Senate Panel to Consider Su's Labor Secretary Nomination Thursday

“Despite offering dates that provided you with between nearly one month and nearly two months to prepare, we understand that you do not plan to make yourself available to the Committee before June — nearly halfway through the First Session of the 118th Congress,” Foxx told Su. “This is unacceptable, and it is an undue delay preventing the Committee from conducting its oversight work.”

Foxx stated that during Su’s tenure as deputy secretary and as acting secretary, Labor “has demonstrated a lack of respect for inquiries made by Congress.”

Stated Foxx: “Not only are you seeking to be the next Secretary of Labor, but you have also held a senior leadership role at the Department since July 2021. During that time, DOL has pursued a destructive agenda that stifled economic growth with more regulations and red tape, produced fewer results for workers and employers, and ballooned costs at the expense of the American taxpayer.”

The HELP subcommittee on workforce protections is holding a hearing Wednesday morning, titled “Examining Biden’s War on Independent Contractors,” to discuss Labor’s independent contractor rule, which the department is expected to finalize in May.

Su has been criticized for her work on Assembly Bill 5 as the former head of California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement; that bill “removed the flexibility of individuals to work as independent contractors,” according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the ranking member of the HELP Committee.

“AB 5 is so flawed, that California voters supported Prop 22 by a vote of nearly 59 percent to provide an exemption for rideshare drivers,” Cassidy has said. “A legal challenge to Prop 22 currently awaits a court opinion in California.”