Transcripts For CSPAN3 Labor Secretary Nominee Outlines Poli

[ no audio ] [ no audio ] [ no audio ] Senate Committee on health, education, labor and pensions will come to order. This morning were holding a confirmation hearing on Alexander Acosta to serve as secretary of labor. We will have an Opening Statement. Then we will introduce our witness. We are delighted to have senator rubio. Senator cruz is coming. After our witness testimony, senators will each have two fiveminute rounds of questions. Just ten years ago in 2007, steve jobs announced that apple reinvented the mobile phone. Just ten years ago. A micro blogging Company Named twitter gained its own separate platform and started to scale globally. Amazon released something called kindle. All that in 2007, just ten years ago. The same year ibm began to build a computer called watson that within a few years defeated human contestants in the jeopardy tv show and in 2007 the cost of sequencing a genome started falling from 100 million in 2001 to 1,000 in 2015 and a new book New York Times columnist tom friedman puts his finger on the year 2007 just ten years ago as, quote, the technological inflection point. He uses the term great acceleration for the changes simultaneously sweeping across the globe and argues were living through one of the great inflection points in history. Add to that ball state universitys finding that automation is responsible for the loss of 88 of manufacturing jobs and globalization, add that, add social, cultural, climate changes and terrorism, you get a mismatch between the change of pace and ability of the average American Worker to keep up and fit into the accelerating forces shaping the workplace. A few weeks ago, a group of senators sat around in a forum and listened to some very smart scientists talk about their advances in artificial intelligence. After it was all over, one senator asked, where are we all going to work . Tom friedman says the most important governance challenge is the great, quote, need to develop the learning systems, the training systems, the Management Systems and government regulations that would enable citizens to get the most out of these accelerations and cushion their worst impacts, unquote. One of the federal governments chief actors in this should be the secretary of labor. In fact, as many have suggested in the house of representatives has done, the title of the job for which Alexander Acosta has been nominated should be changed to be secretary of the work force, not secretary of labor. Labor Union Membership in the private Economy Today is down to less than 7 . The issue for workers today is not whether they belong to a union, its whether they have the skills to adapt to a changing marketplace and find and keep a job. To be accurate, to create and keep a job. My generation found jobs. This generation is more likely to have to create their own jobs. In his address, President Trump said he heard forgotten men and women who are struggling to fit into the changing world. In his farewell address, president obama said he heard the same voices. Too many families in Rural Counties who have been left behind he said. What can we do about it . The most important thing is to work with employers and Community Colleges and Technical Institutes and find ways to increase the number of americans earning postsecondary certificates and twoyear degrees or more. Georgetown University Says that by 2020, 65 of the jobs in this country will require some college or more and at the rate were going, georgetown predicts the United States will lack 5 million workers with inadequate Postsecondary Education by 2020. Unfortunately, too many of the federal governments actions over the last few years have made it harder for the American Workers to keep up, adjust and create and find and keep a job. To begin with, the Obama Administration unleashed a regulatory avalanche that held job creators back. President obamas department of labor issued 130 more final rules than the previous administrations Labor Department and an average of 85 major rules, rules with more than 100 million impact on the economy compared with president bushs 62 a year. Take the overtime rule. In my state its costs would add hundreds of dollars per student in College Tuition and would force Small Businesses to reduce the jobs that provide stability families need. Or the joint employer rule or the fiduciary rule that makes it more expensive for the average worker to obtain investment price. Advice. A big wet blanket of costs and time consuming mandates on job creators. Big wet blanket of co time consuming mandates on job creators. Theres the equal Employment Opportunity commissions eeoc1 form requiring employers to provide not government 20 times as much information about how they pay workers. Theres the 108 question, which the dean is well aware of, the federal aid Application Form that turns away from college many of the people who ought to be going. And the Affordable Care act, which defined fulltime work as only 30 horses forcing employers to cut hours or reduce hiring all together. Many of these like the persuader rule seem destine designed for the purpose of strengthening the membership and power of labor unions. Were fortunate to have a nominee who understands how a good paying job is critical to helping americans realize the american dream. Senator rubio and senator cruz will introduce him in detail. So i will not. But i do want to recognize that after emigrating to miami from cuba, mr. Acostas parents worked hard to create more opportunities for their son. The first person in the family to go to college. He has been on the nlrb, an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department, u. S. Attorney. He is dean of Florida International universitys law school. His schools president describes him as conscientious, thoughtful, says he doesnt overreach and he is already been confirmed three times by the United States senate. Mr. Acosta, we welcome you to today. I look forward to hearing more on your ideas about how to help American Workers adjust to the changing conditions in our work force. Senator murray . Thank you very much, chairman alexander. Mr. Acosta, thank you for being here. And thank you for your willingness to serve. The department of labor is at the heart of one of President Trumps Core Campaign promises to put workers first. Dol prioritizes the best interests of our work force, enforces laws that protect workers rights and safety and livelihoods and seeks to expand economic opportunity. I would hope any president would share those goals. But especially one who has made so many promises about fighting for workers. I have to say i was surprised when President Trump selected andrew puzner. We heard stories about lost wages and mistreatment. That doesnt mean we should lower our standards. Workers and families across the country are not. Im frankly he wont have the opportunity to serve in it. Just because President Trumps first wasnt so deeply unacceptable that doesnt mean we should lower our standards because workers and family across the country certainly are not. Instead they made very clear they want a secretary of labor who will stand up for the Core Commission of the department and fight for their interests. Someone who will be an advocate for workers if President Trump continues down the path of breaking promise after promise to those he said he would help. With this in mind, mr. Acosta, i have some serious concerns about your nomination which i want to ask about today and in written followup questions. First the Trump Administration has already cemented a reputation for flouting ethic rules and attempting to exert political pressure over federal employees. So i expect our next secretary of labor to be someone who can withstand inappropriate political pressure and prioritize workers and the mission of the Labor Department over hypothetically speaking President Trumps Business Associations or Steve Bannons frightening ideology. Mr. Acosta, i am concerned. Our review of your history suggests that when you led the Civil Rights Division at the department of justice, you at best ignored and extraordinary politicalization of the work of this and at worst facilitated a formal investigation by the Inspector General showed that under your tenure, hiring in the Civil Rights Division systematically favored conservative applicants over those who appeared to be more liberal regardless of their professional qualifications. As assistant attorney general, you chose to stay silent on a proposed texas redistricting plan. Instead allowing political appointees to overrule long time attorneys who believed the plan discriminated against black and latino voters. The Supreme Court later affirmed the plan did violate the Voting Rights act. You sent a letter defending a jim crow era challenger law four days before the 2004 president ial election. The Justice Department had no role in that lawsuit. By the end of your time at the Civil Rights Division, prosecutions for crimes related to gender and Racial Discrimination had declined by 40 . All together, these actions suggest a pattern of allowing political pressure to influence your Decision Making on issues that should rise above partisanship. To me, this raises questions about your commitment to defend the civil rights of all workers, which, of course, is fundamental to the role of secretary of labor. Mr. Acosta, im interested in hearing more from you about your vision for the department and specifically where you stand on a number of key issues that will be heavily engaged in. President trump has spoken out against the updated overtime rule, which would help millions of workers get pay they earned. Our federal minimum wage has fallen far, far behind workers needs. Women, still make less than their male counterparts, an economic drain on our country that is pronounced for women of color. I have heard reports that President Trumps wrong headed cruel immigration executive order is causing undocumented workers not to come forward for back wages and protections they are owed. I feel strongly we need to ensure undocumented workers are safe and receive fair treatment, especially in this time of heightened fear and uncertainty. These are all challenges i expect the secretary of labor to be committed to working on. I will be very interested in your thinking and plans on each, because again, the secretary must be an independent voice for workers who will push back on the president s agenda to hurt families. Dol also plays a pivotal role in making certain there are consequences when companies discriminate or threaten safety on the job. It supports job training and the development of new Career Pathways for unemployed workers, oversees the quality of retirement programs impacting millions of workers nationwide, collects and publishes independent foundational data about our economy and work force through the bureau of labor statistics and more. In other words, the ability of this department to operate effectively has enormous impact on workers, on families and on our economy. So im concerned about President Trumps proposal to cut more than 20 of the dol budget. Its difficult to see how the department could maintain let alone improve its performance where such dramatic cuts to go into affect. Under the president s budget, workers would pay the price for a budget designed to help those at the top which is unacceptable. I will want to hear how you as someone who would be responsible for carrying out the critical work of this department view the president s proposal. Im looking forward to your testimony and your responses on these and many issues. And i hope we receive clear and thorough answers. I firmly believe workers should have a strong advocate at the department of labor. That is what i will continue to push for. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator murray. We welcome senator rubio and cruz. We will invite you to introduce mr. Acosta. Both of you have other commitments. So you are welcome to stay or welcome to go to your other commitments after that. We will move to his statement. Senator rubio. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i thank you to the Ranking Member for the opportunity to be before the committee today. Its my honer to introduce mr. Acosta and encourage the committee and full senate to support his nomination to be our next secretary of labor. I begin by saying that i know alex well. As a fellow floridian, as a native of miami, ive been familiar with his work for many, many years. Later i came to know him personally as well. As i said when the president nominated him, i think he is an outstanding choice to lead the department of labor. He has a Sterling Record of Public Service to our state and country. You will learn about that today as you see in the material as well as the testimony. He was a member of the National Labor relations board, appointed by president george w. Bush. From there he was selected by president bush to serve as the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. The u. S. Department of justice, where he served as the Principal Deputy assistant attorney general in that office. Beginning in august of 2013. The two places i would refer you and am most proud of his work, he was the u. S. Attorney on one of the most challenging districts in the country, florida southern. I encourage you to look at the numerous cases and the complexity of many of the cases that fall under their jurisdiction and in particular during his time there. Most recently, he served as the dean of Florida International universitys college of law. He has been instrumental in getting the school off the ground after its recent founding. He raised its profile and it has begun to graduate well prepared young men and women for their careers. Florida International University is a place i know well. I am an adjunct professor there. It has a unique role in our community. A significant percentage of the students not just at the law school but in the school in general are the first in their family to ever attend or graduate from college. It has a higher percentage of such students than any other college or university in america. Under his tutelage and under his leadership, fius college of law has opened that door for hundreds of young people who ultimately would have had to do what i did. Take on significant loan debt to get their degree. He has elevated fius ability not just to do that but at a very high level. With every challenge that he has confronted throughout his career, alex has demonstrated his ability to effectively tackle the problems at hand with ease. He is a brilliant, brilliant legal mind. Someone with deep knowledge of labor issues. A proven leader and manager. For these reasons and many more, i am confident that alex acosta will serve this nation admirably. I am proud to introduce him to the committee today and urge you to support his nomination. I thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the Ranking Member and all the members of the committee for the opportunity. Thank you, senator rubio. Senator cruz, welcome. Thank you mr. Chairman. Its a privilege to be before you today and have the opportunity to introduce my friend, alex acosta. I have known alex for 25 years. He and i went to law school together. We have been friend a long time. Theres a lot you can know about alex from looking at his resume, looking at his bio. You can know that he is smart, that he is academically accomplished, that he has led a life of Public Service, making a difference in the lives of others. One of the things you know getting to know someone over the course of two and a half decades is you learn their character. I can tell you alex is a man of character. A man who takes very seriously fidelity to the law, if i dealt fidelity to the constitution and a man who has a passion for justice. Alex began his legal career as a law clerk for Justice Samuel alito on the Third Circuit court of appeals. He worked in a variety of locations and has three times been confirmed by the United States senate. He was confirmed as a board member on the Senate Committee<\/a> on health, education, labor and pensions will come to order. This morning were holding a confirmation hearing on Alexander Acosta<\/a> to serve as secretary of labor. We will have an Opening Statement<\/a>. Then we will introduce our witness. We are delighted to have senator rubio. Senator cruz is coming. After our witness testimony, senators will each have two fiveminute rounds of questions. Just ten years ago in 2007, steve jobs announced that apple reinvented the mobile phone. Just ten years ago. A micro blogging Company Named<\/a> twitter gained its own separate platform and started to scale globally. Amazon released something called kindle. All that in 2007, just ten years ago. The same year ibm began to build a computer called watson that within a few years defeated human contestants in the jeopardy tv show and in 2007 the cost of sequencing a genome started falling from 100 million in 2001 to 1,000 in 2015 and a new book New York Times<\/a> columnist tom friedman puts his finger on the year 2007 just ten years ago as, quote, the technological inflection point. He uses the term great acceleration for the changes simultaneously sweeping across the globe and argues were living through one of the great inflection points in history. Add to that ball state universitys finding that automation is responsible for the loss of 88 of manufacturing jobs and globalization, add that, add social, cultural, climate changes and terrorism, you get a mismatch between the change of pace and ability of the average American Worker<\/a> to keep up and fit into the accelerating forces shaping the workplace. A few weeks ago, a group of senators sat around in a forum and listened to some very smart scientists talk about their advances in artificial intelligence. After it was all over, one senator asked, where are we all going to work . Tom friedman says the most important governance challenge is the great, quote, need to develop the learning systems, the training systems, the Management Systems<\/a> and government regulations that would enable citizens to get the most out of these accelerations and cushion their worst impacts, unquote. One of the federal governments chief actors in this should be the secretary of labor. In fact, as many have suggested in the house of representatives has done, the title of the job for which Alexander Acosta<\/a> has been nominated should be changed to be secretary of the work force, not secretary of labor. Labor Union Membership<\/a> in the private Economy Today<\/a> is down to less than 7 . The issue for workers today is not whether they belong to a union, its whether they have the skills to adapt to a changing marketplace and find and keep a job. To be accurate, to create and keep a job. My generation found jobs. This generation is more likely to have to create their own jobs. In his address, President Trump<\/a> said he heard forgotten men and women who are struggling to fit into the changing world. In his farewell address, president obama said he heard