Yesterday’s hearing was unreal. Biden’s Labor nominee, Julie Su, was the most evasive witness I’ve ever seen. My 5 minutes of questioning turned into 20 as other committee members gave me their time so it could continue.
The much-awaited hearing almost didn’t happen. Last Friday, Su suddenly claimed she couldn’t make it; we had to threaten a subpoena to get her to show. Chair Virginia Foxx, a former principal, opened the day with a
scathing reprimand.
I began by asking Su three questions: Which state has the nation’s (1) highest poverty rate (2) lowest wage growth, and (3) second highest unemployment? Su
was stumped by each one; the answer to all of them, of course, is California – whose Labor Department she led.
Things got strange when I turned to AB 5, the disastrous law that Su championed. I asked simply: is AB 5 a good law? She was somehow baffled by this question. You have to
see her reaction to believe it.
Then I asked how she voted on Prop. 22. This was the initiative that let Uber and Lyft stay in California by sparing them from AB 5. Voters passed it in 2020 while Su was Labor Secretary. I couldn’t
contain my disbelief as she claimed she
didn’t remember how she voted.
As to the $32 billion in unemployment fraud her agency allowed, she denied all responsibility – even as
I quoted independent audits and Democrat legislators blaming her directly. In fact, she could not name one thing she would have done differently.
Newsom says California is a "model for the nation," and by nominating Su, Biden again seems to have believed him. We know it’s just the opposite: a warning to the nation. Yesterday’s hearing sounded that warning loud and clear.
Kevin Kiley
California Congressman
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