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Compliance February 27, 2024
Julie Su Faces 2nd Nomination Process to Head DOL
After her April 2023 nomination expired at the end of the year, President Joe Biden re-nominated the former California secretary of labor.
Reported by Paul Mulholland
Julie Su
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will host two hearings on Wednesday.
The first, which will start at 10 a.m. ET, will host a panel of experts to testify on the expansion of defined benefit plans as a way to improve retirement security. The second, at 2 p.m. ET, will be the reconsideration of Julie Su’s nomination to head the Department of Labor. No vote has been scheduled on her nomination yet.
Su, first nominated by President Joe Biden in April 2023, was re-nominated in January. Su was nominated after former Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh resigned in March 2023, and while her nomination previously passed the HELP Committee, it stalled in the full Senate and never received a full floor vote.
Opposition to Su has stemmed primarily from her track record as California’s secretary of labor, including her work on the implementation of rules regulating the status of independent contractors.
Meanwhile, despite the nomination not being taken up by the Senate, Su continued to head the DOL in an acting capacity throughout 2023, which some Republicans have argued is unlawful. The American Securities Association and others argued in comment letters that as an acting secretary, she may lack the authority to finalize proposals, such as the DOL’s retirement security proposal.
Su’s opponents rely on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, which says acting secretaries may only serve for 210 days, unless another statute specifies otherwise. The Government Accountability Office released a legal opinion in September 2023 stating that the Vacancies Act does not govern Su’s role as acting secretary, largely because she was confirmed as deputy secretary of labor prior to Walsh’s resignation. According to the GAO, Section 552 of title 29 of the U.S. Code states that if the Secretary of Labor resigns, then the deputy secretary may perform the duties of the secretary until another is appointed.
With Su still pursuing that appointment, Wednesday will be the first step in her second attempt at securing confirmation to the post.