the same voices. Too many families in Rural Counties<\/a> who have been left behind he said. What can we do about it . The most important thing is to work with employers and Community Colleges<\/a> and Technical Institutes<\/a> and find ways to increase the number of americans earning postsecondary certificates and twoyear degrees or more. Georgetown University Says<\/a> that by 2020, 65 of the jobs in this country will require some college or more and at the rate were going, georgetown predicts the United States<\/a> will lack 5 million workers with inadequate Postsecondary Education<\/a> by 2020. Unfortunately, too many of the federal governments actions over the last few years have made it harder for the American Worker<\/a>s to keep up, adjust and create and find and keep a job. To begin with, the Obama Administration<\/a> unleashed a regulatory avalanche that held job creators back. President obamas department of labor issued 130 more final rules than the previous administrations Labor Department<\/a> and an average of 85 major rules, rules with more than 100 million impact on the economy compared with president bushs 62 a year. Take the overtime rule. In my state its costs would add hundreds of dollars per student in College Tuition<\/a> and would force Small Businesses<\/a> to reduce the jobs that provide stability families need. Or the joint employer rule or the fiduciary rule that makes it more expensive for the average worker to obtain investment price. Advice. A big wet blanket of costs and time consuming mandates on job creators. Big wet blanket of co time consuming mandates on job creators. Theres the equal Employment Opportunity<\/a> commissions eeoc1 form requiring employers to provide not government 20 times as much information about how they pay workers. Theres the 108 question, which the dean is well aware of, the federal aid Application Form<\/a> that turns away from college many of the people who ought to be going. And the Affordable Care<\/a> act, which defined fulltime work as only 30 horses forcing employers to cut hours or reduce hiring all together. Many of these like the persuader rule seem destine designed for the purpose of strengthening the membership and power of labor unions. Were fortunate to have a nominee who understands how a good paying job is critical to helping americans realize the american dream. Senator rubio and senator cruz will introduce him in detail. So i will not. But i do want to recognize that after emigrating to miami from cuba, mr. Acostas parents worked hard to create more opportunities for their son. The first person in the family to go to college. He has been on the nlrb, an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department<\/a>, u. S. Attorney. He is dean of Florida International<\/a> universitys law school. His schools president describes him as conscientious, thoughtful, says he doesnt overreach and he is already been confirmed three times by the United States<\/a> senate. Mr. Acosta, we welcome you to today. I look forward to hearing more on your ideas about how to help American Worker<\/a>s adjust to the changing conditions in our work force. Senator murray . Thank you very much, chairman alexander. Mr. Acosta, thank you for being here. And thank you for your willingness to serve. The department of labor is at the heart of one of President Trump<\/a>s Core Campaign<\/a> promises to put workers first. Dol prioritizes the best interests of our work force, enforces laws that protect workers rights and safety and livelihoods and seeks to expand economic opportunity. I would hope any president would share those goals. But especially one who has made so many promises about fighting for workers. I have to say i was surprised when President Trump<\/a> selected andrew puzner. We heard stories about lost wages and mistreatment. That doesnt mean we should lower our standards. Workers and families across the country are not. Im frankly he wont have the opportunity to serve in it. Just because President Trump<\/a>s first wasnt so deeply unacceptable that doesnt mean we should lower our standards because workers and family across the country certainly are not. Instead they made very clear they want a secretary of labor who will stand up for the Core Commission<\/a> of the department and fight for their interests. Someone who will be an advocate for workers if President Trump<\/a> continues down the path of breaking promise after promise to those he said he would help. With this in mind, mr. Acosta, i have some serious concerns about your nomination which i want to ask about today and in written followup questions. First the Trump Administration<\/a> has already cemented a reputation for flouting ethic rules and attempting to exert political pressure over federal employees. So i expect our next secretary of labor to be someone who can withstand inappropriate political pressure and prioritize workers and the mission of the Labor Department<\/a> over hypothetically speaking President Trump<\/a>s Business Associations<\/a> or Steve Bannons<\/a> frightening ideology. Mr. Acosta, i am concerned. Our review of your history suggests that when you led the Civil Rights Division<\/a> at the department of justice, you at best ignored and extraordinary politicalization of the work of this and at worst facilitated a formal investigation by the Inspector General<\/a> showed that under your tenure, hiring in the Civil Rights Division<\/a> systematically favored conservative applicants over those who appeared to be more liberal regardless of their professional qualifications. As assistant attorney general, you chose to stay silent on a proposed texas redistricting plan. Instead allowing political appointees to overrule long time attorneys who believed the plan discriminated against black and latino voters. The Supreme Court<\/a> later affirmed the plan did violate the Voting Rights<\/a> act. You sent a letter defending a jim crow era challenger law four days before the 2004 president ial election. The Justice Department<\/a> had no role in that lawsuit. By the end of your time at the Civil Rights Division<\/a>, prosecutions for crimes related to gender and Racial Discrimination<\/a> had declined by 40 . All together, these actions suggest a pattern of allowing political pressure to influence your Decision Making<\/a> on issues that should rise above partisanship. To me, this raises questions about your commitment to defend the civil rights of all workers, which, of course, is fundamental to the role of secretary of labor. Mr. Acosta, im interested in hearing more from you about your vision for the department and specifically where you stand on a number of key issues that will be heavily engaged in. President trump has spoken out against the updated overtime rule, which would help millions of workers get pay they earned. Our federal minimum wage has fallen far, far behind workers needs. Women, still make less than their male counterparts, an economic drain on our country that is pronounced for women of color. I have heard reports that President Trump<\/a>s wrong headed cruel immigration executive order is causing undocumented workers not to come forward for back wages and protections they are owed. I feel strongly we need to ensure undocumented workers are safe and receive fair treatment, especially in this time of heightened fear and uncertainty. These are all challenges i expect the secretary of labor to be committed to working on. I will be very interested in your thinking and plans on each, because again, the secretary must be an independent voice for workers who will push back on the president s agenda to hurt families. Dol also plays a pivotal role in making certain there are consequences when companies discriminate or threaten safety on the job. It supports job training and the development of new Career Pathways<\/a> for unemployed workers, oversees the quality of retirement programs impacting millions of workers nationwide, collects and publishes independent foundational data about our economy and work force through the bureau of labor statistics and more. In other words, the ability of this department to operate effectively has enormous impact on workers, on families and on our economy. So im concerned about President Trump<\/a>s proposal to cut more than 20 of the dol budget. Its difficult to see how the department could maintain let alone improve its performance where such dramatic cuts to go into affect. Under the president s budget, workers would pay the price for a budget designed to help those at the top which is unacceptable. I will want to hear how you as someone who would be responsible for carrying out the critical work of this department view the president s proposal. Im looking forward to your testimony and your responses on these and many issues. And i hope we receive clear and thorough answers. I firmly believe workers should have a strong advocate at the department of labor. That is what i will continue to push for. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator murray. We welcome senator rubio and cruz. We will invite you to introduce mr. Acosta. Both of you have other commitments. So you are welcome to stay or welcome to go to your other commitments after that. We will move to his statement. Senator rubio. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i thank you to the Ranking Member<\/a> for the opportunity to be before the committee today. Its my honer to introduce mr. Acosta and encourage the committee and full senate to support his nomination to be our next secretary of labor. I begin by saying that i know alex well. As a fellow floridian, as a native of miami, ive been familiar with his work for many, many years. Later i came to know him personally as well. As i said when the president nominated him, i think he is an outstanding choice to lead the department of labor. He has a Sterling Record<\/a> of Public Service<\/a> to our state and country. You will learn about that today as you see in the material as well as the testimony. He was a member of the National Labor<\/a> relations board, appointed by president george w. Bush. From there he was selected by president bush to serve as the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division<\/a>. The u. S. Department of justice, where he served as the Principal Deputy<\/a> assistant attorney general in that office. Beginning in august of 2013. The two places i would refer you and am most proud of his work, he was the u. S. Attorney on one of the most challenging districts in the country, florida southern. I encourage you to look at the numerous cases and the complexity of many of the cases that fall under their jurisdiction and in particular during his time there. Most recently, he served as the dean of Florida International<\/a> universitys college of law. He has been instrumental in getting the school off the ground after its recent founding. He raised its profile and it has begun to graduate well prepared young men and women for their careers. Florida International University<\/a> is a place i know well. I am an adjunct professor there. It has a unique role in our community. A significant percentage of the students not just at the law school but in the school in general are the first in their family to ever attend or graduate from college. It has a higher percentage of such students than any other college or university in america. Under his tutelage and under his leadership, fius college of law has opened that door for hundreds of young people who ultimately would have had to do what i did. Take on significant loan debt to get their degree. He has elevated fius ability not just to do that but at a very high level. With every challenge that he has confronted throughout his career, alex has demonstrated his ability to effectively tackle the problems at hand with ease. He is a brilliant, brilliant legal mind. Someone with deep knowledge of labor issues. A proven leader and manager. For these reasons and many more, i am confident that alex acosta will serve this nation admirably. I am proud to introduce him to the committee today and urge you to support his nomination. I thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the Ranking Member<\/a> and all the members of the committee for the opportunity. Thank you, senator rubio. Senator cruz, welcome. Thank you mr. Chairman. Its a privilege to be before you today and have the opportunity to introduce my friend, alex acosta. I have known alex for 25 years. He and i went to law school together. We have been friend a long time. Theres a lot you can know about alex from looking at his resume, looking at his bio. You can know that he is smart, that he is academically accomplished, that he has led a life of Public Service<\/a>, making a difference in the lives of others. One of the things you know getting to know someone over the course of two and a half decades is you learn their character. I can tell you alex is a man of character. A man who takes very seriously fidelity to the law, if i dealt fidelity to the constitution and a man who has a passion for justice. Alex began his legal career as a law clerk for Justice Samuel<\/a> alito on the Third Circuit<\/a> court of appeals. He worked in a variety of locations and has three times been confirmed by the United States<\/a> senate. He was confirmed as a board member on the National Labor<\/a> relations board. He was confirmed as the assistant attorney general for the office of civil rights and the United States<\/a> attorney for the Southern District<\/a> of florida. All three of those positions are very challenging positions. As each of you know, those are not easy assignments. Those are assignments that almost by their nature guarantee that theres going to be conflict, there are going to be difficult and important issues presented to whoever is entrusted with leading those offices. And one of the remarkable things about alex is that he has been able to lead each of those offices with an impeccable record. A record of distinction. But also a record of inclusion. Alex in leading those offices has demonstrated an ability to bring people together, even if they have disparate political or ideological backgrounds, to bring them together behind a shared vision and a shared commitment to justice. That is an important characteristic in any position. Its been an important characteristic in his role as the dean at Florida International<\/a> University School<\/a> of law, which as marco described, is a school that is expanding opportunity to a great many people who would never have had the opportunity otherwise. Thats yet another demonstration of alexs passion for justice, stepping down as u. S. Attorney. He could have cashed out. There would have been plenty of law firms in florida that would have offered him a sevenfigure check and he could have lived in a nice house and driven a big car and had a very, very comfortable life. But he chose, instead, to be dean of the law school. To make a difference in the lives of students. To those of us whove known alex a long time, that is not surprising. That is entirely consistent with the course of his entire life. Ill also tell you on a personal level, alex is a surprisingly good poker player. And not nearly as good a squash player. And one additional observation, alex is a cubanamerican. He understands firsthand how incredible the miracle of freedom is. How incredible this country is. The beacon of freedom that it has served to the world. That is an appreciation that i think is important in any government position, but as secretary of labor, the mandate of secretary of labor, the kind of secretary of labor i expect alex will be will be a champion for working men and women. A champion for people who want jobs, who want more jobs, who want higher wages, who want more opportunity. Someone who will fight for the working men and women of this country. I will say i take perhaps particular pleasure in the observation that i suspect this is one of the first times, if not the only time, that this committee has had three cubanamericans seated before it and it is a testament of the opportunity that our wonderful nation provides. I commend to you alex acosta who i think will make an excellent secretary of labor. Thank you, senator cruz, and senator rubio, thank you both for coming. Well now move to youre welcomed to go to your other hearings at whatever time you choose to. Mr. Acosta, we welcome you and your family. Youre welcome to introduce your family if youd like. Wed be glad to have your statement then well begin a round or two of questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ranking member murray. Members of the committee. