Julie Su Testifies to House Committee

On June 7, under threat of subpoena, Biden Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su testified to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. The nominee was asked about California’s Proposition 22, which rolled back the main provisions of AB-5, the 2019 law targeting independent workers. 

“I don’t remember how I voted on that,” replied Su, who was secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency when Proposition 22 passed. When asked if she was involved in drafting AB-5, Su said she was not, but some ten minutes later conceded that she had given technical advice on the measure. The Biden nominee was also asked if AB-5 was a good law. 

“I don’t know what, I mean,” Su replied. “Give me a little bit more. Tell me what you mean by that.” When the question was repeated, Su did not give a yes or no answer but did say it was “important to enforce laws that are passed.” 

Representatives also wanted to know Su’s plan if millions of workers rejected mandatory vaccinations and refused to hand over their medical records. The nominee outlined no plan but did cite “my full fidelity to the law.” 

Su was on record that “Latino workers view Asians generally not as friends or even strangers but as enemies, the very source of their daily subjugation.” Asked what she meant by that, Su said “it was something from a while ago, long before I came into government.” She didn’t believe it “as a general matter,” but only “in the context of experience I was talking about.” 

The Biden nominee was also asked if she accepted responsibility for more than $30 billion in unemployment fraud in California. 

“I think an unemployment insurance system that truly delivers in times of crisis should be the goal of everybody,” Su testified. The nominee told the committee she did not run the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD), but “several agencies fell under my purview, and I did take responsibility for our needs.” 

Criminals exploited the system, and rapper Nuke Bizzle even posted a video about the ease of ripping off California’s EDD. For more on Julie Su and other Biden nominees, see this commentary. At this writing, no date has been set for a vote of the full Senate on Su’s confirmation.