Don’t Allow Biden’s Labor Pick Julie Su to ‘Fail Up’ Again

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Kevin Kiley, both from California, have an op ed Wednesday at  Fox News about the Golden State being “let down by the very leaders trusted to govern it…” namely former California Labor and Workforce Development Agency Secretary Julie Su.

This “let down” is exemplified by President Biden’s nomination of Julie Su to be the next United States Secretary of Labor.

“What’s even more alarming is that several of these leaders are now taking Sacramento-style mismanagement to the national level. And the latest example may be the most concerning yet,” McCarthy and Kiley said.

Rep. Kiley was in Sacramento in March to speak at a State Capitol rally in opposition to Su’s nomination.

Kiley said in his open that while California Gov. Gavin Newsom claims the state leads the nation in just about everything, approving Julie Su’s confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Labor would only make California’s problems the nations’ problems.

“As Chair of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, I am urging President Biden in the strongest terms to immediately withdraw Julie Su’s nomination,” Rep. Kiley said. “To say that Su failed in her previous role as Labor Secretary in California’s Labor Department is an extreme understatement. The amount of suffering Su’s Labor Department inflicted on my constituents and millions of Californians should entirely disqualify Su from consideration.”

The Globe has been reporting for several years on the horrific fraud in California’s unemployment agency, the Orwellian-named “Employment Development Department,” prior to the state Covid lockdowns, as well as during the pandemic, when Californians most needed unemployment insurance.

“During the pandemic, Julie Su and her Employment Development Department (EDD) became the national poster child for government failure,” McCarthy and Kiley said in their op ed. “Su’s department notoriously paid $32.6 billion in fraudulent unemployment benefits to scammers using names like John Doe and Dianne Feinstein. It was the largest case of fraud in California history, enabled by Su’s inexplicable decision to forgo basic fraud prevention measures like cross-checking benefit claims against the prison rolls. The consequences are now clear to see – both Sacramento and Washington project billions of dollars in deficits this fiscal year, requiring hard choices between different programs that could have been avoided if Su’s department took proper care of taxpayer funds.”

Overseeing the EDD was then-Labor and Workforce Development Agency Secretary Julie Su, who confirmed that in 2020, fraudsters stole at least $11.4 billion in unemployment benefits from California (at that time), the Globe reported. It’s now over $32.6 billion in fraudulent UE benefits. And 800,000 unemployment claims were paid late, along with 12.7 million delayed eligibility determinations.

But what led to the $32.6 billion in fraudulent claims was when Secretary Julie Su made the decision to suspend most EDD eligibility requirements, according to an audit by the California State Auditor. It was only federal oversight which caught this and notified the EDD that they could not suspend eligibility requirements.

Speaker McCarthy and Rep. Kiley continue:

As U.S. Secretary of Labor, Su would be bound by the Department’s mission statement: to “foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners and ensure work-related benefits.” Given her abysmal track record in California, it’s clear that a promotion to the nation’s top labor office would be a disservice to the American people.

And the EDD debacle is not all Julie Su is known for. She infamously put union bosses before workers as an architect of AB 5, a law that destroyed countless livelihoods in California. Worse, she is pushing a national version known as the PRO Act, which like AB 5, forces independent workers to either give up their independence and work as someone else’s employee or stop working altogether. Thankfully, the PRO Act has not become law, yet Su appears poised to enact the same policy without the consent of Congress. If confirmed, she would undoubtedly finalize the Biden Administration’s proposed independent contractor rule that is designed to implement an AB-5-style regime nationwide.

At a time when our nation has experienced the highest inflation on record and 70 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, we need a Secretary of Labor who has a history of delivering for hardworking families – families who deserve a life beyond barely making ends meet. Julie Su’s record makes it clear that she is not qualified to meet this challenge. At this critical moment for the American economy and workforce, the stakes are too high and Su’s track record is too tarnished for us to believe she can lead the U.S. Department of Labor.”

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee voted this morning to advance Su’s nomination to become the next federal Secretary of Labor, 11 to 10 in a party-line vote. Inquiring minds want to know if labor unions are pushing Su’s nomination? Looking at the 11 Democrats on the committee, it is probable (Senators Bernie Sanders, Patty Murray, Robert Casey, Tammy Baldwin, Christopher Murphy, Tim Kaine, Maggie Hassan, Tina Smith, Ben Ray Lujan, John Hickenlooper, and Ed Markey).

Read the entire Fox News article here.

And read all of California Globe’s coverage on the Su nomination here.