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning. I know todays a busy day in the senate and there are other ongoing hearings, and so thank you, its an honor to be here as President Trump<\/a>s nominee to be secretary of labor. I want to take a minute to thank senators marco rubio and ted cruz for their very kind introductions. As both noted, ive known them for many years. I appreciate their support and i deeply admire and respect their dedication to Public Service<\/a>. Im also grateful for their support today because my family was unable to be here. My wife, jan, is an amazing woman, a fantastic mother. Im deeply grateful for her love and her unending and unyielding support. My eldest daughter, dalia, is in first grade and theres something called an iowa test which is a standardized test thats shes undergoing this week, so my wife is with dalia and with my 5yearold, rosalia, whos going to be in kindergarten next year back in miami. I dont know if theyre watching. I know my girls arent watching. My wife may or may not be. But i really want to reach out to them and thank them for everything that they do for me. I want to thank my parents, in particular, and my parents are very important to me not simply because of what theyve done for me, but because my story really begins with them and informs my perspective on what it means to be a secretary of labor. They fled cuba. They came to the United States<\/a> seeking freedom and they found it. They met in miami in high school. They fell in love. They married young. My mother was in her teens when she found out she was pregnant. Neither attended college. Growing up, they struggled. Not as much as other americans have struggled, but they struggled. My mother started out as a typist at a real estate firm. At times, she commuted 90 minutes each way for her job. My father served in the army. Later he tried to start a Small Business<\/a> but he quickly found his lack of higher education, his lack of ability to deal with forms and rules made it very difficult for him to be a Small Business<\/a>owner. And so he went on to hold various jobs and ended his working life as an inventory clerk at a cell phone store. Our family lived paycheck to paycheck. My grandmother cared for me while we grew up and that was an incredibly helpful and loving thing to do because both my parents worked full time. At times, my parents went into debt, deep debt. The kind of debt that they tell you not to go into because credit card Interest Rates<\/a> are high. But they went into that debt and they took on second jobs to make ends meet. And they did that because they wanted to give me an education. And so im here because of them. And my success is very much their success. They were able to give me these opportunities because even though they didnt have a college education, they had something very important and thats a job. And though at times they lost their job, they were always able to find another job. And that was very important. Well today, americans are facing the same challenges and struggles, but for Many Americans<\/a>, only worse. My parents had jobs, but not all americans have jobs. Some americans have seen their jobs go overseas. Some americans have seen their jobs filled by Foreign Workers<\/a>. And ive read and ive seen press reports that not only have they been filled by Foreign Workers<\/a> but to add insult to injury, theyve been asked to train their foreign replacements. And some americans have seen that jobs are available but that these available jobs require skills they do not have. Helping americans find good jobs, safe jobs should not be a partisan issue. In my visits with each of you with each member of this committee, it was Crystal Clear<\/a> that every member of this committee wants americans to find jobs. Good jobs. Safe jobs. Even if you dont all agree on the how. I share this with you, we may not always agree on the how, but at least let us begin by agreeing on the need. If confirmed, i hope to benefit from an ongoing dialogue with each of you as to how we can advance these goals within the context of, as the chairman mentioned, a Global Economy<\/a> that is changing rapidly with each passing year and with the constraints of limited resources. Id like to close with a brief discussion of a few items in particular. The first is the skills gap. As i visited with members of this committee, i repeatedly heard that in your states, there are jobs but the skills too often are not there. In one of your states, for example, a Community College<\/a> was teaching welding techniques, and it turns out that the employers are no longer using that welding technique so why are they teaching an outdated technique . That is not how you teach skills. We can and we must work to reduce that skills gap. We need to make better efforts to align job training with the skills the market demands and the increasingly changing market will demand of its workers. Especially as advancing Technology Changes<\/a> the types of jobs that are available in our economy. The department of labor cannot do this alone. It has to work with local governments, with industry, with educational institutions, Public Private<\/a> partnerships that can have substantial positive impact on the American Workforce<\/a>. This is the vision of the workforce innovation and opportunity act, of Apprenticeship Program<\/a>s, and of many other programs not only at dol but across government. If confirmed, i will work with you to maximize every taxpayer dollar that is directed toward job Training Programs<\/a>. Second, good jobs should also be safe jobs. Congress has enacted workplace standard and safety laws. The department of labor enforces these. And if confirmed, i will work to enforce the laws under the departments jurisdiction fully and fairly. As a former prosecutor, my enforcement efforts will always be on the side of the law. Its enacted by congress. It should be enforced fully. It should be enforced fairly. And it should not be enforced in favor or against any particular constituency. Finally, the department of labor was formed a bit more than 100 years ago and its an interesting history because originally it was a department of commerce and labor and then it was split into two. And so why was it split . And the reason was this. That a voice for commerce and a voice for workers, or a workforce, as the chairman mentioned, within the executive branch, would promote better decisionmaking. I think this concept is absolutely correct. Advocates for the American Workforce<\/a> within the administration are important. Whether its those who are working, those who still seek work, those who are discouraged or unemployed, or those who have retired, if confirmed as secretary of labor, part of my job will be to be one of those advocates. President trump has reached out to both business and to labor in his first 100 days. Im proud to have the support both of several dozen business groups and also of several private sector and key Public Safety<\/a> unions who remember with respect my work at doj and the norb. They know that while we did not always agree, i was always willing to listen and to think and to consider and to seek out principled solutions. If confirmed, i hope that we, this committee, and the executive branch, can Work Together<\/a> in the same way to address the need for good jobs and safe jobs and in particular access to training and the skills that the changing workplace will demand of its workforce. I thank you for your consideration and i look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, mr. Acosta. Well now begin a round of fiveminute questions and if senators wish, there will be a second round of fiveminute questions. Mr. Acosta, lets start with the skills gap that you spoke about. If we were to think of you, as i think we should, as secretary of the workforce, to help workers in this headspinning environment that we find ourselves in, adjust to it and fit into it, we already spent a lot of money on helping people get training. We spend more than 30 billion in pell grants. The average pell grant is about the same as the average community College Tuition<\/a>. We spend a lot of money on student loans. Other countries do other things. Germany has an apprenticeship system. Some people say our Technical Institutes<\/a> do a better job than our Community Colleges<\/a>. If youre the secretary of the workforce, and if you see that according to the manufacturing institute, 2 million americans manufacturing jobs will go unfilled over the next ten years due to the skills gap, specifically what are some of the things we should be doing about it . Senator, thank you for the question. First, let me touch on the first part of your comments which are the spending that we spend on education, and i think its critical, if confirmed, that the department of labor work very closely with the department of education because theres a lot of spending thats taking place on education and we want to make sure to the extent possible and feasible that individuals have the opportunity to align their education with the skills the workplace will demand. More specifically, to the second part of your question, you mentioned apprenticeships. So as dean of a law school, im a big fan of learning by doing. We recently started a program which is a full semester internship at a law firm in addition to Public Defenders Office<\/a> or state attorneys office. And the students have the opportunity to spend a full semester there because they can learn by doing and i think if you look at some of the Apprenticeship Program<\/a>s where individuals work, they get credit while theyre working or programs available in Community Colleges<\/a> that focus on vocational opportunities in partnership with individual businesses, those are all options that we should be looking at because there are alternative ways of educating, there are alternative ways of providing skills and importantly it is a way for students to acquire skills and jobs skills to be used in jobs without taking on the enormous debt that were seeing in some secondary in some secondary programs right now. Let me ask you one other question. The overtime rule. Fortunately, its not in effect thanks to a court. In my view, it was one of the worst examples of regulation by the previous administration. It caused millions of americans to punch time clocks that they didnt want to punch. It raised tuition according to our universities. Hundreds by hundreds of dollars per student because of its cost. It caused my local Boy Scouts Council<\/a> to have to dismiss counselors. It received widespread condemnation around the country and even in congress there was bipartisan opposition. So there was a doubling of the threshold. There was an impact on nonprofits. What are you going to do about the overtime rule . Senator, as you mentioned, its pending, in litigation. Let me offer a few observations. First, the overtime rule hasnt been updated, i believe, since 2004. And i think its unfortunate that rules that involve dollar values can sometimes go more than a decade, sometimes 15 years, without updating because life does become more expensive over time. Let me press you a little bit. Would doubling the threshold, applying so heavily the impact of it to nonprofits, doesnt that concern you . So, mr. Chairman, it does, and the point that i was making is i think its unfortunate that it goes so long without adjusting because when they are adjusted, you see impacts such as a doubling of the amount that does create a, what ill call a stress on the system, as the chairman mentioned, particularly in areas, both industry and Geographic Area<\/a>s that are lower wage, historically, and so i think one of the challenges we face in addressing the overtime rule is since 2004, theres been no change, now there is a very large change and how should that be addressed as a policy matter i think is a very difficult decision but a very serious one because the economy does feel a substantial impact from such a large change. Thank you. Senator murray . Mr. Chairman, let me follow on that. The department of labor did finalize the updated overtime rule last year and that rule helped restore the 40hour workweek which is the cornerstone of protection for middle class workers. Before that overtime rule, workers could be asked to put in extra hours. 60, 70, 80 hours a week. Without earning a single extra dollar for the overtime hours that they spent away from their families. And that new overtime rule expanded the number of workers who qualify for overtime pay, increasing Economic Security<\/a> actually for millions of families. After months of republicans in congress and big business fighting to block that overtime rule, as you stated, the court is now considering the rule and blocking additional overtime for workers from taking effect. So let me ask the question a little bit differently. Do you believe that workers should be paid overtime for the overtime hours that they work . Senator, i do believe workers that are entitled to overtime pay should receive pay for their overtime. Will you defend this rule in court . Senator, as i was saying in response to the chairmans question, the overtime rule hasnt been updated since 2004. We now see an update that is a very large revision and something that needs to be considered is the impact it has on the economy on nonprofits, on Geographic Area<\/a>s that have lower wages. But im also very sensitive to the fact that it hasnt been updated since 2004. And if confirmed, i will look at this very closely. Let me also add a related issue to this is the question of whether the dollar threshold is within the authority of the secretary. When Congress Passed<\/a> the statutes, it provides in essence for a duties test. And one of the questions thats in litigation is does a dollar threshold supersede the duties test and as a result is it not in accordance with the law . And i mentioned that because i think the authority of the secretary to address this is a separate issue from what the correct amount is. And the litigation needs to be considered carefully both with respect to what would be the appropriate amount, if the rule were to be changed or revised, but also what is within the authority of the secretary to do . Okay. Well this is an issue im going to be following closely. I think its an issue of fairness. I really do believe the secretary of labors job is to make sure that workers are treated fairly. Let me move on to another another issue. You have served as a high ranking federal official, one of the few cabinet nominees of this president who has done so. However, in your time leading the Civil Rights Division<\/a> at the department of justice, staff under your supervision broke federal law by systemically discriminating against individuals based on their political affiliations. An Inspector General<\/a> investigation found that staff on your Management Team<\/a> sought out conservative candidates and rejected liberal ones. Your staff referred to conservatives as real americans who were on the team and according to the i. G. Report, your staff called liberal Department Lawyers<\/a> comis and pinkos and told the subordinate your division shouldnt be limited to hiring Bureau Members<\/a> who belong to some psychopathic leftwing organization designed to overthrow the government. Your deputy said he should get an award for effectively breaking the will of liberal staff. These were your staffers acting under your supervision. Do you take responsibility for the acts of discrimination that occurred under your leadership . Senator, youre referring to the actions of one of the deputies in the division. I believe the Inspector General<\/a>s report found that the other deputies that oversaw the other division, or the other sections of the Civil Rights Division<\/a>, did not engage in that conduct. That conduct should not have happened. It happened on my watch. It should not have occurred. That language should not have been used. And i deeply regret it. Okay. And it leaves me to ask you, will you stand up to the president or others in the administration if they ask you to use political views on statements and hiring decisions . Senator, political views on the hiring of career attorneys or staff should not be used and the answer to your question is, if i am asked to do that, i will not allow it. Im very aware of the Inspector General<\/a>s report of the impact it had on that section and i would not allow that to happen. Okay. I appreciate that very much. Thank you. Thanks, senator murray. Senator collins then senator bennet. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Acosta, first of all, thank you for sharing your inspiring personal story. It really is the story of opportunity in america and in many ways that is the mission of the department that youve been nominated to lead. To create more opportunities for American Worker<\/a>s. The department has a program known as the trade Adjustment Assistance Program<\/a> that helps americans who through no fault of their own have lost their jobs as a result of foreign and often unfair competition. In maine, for example, weve lost more than 38 of our manufacturing jobs. Thats nearly 31,000 jobs in total over the last 17 years. The trade Adjustment Assistance Program<\/a> has been crucial in helping many workers who have been hit very hard by mail closures and shuttered factories get the skills that they need for the jobs in higherdemand industries. For example, in fiscal year 2015, 740 mainers benefited from taa and more than 70 of those who went through taaprovided education or retraining found employment within three months of completing the program. The socalled skinny budget that was released last week proposes large cuts in the department of labor but its unclear what happens to taa. What is your view on that program . Senator, thank you for question. I appreciate the way you set up the question because you provided data. If confirmed, something i think i would need to do and do very quickly because budget season has already begun is assess the efficacy of the job Training Programs<\/a> because the budgets are, you know, to be determined. The skinny budget has been submitted. Congress will have the final say on the ultimate budget. But dollars are going to be more scarce is the reality. And so were going to have to make difficult decisions. You provided data that shows how successful that program has been, and, you know, and i think the principles that need to be used to guide the spending are how successful is the program . Does the program address particular needs such as the needs of displaced individuals who have lost their jobs because of, for example, the closing of a mill . And in that context, the rate of return on the investment of taxpayer dollars in skills i think is particular high, because if you have someone that has been doing a job most of their life and that job no longer exists, and now you provide them the skills to do another job, theyre going to hold that job for a long time and theyre going to become part of our economy again and theyre going to be paying taxes. And so that rate of return on those programs i think is very strong. So based on your information, i hope that that Program Remains<\/a> because it sounds like its incredibly successful, at least in your state. And let me add, i think theres also room for differences within states where some program might make sense in maine but it might not make sense in another state and i think we need to be very sensitive that one size does not fit all. Thank you for that response. Despite the success of the taa program, there still is the category of workers in my state who are Older Workers<\/a>, who are in many ways the forgotten story of this economic recovery. Older workers are having increasing difficulties in finding employment. In maine, almost half of the private industry workers are over 44 years old in our paper mills which have lost more than 1,500 jobs over the past 3 years, alone, have a disproportionately high number of Older Workers<\/a>. And for many of them, working the paper mills been the only job theyve ever known. Their families have worked there for literally generations. And its very difficult to tell someone whos 54 years old whos done this his entire life or her entire life that they need to retrain for a new job or leave a community thats been their home their entire life. If confirmed, what ideas do you have for helping Older Workers<\/a> in my state and others who have lost jobs due to mill closures and other factors . Senator, ill briefly, because i see the clock, i will just say that i think those ideas cant come from washington. I think what washington needs to do is go to them and ask them what ideas do they see in their local area and then work with them and the local governments to address that. Because i dont think that we here in washington can understand what theyre going through in their small town in maine. Thank you. Thank you, senator collins. Senator bennet . