Current:Home > MyChainkeen|Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su vows to remain in job even as confirmation prospects remain dim — "The Takeout" -Core Financial Strategies
Chainkeen|Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su vows to remain in job even as confirmation prospects remain dim — "The Takeout"
EchoSense View
Date:2025-04-10 14:45:43
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su is Chainkeenstill waiting to be confirmed as labor secretary over a year after President Joe Biden first nominated her, and she remains hopeful that she'll be confirmed, despite opposition that shows no sign of softening.
On "The Takeout" podcast this week, Su told chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett she has no plans to withdraw and remains "really honored by his support."
"When I went through the nomination, the confirmation process, I met with a lot of senators and … I have great respect for the process, for their role." She added, "We'll continue to remain hopeful while also remaining focused on the job that needs to be done."
"I'm going to do this job for as long as the president wants me to do it and as long as the American people need somebody who's going to fight for working people," Su said.
Su, who was previously deputy labor secretary, was tapped for the top job after Secretary Marty Walsh stepped down to head the NHL Player Association. Her nomination was advanced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee but was unable to muster the votes to pass the full Senate, so she remained acting secretary. In 2022, Su was confirmed as deputy labor secretary in a close vote.
Senate Republicans and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin say they'll continue to oppose her nomination for a couple of reasons, but the most prominent one is that when she was California's labor commissioner, she oversaw the payment of $31 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic.
Su said Covid exposed flaws within California's unemployment insurance system.
"The U.I. (unemployment insurance) system was like a house with a leaky roof," Su said. "In good times, you could put a couple buckets under it and mostly ignore it. But in a storm…all of its weaknesses get revealed."
Other opponents of Su's nomination, particularly business groups, have pointed to her embrace of California legislation that limited independent contracting and extended certain protections to gig workers — including minimum wage, overtime, and healthcare.
"I do not apologize for making sure that employees who deserve protections and the right to organize [are] covered under employee status," Su told Garrett.
But Su's advocates counter that she has helped resolve sticky labor issues, including averting an economically debilitating freight rail strike in 2022 and negotiating a major deal between West Coast dockworkers and shippers this past June.
"It has been a privilege to see the kinds of win-win solutions that can come through collective bargaining," said Su.
Though there's been no sign that any of those opposing her have changed their minds, she told chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett that she remains hopeful she'll be confirmed and appreciates the support she's received from "a lot" of senators.
Asked by Garrett if she's made any headway with Manchin, Su said that she said "hi" to him at the State of the Union address last week, but that was about all she had time for. The West Virginia senator, who is retiring at the end of his term early next year, said last summer that he would still vote against Su.
"I think the American people need a strong labor secretary, and I plan on continuing to do that for as long as I can," Su said.
In her interview with "The Takeout," Su also touted the job numbers during the Biden administration, pointing to the 14.9 million jobs created since Mr. Biden took office, as well as an unemployment rate of under 4% for the past two years. Economic analysts predictions of an impending recession during the last couple of years have not come to pass, and Su credits the Biden administration for this.
"I think we are now, you know, safely in a place of saying that the economic policies worked," Su told Garrett.
Executive producer: Arden Farhi
Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson
CBSN Production: Eric Soussanin
Show email: TakeoutPodcast@cbsnews.com
Twitter: @TakeoutPodcast
Instagram: @TakeoutPodcast
Facebook: Facebook.com/TakeoutPodcast
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- More money, more carbon?
- Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin Reveals Official Cause of His Collapse While Announcing NFL Return
- COP-out: Who's Liable For Climate Change Destruction?
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- At least 50 are dead and dozens feared missing as storm hits the Philippines
- Sarah Ferguson Breaks Silence on Not Attending King Charles III's Coronation
- California braces for flooding from intense storms rolling across the state
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- Kylie Jenner Reveals If She's Open to Having More Kids
Ranking
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Drake Bell’s Wife Janet Von Schmeling Files for Divorce After His Disappearance
- A dance of hope by children who scavenge coal
- Mark Consuelos Reveals Why Daughter Lola Doesn't Love His Riverdale Fame
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- The ozone layer is on track to recover in the coming decades, the United Nations says
- An economic argument for heat safety regulation
- Alec Baldwin's Criminal Charges Dropped in Rust Shooting Case
Recommendation
Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
Rise Of The Dinosaurs
How Rising Seas Turned A Would-be Farmer Into A Climate Migrant
Predicting Landslides: After Disaster, Alaska Town Turns To Science
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
Big Brother’s Taylor Hale and Joseph Abdin Break Up
Impact investing, part 1: Money, meet morals
Vanderpump Rules' Scheana Shay Addresses Brock Davies, Raquel Leviss Hookup Rumor