[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 66 (Thursday, April 20, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1276-S1277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF JULIE A. SU

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, well, the Biden administration's 
reckless economic policies have hurt American workers and families 
right from the beginning. Right from the start of their one-party 
government, Democrats used party-line votes to light trillions--
trillions--of dollars on fire and supercharge inflation that is still 
hammering the country right up to the present.
  After 2 years of reckless policies and human pain, the American 
people voted for checks and balances. They

[[Page S1277]]

elected a Republican House and a narrowly divided Senate to literally 
pump the brakes on this radicalism. But there is an old saying in 
Washington that ``personnel is policy.'' So while the American people 
put a stop to reckless legislation last November, President Biden 
continues to send reckless nominations to the Senate. They want to 
accomplish through Big Government regulations what the voters have 
stopped them from doing here in Congress.
  This morning, for example, the HELP Committee is hearing from Julie 
Su, President Biden's nominee to run the Department of Labor. Ms. Su 
has a lengthy track record for all--all--the wrong reasons.
  Before entering the Biden administration, she presided over a 
disaster as head of the State labor department out in California. Tens 
of billions of dollars in fraudulent payments went out the door on her 
watch. The State auditor found Ms. Su and her department were totally 
asleep--totally asleep--at the switch on antifraud efforts. Even the 
Los Angeles Times had to label her performance--listen to this--an 
``epic failure.''
  Our supply chains are already in enough peril, due in part to high-
stakes labor negotiations. Think about the negotiations to keep open 
the ports on the west coast. Think about the ripple effects. Our 
national economy cannot afford a track record of ``epic failure'' 
leading our Department of Labor.
  She also supported and helped implement a controversial new 
California law that essentially--listen to this--declared war on 
independent contractors and tried to give Big Labor special interests 
veto power over the entire gig economy. In essence, these far-left 
Democrats want every ride-share driver, hairdresser, or personal 
trainer to be reclassified and handled more like a corporate employee, 
all so that part of their paychecks could be vacuumed up and donated to 
leftwing political causes.
  The same partisan inflexibility has defined Ms. Su's time here in 
Washington as Deputy Secretary of Labor on the national level. From the 
powerful No. 2 job, she helped President Biden try to force that 
California model into our entire economy, a giant gift for Big Labor 
bosses at the expense of workers and consumers alike. She also signaled 
that she wants to help lead the far left's crusade against the current 
joint-employer rule, yet another effort to give big-money union bosses 
even more power to squash innovation and skim money from workers' 
paychecks.
  What they can't get through legislation, they fully intend to push 
forward through regulations. So it is no wonder that an unending parade 
of small business leaders, independent contractors, and other job 
creators have written the Senate literally begging us--begging us--to 
demand a fairer and more mainstream Labor Secretary. Confirming this 
nominee would compound the economic pain the Biden administration has 
already caused.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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