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing. Mr. Acosta, congratulations to you and your nomination and thank you for your willingness to serve. I want to refresh you a little bit on what senator collins was just asking. Let me come back to that in one second. In colorado, we are trying to establish an Apprenticeship Program<\/a> throughout our universities, Community Colleges<\/a>, School Districts<\/a> and businesses and id like to invite you, if youre confirmed, to come out there and meet with the people who are working on that project to see how the department of labor might help them or help us do that better. So gladly. Good. Thank you. Virtually this entire campaign was about bringing back jobs and wages to places in america where people have suffered huge economic dislocation because of some would argue trade, some might say automation. But the dislocation has been real. Median Family Income<\/a> has fallen in many places and theres a hopelessness about what the economy is going to bring. So with respect to you, im not sure the answer that its all up to local communities suffices. The president ran for president saying he was going to make that huge difference. He was going to bring those jobs back. So apart from training, which i stipulate and we talked about in my office, is enormously important thing that we need to do better and i think were wasting billions of dollars not training people for jobs that exist in the 21st century. Putting that aside, whats the plan . Senator, thank you for the question, and let me first make the point that one of the reasons that i said its important to go to the local communities is because when the senate and i met in private, she gave me information about the educational background and the abilities and the other opportunities in that area and thats by definition going to be different than whats available in colorado. So i do think its important to visit colorado and visit maine and understand the different areas. Going to your point, i think we need to look at several Different Levels<\/a> for job creation. You know, the president has made clear that every Cabinet Agency<\/a> should review regulations for a needed regulatory burden. Small business produces, depending whose numbers you look at between seven and eight out of ten new jobs. I think its important to look at the issue that i highlighted about Foreign Workers<\/a> taking american jobs. Particularly when, you know, in those circumstances that i highlighted where americans are being asked to train their foreign replacements. That is not the intent of the h1b and as a matter of fact, theres an attestation that has to be made that youre not affecting the working conditions of an American Worker<\/a> when you do that. And so one question that i would have is how often is that happening . And is that something that we should be looking at with greater degree of care . I think we also need to work with, you know, Public Private<\/a> partnerships. I know there is a lot of discussion about an Infrastructure Program<\/a>. And an Infrastructure Program<\/a> will certainly bring back a lot of jobs and for all of these, its not just the jobs as part of an Infrastructure Program<\/a>, or jobs that are developed for Small Business<\/a>, but as individuals get jobs, they spend money. And then those individuals that spend money go to restaurants. And you have this Multiplier Effect<\/a> throughout the economy that i think is incredibly valuable. Let me let me finally touch on education. And i do think its important to touch on education because the economy is changing rapidly and our educational institutions cannot ignore what the workplace is going to be demanding Going Forward<\/a>. Mr. Acosta, i also just wanted for the record, note, and i appreciate this, that youve been a supporter of Immigration Reform<\/a> in the past. With senator rubio, i was part of the gang of eight here who passed the senate bill on immigration and part of what you observed in 2012 was that the Current System<\/a> allowed the abuse of immigrant workers. Do you still feel that way and do you still support Immigration Reform<\/a> . Senator, i think there is a need to have immigration laws that are transparent and clear. And i do think that we have an issue of abuse with immigrant workers. I think when workers are not part of a system, the system can abuse them. But i also think its important that we that we enforce our immigration laws and i dont see enforcement of immigration laws as separate from Immigration Reform<\/a>. One mr. Chairman, i realize im 15 seconds over. I apologize. Along those lines as well, you mentioned the h21 program. We is huge difficulties in colorado with the h2a and h2b program that is actually useful to workers and to businesses so i look forward to having the chance to talk with you about that at a later time. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. Thank you, senator bennet. I was going to call on senator hatch but hes not here, so ill call on senator scott. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here, again. Couple questions that ive heard so far during this hearing has to do with the overtime rule. Moving from 23,600 to about 47,000 according to some studies would cost about half a million jobs in the economy. So your comments seem to be a mixed bag. According to tammy mccutchen, who was an hourly and wage person, the department of labor under the bush administration, moving it up from 23,000 to maybe 32,000 would make sense based on the previous formula thats been used for decades. What would be your approach . Senator, thank you for the question. If you were to do a cost of living adjustment and as i mentioned, the world has gotten more expensive and salaries have changed since 2004. So if you were to apply a straight inflation adjustment, i believe that the figure, if it were to be updated, would be somewhere around 33,000, give or take. And so i think the question that i will have to face, if i were to become secretary of labor, is one, what to do with the litigation. Two, if we determine that the rule as it currently stands should not be the rule that eventually takes place within this litigation context, what would be the correct amount . And i understand that theres a desire on the part of members of this committee for me to sort of state this is exactly what i would do. But this is an incredibly complicated rule. This is something that gets updated about every 15 years. And so for me to sort of on the fly at a hearing state with certainty, i dont think its the responsible approach. What i would say is, one, i understand the extreme Economic Impact<\/a> that a doubling has in certain parts of the economy. I understand that it goes beyond a cost of living adjustment. And i understand as well that because of the size of the increase, there are serious questions as to whether the secretary of labor even has the power to enact this in the first place. Which is what a lot of the litigation not a lot which is what the basis of the litigation is. Those are issues that i would want to consult with the individuals at labor and at justice that are overseeing the litigation before determining. Well, i certainly hope that you already invested a lot of time contemplating what you would do as the next secretary as opposed to not having invested any time in that conversation which will be a very important conversation between the overtime rule and the fiduciary rule. These are things you should be contemplating already. Lets move to a different topic. I think senator bennet mentioned it, perhaps chairman alexander and the Ranking Member<\/a> as well talked about the importance of Apprenticeship Program<\/a>. Perhaps one of the leading states in the country on the success of our Apprenticeship Program<\/a>s. I would love to hear how you would encompass or integrate into your objectives Going Forward<\/a> an apprenticeship model taking into consideration the one that cory booker and myself have sponsored, the l. E. A. P. Act, over 17,734 apprenticeships and 6,400 participating programs in South Carolina<\/a>. We have companies throughout the country and South Carolina<\/a> from bwm, boeing, continental, general electric, blue cross blue shield, bosh, also Industries Like<\/a> health care and finance that are all integrated in South Carolina<\/a> and involved in Apprenticeship Program<\/a>s. Id love to hear your model. Senator, first, let me say South Carolina<\/a> really is the model of Apprenticeship Program<\/a>s. Some of the some of the qualities that makes it so successful is the integration or the Public Private<\/a> partnership where employers are not involved in name but theyre really deeply involved in their directing. These are the types of apprenticeships that we need. This is, you know, this is what the workforce is demanding and i think that that involvement of employers is very, very important. I know that South Carolina<\/a> at the state level also provides incentives for employers to engage in apprenticeships and to hire apprentices and particularly when someone is learning, when someone is quite literally an apprentice, my understanding is that that makes the South Carolina<\/a> program particularly noteworthy and attractive for an employer to hire an apprentice. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator scott. Senator baldwin . Thank you, mr. Chairman, and welcome, mr. Acosta. Congratulations on the nomination. One of the first responsibilities, and you alluded to it a moment ago, in terms of the fact that its budget season, one of the first responsibilities of the secretary is going to be identifying where to cut, frankly, because President Trump<\/a>s budget calls for a 2. 5 billion cut to the department of labor. 21 decrease from current enacted levels. This is really significant. President trumps budget only specifies 500 million of cuts. Mostly to seniors seeking job training and leaves about 2 billion unspecified. So id like to ask you how are you going to approach this incredible task of making this math work . I mean, you could eliminate all or you could eliminate 15 job core centers for vulnerable youth. You could eliminate the entire Employee Benefit<\/a> Security Administration<\/a> charged with protecting workers Retirement Funds<\/a> from fraud or get rid of the women in apprenticeship grant program. How are you going to approach this . Do 20 across the board . Are you going to cut various bureaus . Or what are you going to do . Senator, thank you for the question. First, let me say as a nominee, i havent had any the opportunity to provide input yet into the budget process. And if confirmed, its something im going to have to take on very quickly because its moving. My personal perspectives, and, again, congress will make ultimate decisions on this, and so congress may have a different view. But my personal perspective is this should not be and at the same time it shouldnt focus on particular programs because thats a little bit too because programs arent quite that how can i put this . You mentioned senator, let me come at it this way. So you mentioned the job core centers and i think theres some job core centers in some states where the job core centers are highly successful and for those states, those job core centers work exceedingly well. Given the population, given the geographic diversity of that state. Those job core centers, from my understanding, are working well. Theres some other job core centers that have a history of Violence Associated<\/a> with them that concerns me. And as a matter of fact, the department of labor has looked at some of those job core centers and has identified some of those issues. And so i think this requires an analysis on a few levels. I want to just cut you off because we have limited time, but, so youre not going to look at across the board, and what i think i hear you saying, to summarize, you wouldnt eliminate programs, me say, but you would look at success. I think you said that earlier in response to the trade adjustment assistance question for senator collins. That would be fair. So, what troubles me is in areas where were not seeing success is pulling it away and offering not offering those programs the answer or is it going in and fixing and adjusting and providing those opportunities . I mean, if you pull it away, youve left people high and dry in training and many other areas. Senator, i understand your question and i think and i dont think we disagree and heres first, its a question of what is success. Right . Because if you have a particularly troubled area, a little bit of movement can be success. But secondly, just because you pull a you know, if theres a job core center in a particular Geographic Area<\/a> that isnt working, that doesnt mean you pull away from that Geographic Area<\/a>. That just means that maybe in that area, the money is better spent on another program than on the job core center. So i dont think it would be right to abandon any one area. I think thats why it needs to be an analysis based on the program and the geography to ask what does this state need . What does this part of that state need . And really look at it on a local basis. Thank you, senator baldwin. Senator young . Welcome, mr. Acosta. Great to be with you here today. Id like to first get your thoughts on how we can better link our unemployed americans to job opportunities. As secretary of labor, this is something youll have direct oversight over. There are already programs out there to help facilitate these linkages. Less than half of the available workforce has the appropriate training to fill available jobs. Some communities are innovative in serving local need. In my own state, we have jeffersonville, indiana, they partnered with ford for their nextgeneration learning program. This Partnership Engages<\/a> businesses, educators, community leaders, various other stakeholders to enhance the workforce system throughout the region, which is in southern indiana. Its going to connect High School Graduates<\/a> to relevant Postsecondary Education<\/a> that will directly filter into businesses around that community. Every member here can no doubt cite localized, specific examples of sort of Creative Solutions<\/a> to this linkage issue which is so important if were going to have flexible, Effective Labor<\/a> markets which in turn leads to faster Economic Growth<\/a> and higher wage growth. Perhaps you could speak to how you, as secretary of labor, will foster this sort of engagement and maybe serve as a conduit for information related to best practices so that folks back in the states and our localities can scale up whats working. Senator, thank you for the question. You know, its interesting that even in this hearing, each several members are pointing to successes in their particular states. And youre right, those need to be compiled and put into best practices. So that they can be duplicated. But the other point that i would identify is not only are these successes based on local partnerships, but theyre based on Public Private<\/a> partnerships. Its not the department of labor going in on its own. It is businesses working at a local level with educational institutions and with other local entities to align the training opportunities with what the workforce with what the employers are demanding. And that partnership, i think, is so critical and so going to senator baldwins question of, you know, wouldnt you be walking away from a particular area if a program isnt working . The point i was trying to make is, no, if theres a program thats not working in a particular state, if theres a program thats not working in indiana, for example, but theres a program thats working fabulously well, then we should look at that program thats working fabulously well and perhaps double down on that program. If that program is going to address the needs that were otherwise addressed by the program that isnt working. I like to hear common sense from my wouldbe secretary of labor. That strikes me as common sense. Thats a good thing. Ill look forward to working with you to operationalize that concept through programs or policies or so forth. In my remaining time, perhaps i could pivot to the gig economy. The availability, the preference, for so many of our workers to take multiple parttime jobs, to do freelance work, its just the way so much of our economy is moving. Its creating unique challenges for our workers and we, from a Public Policy<\/a> standpoint, are going to have to adapt to these challenges. One of those challenges is for parents. Their daycare responsibilities, if, in fact, they either require a job outside of the home, or they wish to work outside of the home. I have four young children. We have some flexibility, my wife and i, in our lives, and some family members that help out. So we figured out a way to make it work. A single father whos caring for a few children, works the nightshift at walmart. I dont know how they do it. I dont know where they find acceptable, available daycare for their children. And so im not asking you to solve this problem, but could you at least speak to this problem as perhaps the next secretary of labor . And how you might explore innovative ways to deal with it, partnering with our states and localities to make the gig economy work for more people . Senator, thank you. The gig economy is something that the department of labor needs to address and on several levels, the rules at dol arent designed, they havent caught up to the gig economy. They assume a more traditional workplace and so i think it goes beyond the issue that you raised to several issues within the department of labor. Its incredibly important. There are individuals in my office who are Single Parents<\/a> and i see them and theyve got to juggle and they have the means to juggle and its still incredibly difficult. So its something that were going to have to talk about and address, but it has to be at the local level. Thank you, senator young. Senator warren and then senator hatch. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Acosta, you were the president s second choice for secretary of labor. Ill be honest, im glad its not his first choice, Andrew Puzder<\/a>, whos sitting here today. Its hard to imagine a candidate who would be worse than a man who made his fortune by squeezing workers on wages and benefits. A man who repeatedly broke the laws that he would be charged with enforcing. A man who bragged about replacing his workers with robots, who would never sue him for race or sex discrimination. But that said, the test for secretary of labor is not are you better than Andrew Puzder<\/a> . The test is will you stand up for 150 million American Worker<\/a>s . And that starts by making sure that workers are safe on their jobs. Department of labor rule to protect 2. 