House Committee Chair Tells Labor Secretary to Keep Records for Oversight Inquiries

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh listens as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on September 15, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

A top Republican on the House Education and Workforce Committee told Labor Secretary Martin Walsh—who is set to step down in mid-March—to retain government records relevant to congressional oversight.

On Feb. 23, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) resent a letter to Walsh requesting the Department of Labour (DOL) keep materials that may contain information relevant to the House committee’s oversight inquiries.

The inquiries are regarding Walsh’s participation in labor-management activities, his search for jobs outside of the government, as well as his activities during his tenure as vice president of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, according to the letter.

“I request that you retain such materials in a manner that can be easily accessed by DOL staff and future Secretaries of Labor so that they can respond to Committee inquiries,” the congresswoman wrote.

In this image from video, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) speaks to NTD in Washington during an undated interview. The Epoch Times via NTD

Walsh, a former Boston mayor and union president, has faced increasing scrutiny since Foxx returned to the top post of the House oversight committee in early January.

On Jan. 12, Foxx sent a letter (pdf) seeking documents and materials relevant to inquiries and requests made by the Committee. “During the first two years of the Biden administration, agencies have failed to comply fully with congressional oversight letters. I hope that this will end and we can expect robust responses from you in a timely manner to every letter sent from the Committee or its members,” she wrote.

The congresswoman followed up on Feb. 16, expressing her “deep dissatisfaction” with the agency’s response.

Foxx said her committee had received three letters from DOL so far. The first response regarding inquiries into Walsh’s visit to a picket line in Pennsylvania last October was “woefully insufficient, ” Foxx wrote.

Particularly, the North Carolina Republican noted the third message from DOL “simply included these same two letters as attachments and attached your previous woefully inadequate letters regarding my other six inquires.” Such a response was “utterly disrespectful, demonstrated bad faith, and was a waste of time,” she wrote.

Foxx has repeatedly criticized Walsh’s participation in a strike at a Pennsylvania plant last October, arguing his involvement in labor disputes is likely to breach the government’s ethical standards of impartiality.

“Your participation [on the picket line during the Kellogg’s strike] clearly demonstrated a one-sided view of labor-management relations, harmed the integrity of your office, and called into question the neutrality of the Department of Labor (DOL) by inappropriately inserting the federal government on one side of a labor dispute,” she said in a 2022 statement.

The Office of Inspector General at the DOL said they conducted a review in response to letters from Congress regarding the visit and “found no evidence that the Secretary exceeded his authority as Secretary of Labor or that he violated applicable ethics regulations.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Walsh’s office for comment.

Walsh, the first union member to lead the DOL in nearly half a century, confirmed he would exit from the Biden administration next month.

“Earlier this week I met with @POTUS and he accepted that my time as Labor Secretary will conclude mid-March,” Walsh said on Twitter. “As a second-generation card-carrying union member, serving as your Secretary of Labor in the most pro-worker administration in our history is an immense privilege.”

He will assume the position of executive director at the National Hockey League Players’ Association, according to the union.