Su, director of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency, was confirmed on a straight-party vote, with 48 Democrats and two nominal independents supporting her confirmation and all 47 Republicans present voting against the nomination.
The three absent Republican senators were Mike Braun of Indiana, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Todd Young of Indiana. Had the trio voted against Su, it would have become necessary for Vice President Kamala Harris to preside over the Senate and cast the deciding vote.
Earlier in the day, the Senate agreed on the same straight-party cloture vote that cleared the way for a final decision on the nomination. Su joins former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, the secretary of labor confirmed earlier this year by the Senate on a 68–29 vote.
Early in the Biden administration, Su was favored to be the top nominee for secretary of labor, but she was unable to overcome Walsh’s aggressive backing by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who has a long-time relationship with the chief executive.
Su will serve as the No. 2 Biden appointee managing the Department of Labor (DOL) at a time when the federal government continues providing hundreds of billions of tax dollars in supplemental unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who lost jobs as a result of the pandemic-related lockdowns enacted by each state throughout the country last year.
From its White House announcement in February, Su’s nomination was plagued by her record as the California state government’s top labor official.
Shortly after Biden’s intention to nominate her became public, Su convened a news conference to confirm that at least $11 billion had been lost to fraudulent unemployment claims, or almost 10 percent of the $114 billion her agency had paid out during California’s lockdown prompted by the CCP virus, which is also known as the novel coronavirus.
Another $20 billion in fraudulent claims paid were ultimately confirmed, bringing the total under Su’s leadership to more than $31 billion.
“As claims began to surge in March 2020, [California’s Employment Development Department] EDD halted most of its work determining whether claimants were eligible for Unemployment Insurance benefits,” the report states.
“This action curbed the size of its claims backlog significantly and resulted in more timely payments to Californians. However, it also compromised the integrity of the program and may hinder the ability of the department to conduct day-to-day operations in the future.”
Testifying before the Senate in March, Su said her experience in coping with the California fraud would assist her in helping the DOL fight the problem at the federal level.
Less visible than the unemployment fraud during the Senate’s consideration was Su’s role as one of the leading architects of a controversial California law that mandated a three-step “ABC” test for independent contractors such as Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as others in the national “gig” economy of freelance individuals working in jobs made possible by social media.
The law was so unpopular that 59 percent of California voters supported a referendum mandating an exception to it in the November 2020 election.
Two Senate Democrats spoke on the floor supporting Su prior to the confirmation vote, including Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).
“It is clear that workers need a deputy secretary of labor who is committed to building back a stronger, fairer economy, someone who will work diligently to make sure workers have a fairer and just workplace, a livable wage, a secure retirement, safe working conditions, access to accommodations and are treated with dignity and respect, which is why I’m so glad to support Julie Su’s nomination,” Murray said during brief remarks.
None of the 47 Republican senators who opposed Su spoke against her nomination on the floor prior to the final vote.