3 million American Worker<\/a>s from exposure to lethal cancercausing silica went into effect last summer. So i just want to know, mr. Acosta, will you promise not to weaken the silica rule in any way and not to delay future compliance by even a single day . Senator, as you mentioned, the silica rule went into effect. I should, however, make clear that the president through an executive action has directed all cabinet secretaries to put together a group to review all rules within each Cabinet Agency<\/a>. Im aware of that. And to examine and so i this is a rule that has gone into effect. Yes, senator, but i just want to make sure youre not going to delay this rule any further. Senator, i understand. The point im trying to make is that the president has directed each cabinet officer to review all rules and to make determinations if any rules should be revised. So based on that executive action i cannot make a commitment, because the department of labor has been ordered to review all rules. I want to understand what that means when you say the the president of labor has been ordered to review all rules. Youre about to be named secretary of labor. Either youre going to stand up for 15 American Worker<\/a>s including people being poisoned by silica or youre not. Are you going to stand up for the people . Finally, we have a rule in place so people will not be poisoned by silica. Senator and youre saying its open and you dont want to give an answer one way or another on how you look at that . Im saying the rule is in effect. The final rule went into was promulgated but there was an order and executive action but you cant give us your own sense of whether or not the silica rule is something that ought to be enforced . You will do this review and youre telling me you cant tell whether or not we ought to take out rules that will cause people to die . Senator, i am not advocating taking out rules. I am making can i take that then as you will enforce that rule . Senator i all cabinet officers have been asked to review. You said that. I have heard it. Im trying to ask for your opinion. Youre telling me you have no opinion whether or not high on your his would be to protect to rule that protects people from being poisoned. Hi on the list of priorities will be to protect the safety of workers with appropriate rules. And you will decide what appropriate rules are but you dont want to give a hint right now . Senator, there is an entire staff at the department of labor. Yes. And they already looked at this rule and already received comments from the public about this rule and they strongly support this rule. I raised this rule with you when we talked about it two weeks ago. There should be no surprise that im asking you about this. I gave the same answer. Im looking forward to hearing from the staff if confirmed on their . And following their advice . If it is appropriate. And you decide if it is appropriate . I think we have got how this dance works. Let me ask you another question. Another huge responsibility is that to make sure workers are paid fairly. Last december a new Labor Department<\/a> rule requiring employers to pay workers overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week was set to go into effect. That means a raise for 4. 2 Million People<\/a>. Lots of employers were preparing to comply. Just days before the deadline, texas judge blocked the rule, citing with giant companies over American Worker<\/a>s. Will you commit to appealing the judges ruling to protect these workers . I will commit to examining both the rule and legal basis of the judges decision. I appreciate that. Thats exactly what you said to me two weeks ago. You have time to look at it. Its not a long ruling to look what went behind this. I think its time for an answer. Are you going to appeal it or not . Senator, again, the department of labor has staff that spent a long time working on this rule. It is also in litigation. I think it would be important to consult with the Legal Officers<\/a> at dol regarding the position that they are taking in litigation we are a minute over, senator. Ill quit there, but mr. Acosta, they have made clear their decision. I want to know if you will follow through on it. They have prepared an appeal. Evidently by measuring their actions is their advice. I want to know youre going to be part of this. Well have time for a second round of questions. Thank you. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator warren. Senator hatch . Welcome. Happy to see you again. We know you have given this government a lot of effort in the past. I know once confirmed youll do a very good job in this particular position. The office protects workers and potential employees of federal contractors from employment discrimination. It is my observation the committee pointed out ofccp appear to prioritize specific rather than equal consideration and opportunity because of reliance on statistical alliance and allowing contractor practices. In the fiscal year 16 labor hhs appropriations bill, the committee pointed out, quote, ofccp appears to prioritize results rather than equal consideration and opportunity because of its reliance on Statistical Analysis<\/a> and evaluating contractor hiring practices, unquote. How would you go about leading the office to enforce more to enforce nondiscrimination standards on actual evidence of actual discrimination rather than on statistical generalizations . Let me just add one more question. How do you propose promoting actual discriminatory treatment instead of discrimination based solely on statistical benchmarks that may not be uniformly applicable . Senator, thank you for your question. And let me say, that i remember appearing before your committee in a room very similar to this and and thank you for the courtesies you extended to me at that time as well. I think it was two floors down. The issue that you raise is the use of disparate impact of employment cases within ofccp and so the impact is a valid and legally acceptable part of liability in employment litigation, and so without more, i would hesitate to say that ofccp shouldnt use acceptable tools that are generally considered valid in employment contexts in enforcing the executive order that it is charged with enforcing. Okay. I hear all of the time about the need for skilled workers. Ive heard you talk about your ideas, of how can we modernize one such model. Apprenticeship. Im working with Ranking Member<\/a> murray on promoting and supporting employers with apprenticeship. In addition to apprenticeship efforts, what role do you see dol playing and encouraging other employerled training best practices . Senator, thank you. I think dol needs to take a leadership role in compiling best practices and working with employer groups to encourage employers. You know, i had a as you were asking the question, i had a remembrance of a project that we had with the Restaurant Association<\/a> around disability compliance. And we worked with the Restaurant Association<\/a> when i was at the Civil Rights Division<\/a>, to encourage restaurants to comply with the ada. And the point that we made to them is that compliance can make business sense. And so working with associations that have access to employers, to encourage Apprenticeship Program<\/a>s, to encourage jobTraining Programs<\/a>, to learn from them what needs to be done, and what can be done, i think, is important. This cant just be government. It has to be in partnership with employers. Let me also add, i dont think the department of labor can do this alone. The department of education is such a key player in this, and in all candor, their funding is somewhat deeper than the department of labors funding. And so i think its very important to break down the silos, to not have this department doing this, and that departments doing that, but to really Work Together<\/a> as one executive branch addressing these issues. Well, thank you, i think, mr. Chairman my time is almost up. Thank you, senator hatch. Senator hassan . Thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member<\/a> murray and good morning, dean acosta, nice to see you here. I will just add support to the comments youve heard from just about everybody on the committee about the importance of job training. Its critical to the state of New Hampshire<\/a>, as is our Job Corps Center<\/a> which is one of the newest if not the newest Job Corps Center<\/a> in the country. And i had the opportunity to be its first graduation recently and it was great to see the lives that were changed through that Job Corps Center<\/a>. I wanted to focus a little bit about the importance of osha to the men and women who constitute our countrys workforce. Strong and targeted enforcement by the Labor Department<\/a> not only saves lives, but also saves valuable resources for employers. A substantial body of empirical evidence demonstrates that osha inspections reduce injury rates at inspected workplaces and lowers Workers Compensation<\/a> costs to the tune of billions of dollars annually. The federal Occupational Health<\/a> and safety has about 45 fewer inspectors today than in 1980 when the workforce was almost half of current levels. In New Hampshire<\/a>, we have seven inspectors for 50,000 work sites. It would take osha 122 years to inspect every workplace in New Hampshire<\/a> just once. President trumps budget blueprint proposes to cut dols death by 21 . Can you commit that if confirmed for secretary, youll seek funding that will maintain oshas enforcement budget at no less than current levels . Senator, i can certainly commit that i let me come at it this way. I would be very concerned in a situation like you mentioned, where there are only seven inspectors. Because going from seven to six has a substantial impact, right . Right. Can i commit to no less than current levels, thats a very precise statement. And something is going to have to give somewhere in the budget, but my background is a Law Enforcement<\/a> background. I think that worker safety is incredibly important. I mentioned it in my Opening Statement<\/a> for a reason. And i would have a lot of concern if the number of inspectors in any one area fell to the point where they could not do their job. Thank you. I want to move on to the area of making sure that we are including more people who experience disabilities in this country in the workforce. Section 14 c of the fair labor standards act authorizes employers to pay sub minimum wages to workers who experience disabilities. Often times this type of employment occurs in a secluded environment, some might say a segregated environment known as a sheltered workplace. In 2015 with the support of the New Hampshire<\/a> business community, New Hampshire<\/a> was the first state to eliminate the payment of sub minimum wage. So, first of all, do you support this practice of paying people who experience disabilities sub minimum wage . Senator, i certainly support the authority of any state to eliminate that. And with respect to at the federal level, you know, i think this is a very difficult issue, because you dont want to disrespect individuals in any way by the very phrase sub minimum wage is a disrespectful phrase, yet you want to provide incentives or systems to ensure that individuals that might not otherwise have a job, have access to a job and are trained into a job. And i think thats a very difficult balance that im happy to have a further discussion about. I hope we can, because i think it isnt the phrase sub minimum wage thats disrespectful. Its disrespectful and discriminatory to pay people who are qualified to do a job sub minimum wage on the basis that they experience a disability. So i think its going to be really important that we continue this conversation. I think if you go back and look at the work at the National Governors<\/a> Association Around<\/a> this, you find it was employers who came to us and said this is a population thats doing the job. Why are we allowed to pay them sub minimum wage . So i look forward to working with you on that. I do have additional questions, but i understand well have a second round. Thank you. Thank you, senator hassan. Senator roberts . Yes, thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Costa, thank you for coming by on your courtesy visit. Thank you for being here today. You were certainly well introduced. I think you should be confirmed. Im going to talk a little bit different tack here than some of my colleagues. Im not going to ask but President Trump<\/a> or whether or not you will follow his executive orders, despite what some may think be contrary to current law. Im not going to ask about the budget. Im not going to ask you about the campaign. And im certainly not going to ask you whether you are for death by celica. Ive got a different view of many folks here, not only on this committee, with a lot of exceptions, but in washington look at this through a telescope through washington, and we have an entire regulatory agenda. And it is intended for job safety. Its intended for nondiscrimination, its intended for just go down the entire alpha bet soup of agencies that we have here, clean water, clean air, et cetera et cetera. Then it gets down to 105 counties in kansas, people wonder what in the heck is going on. Here comes regulations that theyve never seen before and i know this, because i go to town hall meeting after town hall meeting, after town hall meeting. I dont get questions such as so and so is running a business where my safety, if i go in there or if im a customer is in danger. Or his workforce is in danger. They hold up a piece of paper, and say, what is this regulation . I dont understand it. And they do not have normal cpa or an attorney or somebody to figure it out, is exactly why they have received that. Now i used to work for my predecessor in the house. Im one of these people that are below the swamp. They cant drain me out. And my job was to go out and figure out what this new animal was called osha. And we had the first osha person go out, way out west. And went out to sharon springs. Sharon springs is not the end of the world, but you can see it from there. We have mt. Sun flower, its 4,000 feet high. The trick is not to climb it, the trick is to find it. Its sat there on the high prairie. And the osha person was supposed to go out to goodland, kansas, but just missed it. I dont know how you could do that, but he fell short. But could stay all night. And looked high and low for somebody, somebody, anybody, that he could walk in and say, youre not performing your job right. And so he went into a manufacturer on canvas webbing, that goes on the top of grain trucks, and they had a stamping machine in there that they put a hole in the canvas webbing to tie the rope, to put it over the grain truck. And they find him he, one person i think the fine was a thousand dollars. So he came to the courthouse, and he was giving my predecessor a hard time and says, i got just the guy to take care of that. Robert, you go over there and take care of that. So i go over and i look at this stamping machine, and the fine was because it endangered a persons leg, the way it was constructed. And it was constructed so that a wounded veteran from korea, who had lost a leg, could bupull th stamping machine. Obviously that was not explained to the osha inspector. Mr. Mull stead, who ran that company 40something years ago never paid the fine. Now multiply that by thousands. In the entire business community, i dont need to go down all the regulatory agenda and the job losses and the red tape and the paperwork. What i want to know is, can we get a cost benefit yard stick that makes sense, where you have the regulatory costs and obviously the regulatory benefit . Youre on the benefit side. The Small Business<\/a> community is on the other side. And i want to know what is your overall philosophy on regulation, in behalf of a lot of people in kansas who feel theyre being ruled and not governed. And i can tell you, if theyre in business in a Small Community<\/a> on the town square, and theyre not performing their job right, and theyre discriminating against people and pretty much bad news and its a bad workplace, theyre out of business. I mean, thats just the way it works. So can you give me your overall philosophy on regulation. Senator, briefly, because i noticed the clock. Id make two points. One, the president tlau executive action has ordered and i think it is important that we eliminate regulations that are not serving a useful purpose. Because they are impeding Small Business<\/a>. Small business is what creates jobs in this country. Seven out of ten jobs by best estimates. And if were going to create jobs, we need to free up Small Business<\/a>. And so that would be my big picture view on regulation. Thank you, senator roberts. Senator murphy . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, mr. Costa, thank you for your willingness to serve. Good to see you again. Just a followup on senator warrens line of questioning. Point of clarification. During this pending review, in which youve been charged to look at all regulations and determine which ones are appropriate according to your standards and the president s standards, you still have an obligation to enforce existing regulations. So the silica rule will be enforced by your department pending this review . Senator, we would enforce all rules that are in effect pending that review, yes. Including the silica rule . I believe im hesitating only because of one item that i dont remember, to the extent its in effect. I know it was promulgated. Assuming theres no stay, then yes. Okay. Second, to follow up on senator baldwins questioning regarding funding. I get a little worried when i hear you talk about accepting a lower level of funding for job training. The president s budget has winners and losers, right . Theres a lot more money for defense. Theres money for a wall. And that comes at the expense of other programs. And i think we would hope that you would be an advocate for the programs that the department of labor funds. In connecticut, for example, the plus up in defense dollars doesnt do us the maximum amount of good without the department of labor dollars, so we can build additional submarines and electric boat, but if we dont have the Workforce Pipeline<\/a> necessary to staff the supply chain, those jobs will go overseas. At the eastern connecticut manufacturing pipeline, its not about mismatched resources, its simply about not having enough resources. We have a 92 placement rate in manufacturing jobs from the pipeline program. 