Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the Trump administration and, specifically, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer for its decision to not enforce the independent contractor rule propounded by the Biden administration. This rule was based upon one of the worst laws ever to pass in the State of California, AB5, which effectively banned freelancing, independent contracting, self-employment, and being your own boss for many, many people. After this law went into effect, we saw thousands upon thousands of Californians lose their livelihoods and lose their rights to earn a living because of this edict issued by the government. It received bipartisan criticism, and no other State followed California's lead in enacting such a law. Yet, that did not stop the Biden administration from deciding that this law would be its inspiration for national labor policy. The Biden administration, using the regulatory process because it couldn't get it through Congress, enacted an independent contractor rule modeled on California's AB5 law. Not only that, but the administration brought in the very person who was the architect of AB5 in California and its chief enforcer, Gavin Newsom's Secretary of Labor Julie Su, to be his Secretary of Labor and to enforce it just as aggressively and ruthlessly as she had in California. The problem was this track record was so disastrous that Ms. Su's nomination stalled in the Senate. She received bipartisan opposition and was never confirmed. Somehow the Biden administration, President Biden, decided to keep her there anyway. It was a very novel theory that Senate confirmation was now optional for Cabinet-level officials, and she shattered all records for the longest-acting Secretary in the history of our country. Yet, at the end of the day, that rule, which, by the way, was tied up in court because there was a lot of reasons why it did not pass legal muster, is no longer being enforced. The right to earn a living of millions of independent contractors across our country is no longer threatened. I particularly applaud Secretary Chavez-DeRemer when she met with a number of truckers recently, the American Trucking Association, for saying that we have their backs because it is the independent owner- operators, tens of thousands of truckers across the country, who were one of the many groups who were threatened by this regulation for consequences for the entire U.S. economy. While this regulatory relief is extremely positive and important, we need to get the definition of independent contracting and protections for freelancers into statute so that we don't have the standard continue to change from one administration to the next. That is why I have introduced the Modern Worker Empowerment Act that will put into statute the standard, common law definition of what it means to be an independent contractor, and I am hopeful that we can get that passed with bipartisan support this Congress. {time} 1245 Medi-Cal Facing Unprecedented Threat”