Inflation Reduction Act and other historic investments in infrastructure, energy sectors, and manufacturing. Investments in evidencebased Workforce Development models will help states and local areas meet the Workforce Needs of their communities and the needs of industries across the country. Specifically, the budget continues support for the registered Apprenticeship Program in line with the president school to serve at least 1 million apprentices annually within 10 years. Budget request proposals a sectorial employment through Career Training occupational Readiness Program to support the development and expansion of partnerships between employers, education and Workforce Development providers, and communitybased groups. The department proposes Additional Resources for the veterans employment and Training Service to support a legislative proposal that expands antidiscrimination and reemployment protections to military spouses. Military spouses sacrifice daily to support their families and our country. The administration is proposing we do more to ensure that they are able to enjoy the Economic Security that they deserve. Protecting workers and their hardearned pensions and benefits is a priority. The budget request for the Employment Security administration is an increase to the important work expanding access to care for Mental Health and Substance Use disorders at a time when so Many Americans are living with these conditions. The request includes an increase for the missing Participants Program as well as establishment of a Retirement Savings lost and found required by the recently enacted secure 2. 0 to help connect retirees with benefits they have earned. These investments will make a real difference for retired and elderly people. Working together we can create an economy built around the dignity and value of all work and workers. I thank you for the opportunity to testify and look forward to discussing the fy 2024 budget request with you and all members of the committee. I am happy to respond to any questions you may have. Thank you very much, ms. Su. I will recognize myself for five minutes. Ms. Su, i take my duty to conduct oversight very seriously. Unfortunately secretary walsh did not take his obligation to respond to oversight seriously. During your short tenure, your track record appears to be about the same as his at least until you attempted to cancel your appearance at the last minute and are here today only because of my threat to issue a can subpoena. In most cases you have responded with a vague letter providing none of the requested documents. Thereby you technically responded to the inquiry but not in fact coming close. Will you commit to providing fully responsive answers to the committees requests . Yes or no . Thank you so much, chairwoman fox. Im very happy to be here today to testify. I understand our teams worked together to find the date. I just need a yes or no answer. I appreciate yo