3,000 people are trying to sign up, and they can only take a couple hundred a year. And the consequence of not fulfilling that need, the jobs will just go to other countries because we cant hire the folks here. So let me ask you, senator baldwins question a little different way. Do you support the 20 cut thats been proposed to your department . So, senator, thank you for rephrasing. Because i never said that i accepted, when i was speaking or i dont recall saying i accept it when i was speaking with senator baldwin. A wrote myself a note when the skinny budget came out, and it was a quote from the omb director. And he said, to paraphrase, weve got 20 trillion in debt, and so its not enough that a program sounds good. A program has to be shown to be good. And i wrote myself that note, because if confirmed as secretary of labor, one of the things i want to do, and i forget which of your colleagues had great data. But i want to go through these programs and compile the data. Because for a lot of these programs, i believe the rate of return on taxpayer investment of taxpayer dollar is quite significant and would pay for itself very readily in money saved and, and taxes paid by the fact that individuals have jobs. And so i readily embrace that as part of the job, and if confirmed, im certainly going to speak up and present all that information and advocate. I think youll find an abundance of programs that are underfunded, that will allow you to make that case. Lastly, i appreciate the number of times in which youve made references to the intersection between the department of education and the department of labor, the fact of the matter is, as senator alexander pointed out, most of the workforce training in this country is funded by the department of education. We had the chance to talk in my office about the migration of public dollars away from not for Profit Education<\/a> to forProfit Education<\/a>, and really, the stunning lack of results were getting from forprofit, jobTraining Programs<\/a>. Onethird of forprofit graduates are today making less than a minimum wage over the course of a year. 12 of students are attending forprofit schools, but 36 of students who have loan defaults today come from those forprofit schools. I know youve thought about this in the context of your work in graduate education in florida. Shouldnt there be a role for the federal government to ask more of all centers of job training, not just the ones you fund but colleges as well and demand results, results that were not getting today from a lot of these forprofit operations . Senator, i have thought about it in the context of law, and the in law schools, the accrediting agencies are looking more for results. Its less about the input and more about the output. What is the bar passage rate . What is the job rate . And what you are seeing is that some of the forprofit law schools are facing challenges and have faced challenges with the department of education because they havent because the results are not necessarily on par. And so, to the extend that these are well, i dont want to go beyond to the extent that these are department of labor programs, i certainly would want to see the results and the metrics to make sure that it is been done appropriately. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thanks, senator murphy. Senator ensy. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you, mr. Costa for being willing to go through this process and serve. And you have a tremendous amount of background. I have a number of areas that im interested in. The senator from New Hampshire<\/a> of course mentioned job corps, and she got the next she was the next to last state to finally have one Job Corps Center<\/a>. We were the last state to have one Job Corps Center<\/a>, and ours is in the middle of a reservation inhabited by two warring tribes, with high unemployment. And theyre working together to get kids into this job corps and its making a huge difference. Theyre doing Energy Industry<\/a> training and thats heavy equipment and mechanics and welding and other things that are tied to the economy. So their job placement is tremendous. Im hoping that youll take a look at that. Another pet thing that she happened to mention was the osha inspectors. And something that we keep overlooking is the vpp program, where we allow Big Companies<\/a> to hire an inspector, a trained inspector, to come in and look at their business, and if theres anything the matter, they have to fix it immediately. And if they do that, they continue to be a vpp company. There isnt any provision for the Small Companies<\/a>, though. Ive suggested that the Small Companies<\/a> ought to be able to hire an expert for their particular type of business, one of the high places for injuries is the printing industry. And if all the newspapers in wyoming went together and hired somebody, they would really like to be able to have somebody come in and inspect their premises and if theres anything thats found wrong, they fix it right away, and they still get to be a part of this program. I hope that youll take a look at that. She also mentioned the sub minimum wage. Senat senator harkin and i worked on that for years while i was chairman of this committee. We knew the purpose of that was to be able to get an evaluation for people who hadnt been evaluated. It was not intended to be a lifetime sub minimum wage. So we tried to do some things to eliminate that possibility and get people that are trained into the workforce. Are there any of those three things that youd like to comment on . Senator, so, thank you. I, i, i will gladly follow up on the programs that you have mentioned. You know, i think its important that we think outside the box and that we, you know, on the private enforcement matter, i would just say, i think there can be a role for that. But we need to ensure that its under appropriate guidelines. Okay, thank you. At the start of the Obama Administration<\/a>, the department of labors wage and Hour Division<\/a> end the the long standing practice of providing opinion letters that answered questions about specific amicatio applications of the labor laws. These letters were made public and were useful for people trying to understand the law. A typical administration issued dozens of these letters each year. The last administration replaced opinion letters with administrators interpretations that give broad opinions, leaving many specific details unanswered. And they only issued a total of seven interpretations during the entire Obama Administration<\/a>. Many employers and employees who are trying to comply with complex labor and hour regulations and who want to be in compliance would like to see a return to the opinion letter system. Will you commit to restoring the most robust and interactive compliance assistance system so folks can spend less time trying to decipher the law, and more time complying with the law, and growing successful businesses and creating new jobs . Senator, i think theres a value to opinion letters and i think the value comes from the fact that theyre grounded in a specific set of facts. And not in a broad in broad sort of legal premises. And so i see no reason why i would not encourage opinion letters. Thank you. One of the innovations were seeing right now is the ondemand economy, the uber, the lift, the air bnb and other services where users can connect to goods and services more direct lea through an app on their phone or a website. What kind of information or data do we need to ensure that we properly understand that segment of the economy . Do you think the bureau of labor statistics is able to capture that information . Senator, i do not know if the bureau of labor statistics is capturing that information. I knowledge thats a very important question and one that i will followup on, if confirmed. Thank you, i have other questions, ill submit them. Thank you. Thank you, senator ensy. Senator cane . Thank you. I appreciated our visit in your skpofs your Public Service<\/a>. I think the committee needs to ask about and i think youre entitled to respond to an article that appeared in the Washington Post<\/a> and ill just read the opening and ask you some questions. Labor nominee acosta cut deal with billionaire guilty in sex abuse case. Just the first three paragraphs. There was once a time before the investigations before the sexual abuse conviction, when rich and famous men loved to hang around with jeffrey absteen a million money manager who loved to party. They visited his mansion, flew on his jet to join him on little st. James and even joked about his taste in younger women. President trump called absteen a terrific guy, saying, hes a lot of fun to be with. Its said he likes beautiful women as much as i do, and many of them were on the younger side, closed quote. Trump is on the witness list in a Florida Court<\/a> battle over federal prosecutors handled obligations that he sexually abused more than 40 minor girls, between the ages of 13 and 17. The lawsuit questions why trumps nominee for labor secretary, former miami attorney alexander costa who confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin wednesday cut a nonprosecution deal with absteen a decade ago rather than pursuing a federal indictment. Id like to introduce the record, mr. Chair. Ty will be introduced. Id like to ask you about this, first, a couple of questions. My understanding is that theres a pending civil lawsuit filed by a couple of the victims in that case, seeking to argue that they should have been given notice prior to the plea deal being entered into. Is that your understanding as well . My understanding is that theres a pending civil lawsuit. The department of justice has defended the actions of the office in that matter under both president bush and president obamas administrations. The opening that i read suggests that you decided, as u. S. Attorney, to cut a nonprosecution deal, that part of the decision was that nonprosecution deal be held private and not appear in the Public Record<\/a>, and theres an allegation that i just read that you did not pursue a federal indictment, even though your staff had advocated that you do so. Is that accurate . That is not accurate. Let me, let me address the you know, one of the difficulties with matters before the department of justice is that the department of justice does not litigate in the public media, and litigates in court. Let me set forth some facts. This matter was originally a state case. It was presented by the state attorney to the grand jury in Palm Beach County<\/a>. The grand jury in Palm Beach County<\/a> recommended a single count of solicitation, not involving minors, i believe. And that would have resulted in zero jail time, zero registration as a sexual offender, and zero restitution for the victims in this case. The matter was then presented to the u. S. Attorneys office. Its highly unusual and as i was speaking to some of your colleagues, that have been involved in prosecutions, they mentioned that they dont know of any cases personally, where a u. S. Attorney becomes involved in a matter after it has already gone to a grand jury at the state level. In this case, we deemed it necessary to become involved, and we, early on, had discussions within the office. And we decided that a sentence, or how should i put this that mr. Absteen should plead guilty to two years, register as a sexual offender and give the victims restitution. And if that were done, the federal interests would be satisfied and we would defer to the state. That would very early on in the case. I say that because the article goes on to talk about a view that the u. S. Attorneys office was not aggressive in this matter. Can i read one other statement . Federal prosecutors detailed their findings in an 82page prosecution memo and a 53page indictment, but absteen was never indicted. And theres a quote. This agreement, you agreement you describe, will not be made part of any Public Record<\/a>, the deal between absteen and acosta. The document was unsealed as part of the civil suit in 2015. Im going to give the senator time to ask his question and the nominee time to answer the question, even though it goes over the five minutes. Thank you. Senator, again, to address your question, and i cant discuss the details of the case, but let me take it generally. It is pretty typical in a prosecution, for an indictment a draft indictment to be written. That doesnt necessarily mean that that draft indictment is filed, because that draft indictment does not consider often the strength of the underlying case. And so, as part of any plea, it is not unusual to have an indictment that says these are all the places we can go, yet at the end of the day, based on the evidence, professionals within a Prosecutors Office<\/a> decide that a plea that guarantees that someone goes to jail, that guarantees that someone register generally, and that guarantees other outcomes is a good thing. And was that a consensus decision in your office . It was a broadly held decision, yes. Im over my time, mr. Chair. I may come back to this on a second round. Thank you. Okay. Do you feel like youve had time to sufficiently answer . Mr. Chairman, i think i have. All right. Well, we can come back to it if youd like to. Senator murkowski, thank you for waiting. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you, mr. Costa for the time that you gave me in my office a week or so ago. The issue of job corps has been raised by a couple of my colleagues and we had an opportunity also to speak about that and ive indicated to you that i think that job corps that we have in alaska, has been successful. Weve seen good support in that those who graduate are actually finding jobs in the area that theyre trained for. I notice that the president s skinny budget doesnt really look at favorably on job corps as i might or senator ensy might. But i would ask you, you indicated that evaluating the Job Corps Center<\/a>s not by the of graduates, but by the percent of students who get jobs for which theyre trained is something that you would be looking to and i would again, urge you in that vein as youre looking at job corps. Understood. Let me bring yup the issue o our fisheries and seasonal employment aspect of it. As weve discussed, we have a limited labor pool in alaska, made more complicated and difficult because of a very compressed season in the summer where our fisheries are going full tilt, and a reality that for us to be able to meet the immeed yasy of the demand for that labor pool, its been important to rely on these h 2 b visas. And what we have seen, unfortunately, is that weve got a processing bottleneck that has been left unresolved. Our processors have been in a situation where theyre not able to buy fish from the fishermen, that rippleback effect is really very detrimental to our seafood industry. Current h 2 b regulations say employers cannot submit applications prior to 90 days before the first date of employment. Then the number of workers that have requested each application are counted against that cap. And what we see is because alaskas fishing season is later, that cap is used up by the time our employers and those in the industries are requesting their h 2 b visas. Add that with the slow processing times, and it has really been complicated and very, very difficult. So i would just urge you, as you review the situation with the h 2 b visas, i would urge that you seek Permanent Solutions<\/a> to this. I think we recognize that there is perhaps some administrative m remedies that could be made immediately that could help states like alaska and others that face this same seasonal aspect to our labor force, but later in the season. So i would just ask this morning if you will commit to review the way these semi annual caps are structured that really leave alaskas Fish Processors<\/a> at a clear disadvantage simply due to the timing of their season. And whether its quarterly caps rather than halves, you know, maybe that is the fix. But i would ask that you not only look to that, but also to commit to working with me to ensure that we have more timely processing of these h 2 b applications. We also had an opportunity to discuss the unused worker applications. And the prospect of being able to return those to the available pool. So whether or not theres an audit of that to determine how much is out there, again, a commitment that youll be working with us. Because weve got a situation where, if we cant get the workers, the fishermen cant fish, the tenders stop tendering, the dollars that pass over at the fuel docks stop, the welding shops arent working, the Grocery Stores<\/a> arent working, the gear stores arent working, everything shuts down in a very small economy. Can you speak to where you are with your view on these visas . Senator, im happy to commit to work with you on all of the issues you raised. I have a concern which is what you are articulated, because your local economy in alaska is dependent on these workers. And if youre out of cycle, that is not the fault that is not your fault. Right. And so, you have my commitment to look and understand why this hasnt been adjusted. And, and, and if possible to find an appropriate solution. Well, and i thank you for that, but i would also urge that this being placed as a very high and an immediate priority because of the timing that we are up against currently. I, i fully understand and im glad to do that. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Senator franken . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Acosta for coming to my office. We talked a lot about workforce training, which i plan to get to in a moment, but now i want to talk about pensions. If youre confirmed, youll be the leading federal official charged with protecting the pensions of more than ten million americans. Among those are 400,000 Central States<\/a> members across the country, including 20,000 in minnesota. The pension fund faces insolvency and could run out of money in less than a decade. Last december, i spoke with over 300 retirees in minnesota. These are middleclass workers, warehouse workers, truck drivers, and other demanding blue collar jobs. Theyre very worried about what will happen if Central States<\/a> goes insolvent and their pensions are slashed. Many of them are disabled, or too elderly to return to work, if this looming crisis isnt addressed, these workers could lose their homes, their ability to pay for prescription drugs, and the ability to put food on the table. If confirmed as secretary of labor, youll be the chair of the pension benefit guarantee corporation, which ensures pension funds, like Central States<\/a>, but based on current projections, the ppgc, multi Employer Fund<\/a>, may actually run out of money before the Central States<\/a> plan runs out of money. Thats two major insolvencies, totaling nearly 60 billion. If confirmed, one of the largest pension crises could land on your desk. Have you or the Trump Administration<\/a> proposed a plan to make the ppgcs multi Employer Fund<\/a> solvent . I have not proposed a plan. I have not seen a plan thats been proposed that has worked in the past decade. What about a plan to help the Central States<\/a> fund . Again, senator, i have not proposed a plan. Okay. How about this, yes or no, will you commit to ensuring that no one will have their pension benefits cut from what theyre receiving right now . Senator, this is an issue that this congress has been working on for years, that the Prior Administration<\/a> tried to address and had difficulty addressing. I wish i could commit to that. That has a 60 billion price tag, as you mentioned. And if you expand it further to include city and state pension funds, youre talking about approximately 2 trillion price tag. And so this is a fundamental issue that weve got to think about, and its not just the executive branch, but the executive branch working with congress. Because these workers worked, they have expectations. I fully understand that. I get it. I also understand that this is an issue that has not yet been solved. And if i could come up with a solution right on the spot, i wish i could. Thank you. Well, during his campaign, President Trump<\/a> said that hed help working americans. Now we have a situation where hundreds of thousands of these workers and retirees may lose their pensions. There are a number of ways this can be paid for and we can fulfill the promise that was made to these workers, i think we should raise the funds needed to support these workers by closing the carried interest loophole that benefits wall street and private Equity Managers<\/a> by closing this loophole, which even President Trump<\/a> wants to get rid of. We would raise more than enough money to fix the Central States<\/a> fund and id just urge that. Ill move on to workforce development. Last friday during a press conference with germanys chancellor angela merkel, the president said, quote, germany has done an incredible job training the employees and future employees and employing its manufacturing and industrial workforce. Its crucial that we provide our American Worker<\/a>s with a really great employment outlook, unquote. In this case, i completely agree with the president. I see im getting down in my time. So lets just kind of review that what we talked about. Will you, if youre confirmed, work with me on making sure that we follow some of germanys kind of, and switzerlands models, and that we do focus and weve talked about some of the funding cuts, but will you work with me to make sure that we have a robust plan to train our workers for the jobs of the present and the future . We discussed it during our meeting, and i will recommit to working with you on that, yes. