[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 156 (Thursday, September 26, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5724-S5725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Eugene Scalia

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to speak on the nomination, which 
will occur before the Senate shortly, of Eugene Scalia as Secretary of 
Labor.
  I think it is important to say that as President Trump continues 
relentlessly pursuing his anti-worker agenda, now, more than ever, we 
need a Secretary of Labor who will stand up to the President and stand 
with working families, not someone like Scalia, who is an elite 
corporate lawyer, who has made his career fighting for the biggest 
corporations and against workers. We need someone who will fight for 
strong health and safety protections, not someone who has crusaded to 
strike them down. We need someone who will hold companies accountable, 
not someone who used his last position in the Department of Labor to 
undermine whistleblower protections and fought to get his corporate 
clients off the hook for workplace harassment and discrimination 
against workers with disabilities.
  We need someone who will fight for workers' economic security, not 
someone who helped companies get away with stealing their workers' 
wages and denying overtime pay. We don't need someone who avoids 
committing to support our efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an 
hour and close the pay gap and, certainly, not someone who costs 
working families billions of dollars by fighting to strike down a 
crucial rule that made sure they could get retirement advice that was 
in their best interest.
  We need a Secretary of Labor, not a secretary of corporate interests. 
Yet at our confirmation hearing last week, Scalia made very clear that 
is exactly what he would be by dodging taking a stand for workers and 
deferring to President Trump's anti-worker agenda.
  I have been deeply concerned about his awful record since day one. I 
strongly oppose his nomination. I urge my colleagues to do the same. 
Everyone needs to take a long, hard look at who Mr. Scalia fights for 
and who he does not and think carefully about the message their vote 
will send to working families in our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I have 
seen 2\1/2\ years of a betrayal of American workers from this White 
House, this government, this Senate, and the President of the United 
States. The White House looks like a retreat for Wall Street 
executives, except on the days it looks like a retreat for insurance 
executives, except for the days it looks like a retreat for drug 
company executives.
  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but a few weeks ago, when we saw 
the nomination of Eugene Scalia to be Secretary of Labor, it just 
underscored again the betrayal of American workers by this government 
and by this President.
  Eugene Scalia is the President's nominee to serve as Secretary of 
Labor. His job as Secretary of Labor is to represent workers, to 
advocate for workers, and to fight for workers--not to advocate for 
corporations, not to sell out to special interests, but to side with 
American workers. Yet all you have to do is look at his job. The 
President has sent us a corporate lawyer who has fought over and over 
to stop workplace protections, to undermine worker safety, and to cut 
and depress workers' wages over and over again.
  Mr. Scalia, as an elitist, multimillion-dollar corporate lawyer, has 
repeatedly defended companies against whistleblowers. He defended 
Walmart against its workers. And he is nominated to be Secretary of 
Labor?
  He defended a corporation against 30 women who had been sexually 
harassed at assembly plants. And he is going to be the Secretary of 
Labor?
  He defended other corporations against workers with disabilities 
after the companies violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. And 
he is going to be Secretary of Labor?
  Over and over, he fought to help the most powerful corporations 
against workers, asking the courts to put their thumb on the scales of 
justice, to choose corporations over workers, to choose Wall Street 
over consumers, and to choose health insurance companies over patients. 
He has always come down on the side of corporate interests, of special 
interests, and in the end, always betrayed workers. And he is the 
President's nominee to be Secretary of Labor?
  He has defended union-busting corporations. Boeing has been rabid in 
its anti-union coercion. Scalia worked for them, advocated for them in 
their never-ending quest to stop workers from having a voice in their 
company. And he is going to be the President's Secretary of Labor?
  What Mr. Scalia doesn't understand and what President Trump doesn't 
understand is that you can't say--let me back up for a second. The 
President loves to say that he supports this, that he is for workers, 
that workers are his friends, and that he is a friend to workers. He 
loves saying that, but what he doesn't understand is that you can't 
support workers individually without supporting workers collectively. 
You can't support workers individually without supporting workers 
collectively. You can't support workers if you attack unions.
  We know what unions have brought to this country. Ever since the 
generally rapid decline of trade unionism, we have seen wages flatten, 
we have seen benefits cut, and we have seen retirements taken away from 
workers. You know, when people can organize and bargain collectively, 
they have higher wages, they have better healthcare, and they have a 
retirement system.
  You can't support workers if you attack unions like Mr. Scalia has 
done. We need a Secretary of Labor who will actually fight for labor. 
It is not called the secretary of corporate interests or the secretary 
of special interests; it is called the Secretary of Labor. You are 
supposed to honor work and respect work. We need a Secretary of Labor 
who will fight for labor, not fight for corporate interests.
  It comes down to whose side you are on. Are you on the corporations' 
side, or are you on American workers' side? Do you fight for Wall 
Street wealth, or do you fight for the dignity of work?

[[Page S5725]]

The President promised to fight for American workers. If you love your 
country, you fight for workers. Instead, this President has betrayed 
them over and over again. The nomination of Eugene Scalia to be 
Secretary of Labor is the biggest betrayal of them all.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.