Virginia Foxx: “I thank my colleague for yielding. Mr. Speaker, President Biden is waging a war on America's workforce. First, he made…”

“I thank my colleague for yielding. Mr. Speaker, President Biden is waging a war on America's workforce. First, he made the anti-worker PRO Act a legislative priority. Then his Department of Labor proposed a rule to extinguish opportunities for workers who want to be independent contractors. Now his handpicked nominee, Julie Su, has barely made it through the Democrat-controlled Senate HELP Committee on a party-line vote, paving the way for her to head the agency overseeing our Nation's workforce. As California's Secretary of Labor, Su was the architect and chief enforcer of AB 5, a bill that mirrors current Federal anti-worker proposals like the PRO Act and DOL's proposed rule. Nearly 80 percent of independent contractors prefer their current status to traditional employment. AB 5 forced many independent contractors to be reclassified or lose work opportunities. Many Californians lost their livelihoods. Most rejected the bill through a Statewide referendum. AB 5 sank in such spectacular fashion that over 100 industry exemptions were created; from recording artists and song writers to dog walkers and home cleaners. This is the policy that Democrats tacitly endorsed by supporting Julie Su for Secretary of Labor. I have talked at length with independent contract workers whose livelihoods are put in peril by Julie Su. Let me explain her nomination and confirmation from their perspective. In the eyes of truckers, Su places 350,000 owner-operator jobs at risk.…”