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thanks, senator franken. Well have a time for a second round if you want to follow that up. Senator paul . Congratulations, mr. Costa on your nomination. As you know, were in a big, Huge National<\/a> debate over what to do with health care, how to fix health care, and there is an aspect of it that may cross your desk and that you could participate in. The chairman and others have mentioned how really the base problem we have is in the individual markets. About 11 Million People<\/a>, 10 or 20 million more that might get individual market. The problem with the individual market, its a crummy place to be. Youre by yourself, if you get sick, youre worried about prices rising et cetera. Its better to be in a group plan, which gets to the department of labor. The department of labor gets to approve, lets see if i can quote it here, whether a health association, qualify as a health plan under single large cap. And the definition is, they have to be bound together by a commonality of interest. I would think that gives a significant degree upon latitude, i havent read the whole statute, but my encouraging is to get involved with this. Imagine this. Imagine the aarp, which has over 30 million members, what if they formed a health association, and they had one person negotiating with the insurance company. All of a sudden, its 33 Million People<\/a> negotiating, instead of you and your wife. So this could really change the whole insurance market. It might be changed simply by something someone at the department of labor say that everybody in the aarp has a commonality of interests. This is one of those things where the law might not even need to be changed, but we could expand Health Associations<\/a> by having someone there say, what a great idea this would be. So i wanted to bring it to your attention. I dont expect you to have a fullblown answer on this, but i would love it if you would assign someone to look into it and really within a month of being approved, i hope somebody can come back to us and talk to my office and anybody else interested, about how we can expand the Health Associations<\/a> and maybe announce it, so everybody knows. There are state associations, many of them, like i was at the chamber recently and they have 2,000 members. But id like to see all of the chambers in the whole country get one buying representative, and then you have this enormous leverage. Its a whole gamechanger in the marketplace. And theres no mandate, theres no law, theres no subsidies, theres nothing other than enabling people to organize, similar to what labor did. When labor wanted to organize to have leverage against management, they organized. Consumers ought to be able to organize, and anything we can do to help that i would appreciate it. If youd like to make a comment, that would be great too. Senator, let me just agree to commit to the that and i think the timeline of 30 days is very reasonable. Im done. Thanks, senator paul. Now, we have time for additional questions if youd like to. Senator ensy, do you have any additional questions . I dont. Senator murray . I do, thank you very much. Mr. Acosta, thank you. Women in this country earn about 80 cents on the dollar of what men earn, resulting in a gap of nearly 10,470 each year. This is true actually across professions, ages, and education levels. And the gap in pay is far worse for women of color. The marketplace alone will not fix this problem. Do you believe there is a pay gap, and if so, do you agree that it hurts women and families . Senator, i have seen data that reflects the statement that you made, and to the extent that that pay gap is there, it shouldnt be. What steps, if youre confirmed, will you take as labor secretary to address that pay discrimination . Well, senator, certainly gender discrimination, which includes pay discrimination, should not occur. I know that theres a womens bureau within the department of labor, and i certainly would, as a first instance, consult them and charge them with looking at this issue. Will you commit to maintaining a budget for that womens bureau . Senator, ultimately, i make recommendations as to the budget. The recommendations go to omb. Ultimately, they are issued by the president and decided by this congress. So i cannot make a commitment as to what the budget may or may not look like at the end of the day. I can only talk to my own, you know, my own views and recommendations. And i so do you find do you think it should be a priority . I certainly do think its important to have as secretary, will you fight for the keeping that, or i think its important to have an office within the department of labor that focuses on womens issues. I know theres a lot of focus on Women Entrepreneurship<\/a> as well thats very important. And i am happy to look at that closely and try to make sure that that is available. Will that be a priority for you . So, senator, i can certainly say, i hesitate with the word priority, because if everything becomes a priority, then things are no longer priorities. And so i can certainly say it is a priority. I think that, that we talk about Small Businesses<\/a>. And, and, you know, women running Small Business<\/a> systes i great thing, and thats something that the department of labor should focus on and encourage. Okay. And so certainly i can say that that would be a priority. I appreciate that. I worry because your answer was, you know, you look at it, you make recommendations. Then omb, all this. But either you as secretary say this is a priority for me or not. So im happy to say its a priority. I believe, i believe in a unitary executive, and so i dont think any cabinet secretary can make commitments, because ultimately we have a boss. Just, i know. Well, yeah, thats what worries me. So i would just say that you answered that by saying you would go to the womens bureau to give you advice on this. So if its not there, thats going to be a problem. Let me go to another question. Its one about an issue that happened in 2004, and i want to go back and have a chance to answer this, because just days before the president ial election back in 2004, you made a controversial decision to weigh in on an ohio case about Voting Rights<\/a> and access. That was a departure from Standard Practice<\/a> of the department of justice, so close to an election, and you wrote to an ohio judge, saying that laws like ohios, which allowed one voter to challenge another, helped Election Officials<\/a> enforce the law. At the time you sent the letter, the Ohio Republican<\/a> party had announced plans to use the law to place 3,500 challengers in polling places around the state, on election day. Experts testified a disproportionate number of challengers were to be placed in predominantly African American<\/a> precincts. You wrote the letter, even though the Justice Department<\/a> had no role in this case. The Justice Department<\/a> was not a party to the case, and it had not filed a motion to intervene. Mr. Acosta, you involved the department of justice in a case in which it had no role, days before an election, and with full knowledge that the law was going to be used to mount challenges in ways that suppress the vote of African American<\/a>s in a state where the electoral outcome determined the outcome of the election. I wanted to ask you if you regret the decision to send that letter in 2004. Mr. Acosta, the time is up, but you may take whatever time you need to answer the question. Um, senator, let me, um, let me first start by, um sorry, i should have brought glasses. Um,um, theres a sentence that is very important from that letter. And you paraphrased it. Thus a challenge statute permitting objections based on United States<\/a> citizenship, residency and legal voting age, like those at issue here are not subject to facial, as opposed to as applied challenges under the act because these qualifications are not tied to race. And i would say, first, we provided amicus information, in part because the ohio statute, as i recall, did not have a provisional voting requirement. And early on in the letter, we say if youre going to have a challenge statute, you need to have a provisional voting requirement under hava, which was enacted by this congress, the first major election where hava came into play. But secondly, i read that sentence because that sentence was put there with intentionality. And it was put there to make clear that we were not weighing in on how this was being applied in ohio. We were not taking a position on what was being done in ohio specifically. And so it was on its face, these are permitted, but were not taking a position as applied. And so we did not take a position as to how this was being applied in ohio. Okay, that was a very legal question legal answer to a question. In your own words, do you regret sending that letter . Senator, as an attorney for the department of justice, sometimes you have to do things that are unpopular but are legally correct. The letter is legally correct. I wish the letter was not interpreted the way its interpreted. But the letter is legally and substantively correct. And sometimes lawyers have to do what is legally correct. Okay, well, im way over my time, but let me just finish by saying, as secretary of labor, i want to know if you will and you dont have to answer, its just a concern i have, bow to political pressure, from which i have seen under this Trump Administration<\/a>, a tremendous amount of political pressure. And youll have to stand up for workers, and thats why i raise this issue and others, because that will be your job. May i answer . Mr. Chairman . Yes. So, senator, ive heard that and ive heard that concern a lot, and let me say this. Im a lawyer. Ive been a prosecutor. I have prosecuted ubs, the international bank, and as a result of that prosecution, they changed swiss law. Ive prosecuted major drug cartels for 200,000 kilos, the heads of major drug cartelsfor200,000 kilos. I have been in Public Service<\/a> the better part of my professional career, and weve se and ive seen pressure and i dont for a second believe that senior officials would or should bow to inappropriate pressure. We work for the president. He is our boss. And so all cabinet officials as i believe, in preparation for this hearing, i watched secretary chaos hearing and she made the point that we all work for the president and we all will ultimately follow his direction, unless we feel that we cant. If we cant, then we resign. And thats our choice. Thank you. Thank you, senator murray. Senator ensy . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I didnt have any questions, but senator murray stepped on a nerve that im very sensitive to, and thats the disparity in womens pay. Im interested in the disparity of anybodys pay and know that theres a federal law that says if youre doing the same job in the same company, that youre supposed to be getting the same pay. And as i travel around wyoming, i explain to people that if theyre not in those circumstances, getting paid the same amount, let me know and i will help them take it to court. Now, on the other hand, if i have a female engineer working for a coal company, making a lot of money, and the guy that runs the meal room makes a lot less money, he doesnt have a case. Thats a different job. What we have to do is get people moving up the ladder to where theyre getting paid what they ought to be getting paid. And in this hearing room, one of my favorite hearings was a young lady that wanted to try something nontraditional, and she became a brick mason. And when she started as a brick mason, she got to do, you know, pavers out on yards and in courtyards and things like that. But after she had done that for a while, she got to Start Building<\/a> some of the fountains in new york city. And she was so prolific at it, that she got to hang the marble on the outside of skyscrapers. Now, i asked her what her job progression had been through these different things, and i can tell you that hanging marble in multiple stories pays a lot better than a United States<\/a> senator. Thats what we want to have for people. In wyoming, we have something called climb wyoming, and its for single moms who want to get into a nontypical job. And in gillette, the two jobs, in my hometown, the jobs theyre trained for, is, a warehouse supervisor, or a truck driver. And they are amazing people that pick up these skills, and then make more money than some of the men in our community. But i got to speak at one of their graduations and it was for the truck drivers, and i was amazed at how much they can make, even if they can because of their family, they can only work around town. I think they start at 18 an hour just around town. If they were able to make day trips out and back, and comply with the needs of their family, it went to 25. And if they were really to take Long Distance<\/a> trips, it really went up. When i was at the graduation for them, i said, you can do something that i cant do. They said what . I said, back up a semi trailer. Thats one of the requirements for it. And they can do that. Women have more concentration than men do. They have more multi tasking than men do. And so consequently, we ought to be encouraging them into the markets where they make more than the men do. And thats one of the things that i think you can encourage through job corps and the other training sessions and i hope youll do that, and im asking if you will. Fair enough, senator, yes. Thank you. Thank you, senator ensy. Well go to senator cane. Thank you, mr. Chair. And dean, i would like to close the loop on the previous discussion on the question about the bureau of labor statistics. Yes. I asked you whether the agreement not to prosecute federally in an exchange for agreement on other matters was something that was a consensus within your office and i think your testimony was that it was the generally held position of your office. And im not ive not been a prosecutor although i practice law broadly held. Broadly held position in the office. Thank you. I want to just read this. In 2007, acosta signed a nonprosecution deal in which he agreed not to pursue federal charges against absteen or four women who the government said procured girls for him. In exchange, absteen agreed to plead guilty to a solicitation charge in court, accept a 13month sentence, register as a sex offender and pay restitution to the am victims identified in the federal investigation. Quote, this agreement will not be made part of any Public Record<\/a>. The deal between absteen and acosta says. What is the reason why a deal of this kind has the specification, that it will not be made part of any Public Record<\/a> . Senator, i wish i could respond to that. Youre asking for deliberate im i hesitate not because of concerns, but because this is a matter thats pending litigation. Let me try to answer your question. If you can answer it generally. In a different way. There are times when in negotiating an outcome, there are agreements that are made that are ancillary, and so what we sought and what we presented at the very beginning was two years, plus registration, plus individuals being able to victims being able to seek restitution. What was obtained was 18 months, plus registration, plus individuals being able to this says 13 months. Correct. The agreement called for 18 months. As it was applied by the state of florida, it ended up being 13 months, which is a separate issue. And so ultimately there were other provisions that are part of that. And that is part of the giveandtake of a negotiation. And i understand your concerns, since the matter is still pending, but as a general matter, if something is allowed to be part of the Public Record<\/a>, then more people become aware of it. In this case there were allegations that i guess eventually more than three dozen women had been victimized by the individual. If something is allowed to be public, it informs the public, and provides opportunities for people, if something is not is prohibited from being part of any Public Record<\/a>. It has a way of making it more difficult for people to bring forward claims, isnt that accurate . Senator, something that i think has changed over time is trust of government. And i think that thats relevant to the issue that you raised, because there was a time when keeping something when having something confidential was less of an issue, but the public expectation today is that things be very public. And if there is something that i have learned, or thought about is how careful someone should be when something is not made public. Because often a very positive outcome, again, not talking about this case, but generally, a very positive outcome can become a negative outcome not because of a change in the underlying substance, but because by something not looking public, it is looked at with suspicion. This is a question, the u. S. Attorney position is a position of great power. And youre dealing with a lot of people who are in very vulnerable positions. The secretary of labor position is a position of great power. Youll also be responsible for situations when there are a lot of vulnerable people. Thats why ive been asking these questions. During the campaign, President Trump<\/a> often ridiculed the bls unemployment numbers, calling them, quote, phony, or, quote, a hoax. Will you commit to keeping the bureau of labor and statistics independent and maintain and defend the integrity of its conclusions and data . Senator, ill answer your question, but if i could circle back, i just want to make one final point. At the end of this case, i received a telephone call from the special agent in charge of the fbi, who had been part of this entire process, and had been at the meetings and had been involved. And he called to just say, congratulations. This was really hard fought and well won. And i say that, because this really was a point of pride. And there was a New York Times<\/a> article that was written concurrent to this that said, but then the United States<\/a> Office Attorneys<\/a> office became involved. Last summer, initially the epstein team was elated that mr. Epstein would avoid prison. Mr. Epstein got an ultimatum, register as a sex offender or the government would charge him with sexual tourism. You are aware that mr. Epstein served that 13 months, he was allowed out during the day, and he had to sleep at a county jail, but he was basically allowed to move and go around the community and do whatever he wants, and that became a subject of significant criticism. I am on record condemning that. That was awful. You would say that was a problem with the way the state administered the state sentence . Yes. I think it was wrong. How about on the bureau of on the bureau of labor statistics. The bureau of laborer statistics has kept statistics for decades. It has a procedure, its a transparent procedure, that makes clear how they calculate, that publishes for Public Comment<\/a> for any changes that may take place. I think that procedure is very important, because bls keeps data that is used not just for today, but for the future. I think that that process is very important. