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Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su vows to remain in job even as confirmation prospects remain dim — “The Takeout”
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su is still waiting to be confirmed as labor secretary over a year after President Joe Biden first nominated her, and she remains hopeful that she’ll be confirmed, despite opposition that shows no sign of softening.
On “The Takeout” podcast this week, Su told chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett she has no plans to withdraw and remains “really honored by his support.”
“When I went through the nomination, the confirmation process, I met with a lot of senators and … I have great respect for the process, for their role.” She added, “We’ll continue to remain hopeful while also remaining focused on the job that needs to be done.”
“I’m going to do this job for as long as the president wants me to do it and as long as the American people need somebody who’s going to fight for working people,” Su said.
Su, who was previously deputy labor secretary, was tapped for the top job after Secretary Marty Walsh stepped down to head the NHL Player Association. Her nomination was advanced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee but was unable to muster the votes to pass the full Senate, so she remained acting secretary. In 2022, Su was confirmed as deputy labor secretary in a close vote.
Senate Republicans and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin say they’ll continue to oppose her nomination for a couple of reasons, but the most prominent one is that when she was California’s labor commissioner, she oversaw the payment of $31 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic.
Su said Covid exposed flaws within California’s unemployment insurance system.
“The U.I. (unemployment insurance) system was like a house with a leaky roof,” Su said. “In good times, you could put a couple buckets under it and mostly ignore it. But in a storm…all of its weaknesses get revealed.”
Other opponents of Su’s nomination, particularly business groups, have pointed to her embrace of California legislation that limited independent contracting and extended certain protections to gig workers — including minimum wage, overtime, and healthcare.
“I do not apologize for making sure that employees who deserve protections and the right to organize [are] covered under employee status,” Su told Garrett.
But Su’s advocates counter that she has helped resolve sticky labor issues, including averting an economically debilitating freight rail strike in 2022 and negotiating a major deal between West Coast dockworkers and shippers this past June.
“It has been a privilege to see the kinds of win-win solutions that can come through collective bargaining,” said Su.
Though there’s been no sign that any of those opposing her have changed their minds, she told chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett that she remains hopeful she’ll be confirmed and appreciates the support she’s received from “a lot” of senators.
Asked by Garrett if she’s made any headway with Manchin, Su said that she said “hi” to him at the State of the Union address last week, but that was about all she had time for. The West Virginia senator, who is retiring at the end of his term early next year, said last summer that he would still vote against Su.
“I think the American people need a strong labor secretary, and I plan on continuing to do that for as long as I can,” Su said.
In her interview with “The Takeout,” Su also touted the job numbers during the Biden administration, pointing to the 14.9 million jobs created since Mr. Biden took office, as well as an unemployment rate of under 4% for the past two years. Economic analysts predictions of an impending recession during the last couple of years have not come to pass, and Su credits the Biden administration for this.
“I think we are now, you know, safely in a place of saying that the economic policies worked,” Su told Garrett.
Executive producer: Arden Farhi
Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson
CBSN Production: Eric Soussanin
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President-elect Donald Trump fired another salvo in his long-running effort to have his New York criminal conviction tossed, with his attorneys alleging earlier this month that there was juror misconduct during his trial.
In a previously undisclosed Dec. 3 letter to Justice Juan Merchan that was made public Tuesday, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote that there was “grave juror misconduct” in the proceedings in a Manhattan courtroom earlier this year.
However, heavy redactions in the letter and subsequent exchanges with prosecutors obscured almost all information about the accusations themselves.
“The jury in this case was not anywhere near fair and impartial,” they wrote.
Merchan on Tuesday directed Trump to make the redacted letter public, and instructed prosecutors to publish their own redacted responses. The judge also criticized Trump’s lawyers for making such serious allegations without sworn statements.
Prosecutors called the allegations “vague accusations of juror misconduct” in one of their responses. They claimed Trump’s attorneys did not want to have the allegations subject to investigation or a public hearing.
“Notwithstanding the import of their allegations, counsel do not request and in fact oppose a hearing at which their allegations could be fully examined, referring to such a hearing as ‘invasive fact-finding,'” wrote a prosecutor for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Still, they argued such an investigation wasn’t yet appropriate.
“Counsel’s allegations fall far short of the standard required to request such a hearing in any event,” they wrote.
It is unclear if the allegations relate to a June 7 letter from Merchan that alerted prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys to a comment left on the court’s Facebook page the night before Trump’s conviction.
“My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted,” the user wrote. “Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!”
The person who made the comment had previously described themselves as a “professional s**tposter.”
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records, connected with a scheme to cover up a “hush money” payment to an adult film star. He pleaded not guilty and is contesting the conviction on multiple fronts.
Japanese automakers Honda Motor and Nissan Motor are reportedly entering merger talks to help them compete against Tesla and other electric vehicle makers, according to the Nikkei financial newspaper.
The two firms are considering operating under a single holding company, and are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding for the new entity, according to the Tokyo-based Nikkei.
The paper also reports that Honda and Nissan are considering bringing in Mitsubishi Motors, of which Nissan is the top shareholder, under the holding company to create one of the world’s largest auto groups.
In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Nissan said it has not announced the details in the report, but that the two companies “are exploring various possibilities for future collaboration, leveraging each other’s strengths,” which it announced in March.
Honda did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment.
In March, Japan’s number two and three automakers, after rival Toyota, deepened ties when they agreed to explore a strategic partnership on electric vehicles.
Analysts characterized the move as one that is aimed at helping the automakers catch up with Chinese competitors, including BYD, which have captured more market share, while Japanese firms have lost ground by focusing more on hybrid vehicles.
China overtook Japan as the world’s biggest vehicle exporter in 2023, aided in part by its dominance in the electric car space.
Honda announced plans in May to double its investment in electric vehicles to $65 billion by 2030, as part of a target set three years ago of achieving 100% EV sales by 2040.
Similarly, Nissan in March announced that 16 of the 30 new models it plans to launch over the next three years would be “electrified.”
Climate concerns drive demand
The world’s auto giants are increasingly prioritizing electric and hybrid vehicles, with demand growing for less polluting models as concern about climate change grows.
At the same time, however, consumer demand for EVs has slowed amid high prices, range anxiety and developing infrastructure around charging points.
Hybrids that combine battery power and internal combustion engines have remained popular in Japan, accounting for 40% of sales in 2022.
But Japanese firms’ focus on hybrids has left them in the slow lane in meeting the growing appetite for purely electric vehicles. Just 1.7% of cars sold in Japan in 2022 were electric, compared to 15% in western Europe and 5.3% in the United States.
