Swap Out Su: Reps. Foxx & Kiley Call on Biden to Drop Julie Su

The chair of the House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee and the chair of its Workforce Protections subcommittee today asked President Joe Biden to drop his quest to remove the word “acting” from Julie Su’s labor secretary title and immediately replace her.

Last year, the Biden administration announced that it would renominate Su for the position of Secretary of Labor.  She has held the position as “Acting Secretary” – no matter what Kamala Harris says – the last ten months as the Senate has refused to confirm her confirmation.

Committee chair Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and subcommittee chair Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin, CA) are demanding Biden acknowledge the reality that Su will never be confirmed.

The letter reflects a request made by Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy last month:  “It is clear Ms. Su lacks the necessary votes for confirmation,” said Cassidy at the time.

But Foxx and Kiley go a step further, asking not only for no re-nomination (since Su was nominated last year, she needs to be officially re-nominated this year) but also for her removal from office.

“…(W)e are requesting that you nominate someone else to head (the Department of Labor) and that you designate a different Acting Secretary of Labor,” wrote Foxx and Kiley.  “Ms. Su’s nomination has languished because her disastrous background and policy goals have failed to garner the support of a majority of senators. By failing to take the Senate’s inaction on Ms. Su’s nomination as a sign that it is unacceptable to the American people, you have ignored the separation of powers vital to the Constitution. It is time for you to remedy this travesty. Accordingly, we respectfully request you select a new nominee to become the next Secretary of Labor and that you end Ms. Su’s tenure as Acting Secretary of Labor.”

Su, then deputy secretary, was nominated to the post when then-secretary Marty Walsh left DC to head up the NHL players union. That was in February.

But Su’s nomination hit the brick wall of West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. He came out publicly against her (other Democrat senators privately told the White House they wouldn’t vote for her as well) and that – in a 51-49 senate – meant Su had no chance, no chance to the point that a confirmation vote was not even scheduled.

That Senatorial math has not changed since.

Su’s acting tenure has been marked by controversy even beyond the question of whether or not it’s legally allowable – the Biden administration has kept her in place by citing a labor department-specific regulation, separate from the typically-followed Vacancies Act that limits acting terms to about 210 days, to keep her in the job.

That position has been supported by the Government Accountability Office but has already been broached in lawsuits against the Labor Department challenging Su’s ability to impose various new regulations.

Those regulations have also caught the attention of Foxx and Kiley.

“As Acting Secretary of Labor, Ms. Su has continued to pursue a radical agenda against that of the American worker. On December 6, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget published the Fall 2023 Regulatory Agenda that outlines DOL’s plans to prepare, write, or finalize 75 regulations over the next year,” they wrote. “Additionally, DOL’s long-term agenda—which provides an outlook beyond the next 12 months—includes an additional 20 items. As ‘Bidenomics’ continues to fail workers, families, and the economy, further regulatory actions led by Acting Secretary Su will continue to undermine America’s workforce.”

Su is known to most Californians for her tyrannical enforcement of the anti-freelancer AB 5 regulations and for ignoring the obvious fraud occurring in her unemployment agency during the pandemic.  The EDD lost at least $32 billion to fraud and Su did nothing to staunch the flow for months after becoming aware of the problem.

The Department of Labor did not respond to a request for comment.