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thanks, senator kaine. Senator warren . Thanks, mr. Chairman. Mr. Acosta, so far you have refused to answer my questions, to review pending regulations. Im not asking you how you will respond to President Trump<\/a>s executive order, im asking you about what your priorities will be if youre confirmed as secretary of labor. Youll be called on for your judgment. And hardworking americans want to know what your values are. What it is that you prioritize. And so far, youve said you cant commit to enforcing a rule to protect 2. 3 million americans from exposure to lethal cancercausing silica, and you wont commit to appeal an injunction to the Labor Department<\/a>s overtime rule that would give 4. 2 million americans a 1. 5 billion raise in a single year. So let me try a third one. Lets see if youll protect workers, saving for their retirements, from Financial Advisers<\/a> who would cheat them. On april 10th, the Labor Department<\/a> rule is set to go into effect that will require advisers to recommend retirement products that are in the customers best interests, instead of products that give the advisers the highest commissions orphans iest prizes. The conflicts of interest now cost americans 17 billion every year. President trump has said he is currently working on a 60day delay of the april 10th implementation date. If you are confirmed before this delay is finalized, will you promise to stop it . Senator, there is an executive action that addresses with specificity the fiduciary rule. And it has asked the department of labor to look at the rule, and to assess specific questions. Will the rule reduce the Investment Options<\/a> available to investors, i believe is one of them. Will the rule increase litigation. Will the rule financially impact retiree investors. And the executive action, as i recall, directs the secretary of labor and the department of labor to repeal or revise the fiduciary rule if any of the criteria laid out in that executive order is found. And so that criteria really regulates and determines the department of labors approach to the fiduciary rule. Thats the question im asking you. We know, for example, that a 60day delay is estimated to cost americans about 3. 7 billion. That theyre just going to get cheated out of by unscrupulous retirement counselors. Thats money theyll never get back. That is gone to them. So thats the question im trying to ask. About where your values lie. How you see what this retirement rule does. How committed you are to protecting the american investor here. And retirees so they have a chance to retire with some dignity. So, senator, i dont have access to the specific numbers that you have. But if the question is, do i think its important to protect the american retiree, absolutely. And i understand that particularly with the demographic changes that were seeing, retirees are shifting from 401 k s to i. R. A. S. And the protections under i. R. A. S let me stop you there. You think its important to protect because the chairman rightly will catch me for being over time. You think its important to protect retirees. I think its important to protect retirees. Weve got a rule here that will protect retirees, documented to the terms of 17 billion a year. So i just want to know, generally, do you support this rule . Do you think this rules a good idea . Senator, with respect, the rule goes far beyond simply addressing the standard of conduct that investors how does it go beyond addressing the standard of conduct of Investment Advisers<\/a> . Ive read this rule. This is about the standard of conduct. It says the standard of conduct is, an Investment Adviser<\/a> can no longer recommend products that are going to earn a whole lot more money for the Investment Adviser<\/a> at the cost of giving a worse product to the person the retiree, the investor. Thats all its about. That is what its about, is that conduct. Thats the question im asking. On behalf of millions of retirees around this country. Do you support this rule . Senator, with respect, there is an executive action that directs how the department of labor will approach this rule. If im confirmed as secretary of labor, i believe, and support my following executive orders of the president who would be my boss. You know, i have to say, mr. Acosta, this has really been frustrating. You have dodged every one of my questions. None of these were trick questions. I asked you exactly these questions when you were in my office two weeks ago. And you said in all three cases not that you would hide behind an executive order from trump, you said you would get the answers to these. Now, i understand that you may not want to answer my questions. But there are about 150 million American Worker<\/a>s who are pretty interested in the answers to these questions. These are questions that determine whether or not they can go to work every day without worrying about getting lung cancer at their workplace, whether theyre going to be paid fairly for the work when they have so theyll have enough money to put food on the table and send their kids to college. And whether after a lifetime of back breaking work, theyre going to have a chance to retire with some dignity. If you cant give me straight answers on your views on this, not hide behind an executive order, but your views on this, and commit to stand up for workers on these obvious and very important issues, then i dont have any confidence youre the right person for this job. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And mr. Acosta, well go to senator murray. I wouldnt have any confidence in you having the job if you did answer the questions. I think the fiduciary deprives millions of americans of an opportunity for advice. We have a different point of view. And ill ask you this question, have you been asked have you been directed by the president should you be confirmed to review regulations once youre secretary of labor . Senator, i have been directed pursuant to the executive action. Are you the secretary of labor yet . I am not, sir, no. Would it be presumptuous of you to announce i wonder how many regulations you may be reviewing as a result of that direction. Do you have any idea . Senator, i do not, because i havent spoken to individuals of the department of labor about that issue, because im not yet confirmed. But under the fiduciary rule, youve got specific directions about how to conduct the review, should you be confirmed . That is correct. So if you are confirmed, you will conduct a review, according to the directions of the president of the United States<\/a>, and then youll try to deliver a fair opinion, is that correct . That is correct. I might not like it, and the senator from massachusetts might not like it, i hope she doesnt like it, because i hope you come down to the side that i am. But i think its thoroughly r m reasonable for you to review a regulation according to the director according to the president of the United States<\/a> direction after youre secretary of labor. Thats my own opinion. Senator murray . Mr. Chairman, let me just say that i think its critical that workers do have a true advocate in the department of labor, secretary of labor. I know i have some questions, i know some of my other colleagues do as well. I hope we get clear, thorough responses on that. And mr. Chairman, i do want to ask unanimous consent to enter 15 letters from 105 organizations expressing concerns with mr. Acostas nomination to lead the department of labor into the record. They will be included. And i will ask consent to introduce 19 letters of support [ laughter ] does that mean i trumped you . 19 letters of support representing 85 groups, business groups, including some labor unions, in support of your nomination. I think weve had a good thorough opportunity to ask questions. Are there further questions . Senator kaine . Senator murray . I have one question, and then well conclude the hearing. Thank you for being here. I talked at the very beginning about the about Tom Friedmans<\/a> book, which i found really very good, in trying to capture a lot of the conditions that probably surrounded the last election, which is the headspinning acceleration of so many different forces, especially causing American Worker<\/a>s to not be able to fit into the workplace. One area where American Worker<\/a>s are still able to fit into the workplace is with the our franchisees. There are hundreds of thousands. I think the number is about 700,000 americans who have franchises. In other words, they have an opportunity to take a Restaurant Franchise<\/a> or some other franchise and typically they work 12 hours a day for many years, and often its a family working that long for many years. Its a way you can still live in your own community and work in your own community and be reasonably independent and move your way into the middle class. Now, in my way of thinking, the administrations, the prior administrati administrations join employer definition established by the National Labor<\/a> relations board, begins to upend the whole concept of franchising, and to threaten it. Making it more likely that a Large Company<\/a> would decide not to end franchises, but own all the stores itself. Restaurant company that had 800 restaurants, for example, instead of having 700 franchises might just say, under the broad definition, thats in the nlrb, and that seems to be spreading into the department of labor, it makes more sense for the Parent Company<\/a> to own it, depriving hundreds of thousands of americans a chance to be a franchise owner. Let me ask you these questions. In order to be treated as the employer of an employee, shouldnt a business person have direct and immediate control over an employee . That is one of the traditional criteria, senator. Do you believe that indirect control, or even unexercised potential to control working conditions could make a franchiseor and a franchisee joint employers . That would be an untraditional approach. Do you think that the person who hires, fires, pays, sets work hours, and issues directions to employees should be considered the employer . Im sorry, that hires, fires hires, fires, pays, sets work hours and issues directions to employees should be considered the employer . Yes, that is the usual approach, senator. Thank you, mr. Acosta, for your patience, and for your answers. And for your willingness to subject yourself to a confirmation session. I think all in all, it went very well. And i think part of the reason may be your experience, the fact that youve been before the United States<\/a> senate three times, nominated by president of the United States<\/a>, and youve been confirmed by the senate. I have no doubt that you will be this time. I look forward to working with you as the secretary of americas work force at a time when Many Americans<\/a> are trying to find a way to fit into work, and hopefully working together with congress, we can make that easier. This committee has a broad array of views, but many times in the past, very important times, weve been able to take our differences of opinion and come to a consensus, such as our law to fix no child left behind, which president obama called a christmas miracle, that the act that passed last year that senator mcconnell called the most important bill of the last congress. So maybe some of the most important work we can do during the next couple of years would have to do with helping the American Work<\/a> force adjust to the headspinning conditions in which we all find ourselves, and fit more easily into the workpla workplace. I know thats a concern of the senator from virginia. Hes talked many times about that. Both of us used to be governors. We understand that most of that work much of that work has to be done, as you said in your response to the senator from maine, we have to understand what its like in culpepper and nashville, before we issue orders from here. But nevertheless, we can have a National Interest<\/a> in it. If the senators wish to ask additional questions of our nominee, questions for the record are due by the close of business tomorrow, march 23rd. For all other matters, the hearing record will remain open for ten days. Members will be may submit Additional Information<\/a> for the record within that time. Thank you very much for being here today. The committee will stand adjourned. Thank you for the courtesy. Senator, do you think it is the comes job to set the overtime pay . I havent thought about that, frankly. He raised the question of whether the secretarys authorized. Ill have to look into that. All i know is that doubling it in one feld swoop is an unrealistic jump that causes millions of people to punch a time clock, costs jobs, raises College Tuition<\/a>, fires boy scout counselors. It is a ridiculous legislation. They need to have a sensible approach to the overtime rule. I would hope that would be the kind of approach that the secretary would take. If the threshold is increased but not lower doubled to a lower amount, is that something the republicans would oppose . Senator king and i introduc d ed legislation that had a less onerous process. You can have overtime issues without such a radical step that seems to have no understanding of what was going in the workplace. Senator alexander, can you speak briefly about a Health Care Bill<\/a> f that gets through this week, what may lie ahead . Would you try to work with that bill, start a new bill . Were already working with it. For the last six weeks, weve been working with the house committee. Theyve accepted a number of suggestions from senators to try to make the bill as good as it can be, as it moves through the house. The house process. This is a reconciliation bill. And, you know, the Affordable Care<\/a> act itself passed on two tracks. One was the 60vote track, which had a lot of hearings. In 2009. One was the reconciliation track in 2010, which took eight days. So already the reconciliation track here is much more extensive than it was when the Affordable Care<\/a> act was passed. So well continue to try to help the house make its bill as good as it can, and then when we see what they produce, well let senator mcconnell decide where we go from there. Weve got to get to lunch. Do you think the same Political Forces<\/a> will be at work between and among republicans on this side, as they have been on the other side . You know, conservatives wanting one thing and moderates wanting Something Else<\/a> . There are differences of opinion. I think its been weve been discussing it six years. Weve been working on it three months. So by now, i think we pretty well know the issues and differences of opinion. And many of the issues that are issues on the house side are issues on the senate side. Thank you all. Thanks so much. This weekend on American History<\/a> tv on cspan3, this saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, on lectures in history, Shepherd University<\/a> professor ben ja man bankhurst, americans living in appalachian, and how theyve changed over time. Far from the ruthless inbred savages, the mountaineer had a, quote, the unselfish xhmanner o the wellbred. Senior curator leads a tour of the National World<\/a> war i museum and memorial in kansas city, missouri. Probably one of the most famous africanamerican units during the war was the 369th infantry regiment. They were known as the harlem hell fighters. They were fighting along the maurn river and established the reputation there as incredible fighters. At 6 30, the National Constitution<\/a> centers president and ceo Jeffrey Rosen<\/a> and historians talk about prohibition, the reasons for the movement and its repeal. They had a year to kind of reorient. And, of course, amazingly, because of the way the amendment was written, you could purchase as much alcohol as you wanted, in that year before, and you could store it. So they did very good sales leading up to prohibition. And a lot of basements became very full. And at 8 00 on the presidency, former Nixon Administration<\/a> officials discussing the 37th president s postwhite house years. He said it in the east room speech. Its only a beginning always. That this was this whole postpresident ial period is an exemplar of the nixon resilience and spirit and discipline and dedication and patriotism. For our complete American History<\/a> tv schedule, go to cspan. Org. Saturday, book tv is live from the 23rd annual virginia festival of the book in charlottesville. Our programming schedule includes a Panel Discussion<\/a> on the english language with allen metcalf, author from ski dad dl to selfie. And author of going to hell in a hand basket. That is followed by a panel on nuclear war at noon with author susan southerd and her book nagasaki. And dan zach, author of almighty. And a discussion on civil protests with howard means, author of 67 shots. And robert pratt. That will be followed by a Panel Discussion<\/a> at 4 00 p. M. With mark fisher and Michael Kranish<\/a> and their book trump revealed. Frank saysno, author of ask more. And april ryan, writer of the presidency in black and white. Watch the 23rd annual virginia festival of the book live, on saturday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2s book tv. The National Association<\/a> for a business economics held their annual policy conference in washington, d. C. This onehour portion features presentations from two economists and a discussion on productivity over the last two decades, as well as the prospects for growth into the future. Good afternoon. Welcome to a session of where were talking about productivity. I dont think we could have gotten a better advertisement for our sessions. Today its important. And its not important just for income growth, but expansion of markets. 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