Senate Panel Advances Su Nomination as Labor Secretary
The acting DOL leader now awaits a floor vote at the discretion of the Senate majority leader.
The Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 11-10 on Tuesday to advance Julie Su’s nomination as labor secretary to the Senate floor.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., ranking member of the committee, said he along with all Republican committee members voted to oppose Su’s renomination during a closed-door vote.
Su’s nomination will now await a floor vote at the discretion of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate majority leader.
Su’s previous nomination failed to secure a Senate vote before her nomination was returned to the White House at the conclusion of the first session of the 118th Congress, Cassidy said in a statement.
Cassidy criticized Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, the committee chairman, on Monday after Sanders decided to hold the committee vote on Su without a public hearing.
“Since Julie Su’s first nomination hearing, the concerns over her leadership of DOL have only grown,” Cassidy said.
Sanders said in a separate statement that he “strongly” supports the renomination of Su to head the department.
Su, Sanders said, “has been an excellent Deputy Secretary of Labor, an excellent Acting Secretary of Labor, and I believe that she will make an excellent Secretary of Labor. Her strong pro-worker track record and tireless dedication to working families across this country shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is the right person for the job. I urge my colleagues to support her nomination.”
Su has been deputy secretary since July 2021 and the acting secretary since March 2023.
In January, President Joe Biden renominated Su to head DOL after her confirmation had languished in the Senate for more than 10 months.
Cassidy maintained that Su “has continued to build a troubling record as Acting DOL Secretary, implementing policies that promote large labor unions at the expense of workers and economic growth. The HELP Committee should have been able to address these issues directly with Ms. Su to properly conduct its constitutional duty to oversee the president’s nominees. It is unacceptable that the HELP Chair denied committee members this opportunity.”