Bipartisan Opposition to Julie Su

Floor Speech

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, it has been nearly 5 months since President Biden nominated Julie Su to be Secretary of Labor. That nomination remains stalled. The Senate has declined to confirm her. She now faces bipartisan opposition, yet the President has not withdrawn her nomination.

Worse yet, Su is continuing to serve as Secretary of Labor in an acting capacity, despite the Senate declining to put her in that position. It appears that this is now the plan, to simply cancel the vote and carry on as if she had been confirmed.

Su's leading supporter in the Senate, Bernie Sanders, said as much. He said: I hope she has the votes to become the Secretary. If not, of course, she should stay where she is. She is doing a great job, Sanders continued. Why would you not?

Well, why would you not? One simple reason is the Constitution. This is blatantly an end run around the Constitution's advice and consent requirement of Article II, section 2, clause 2.

As further evidence of the Biden administration's plan to simply keep Su on indefinitely, with or without a vote, after months of Department of Labor rulemaking being put on pause to spare Su negative press during the confirmation process, the wheels are now back in motion. The administration seems to be acknowledging that Su does not have the votes for confirmation but, again, plans to keep her at the helm of the Labor Department anyway.

Now, this administration has a disturbing pattern of seeking to do by undemocratic means that which it cannot do by democratic means.

For example, on the topic of student loan forgiveness, President Biden had said: I don't think I have the authority to do that, and then he went ahead and did it anyway by executive order.

On the issue of independent contracting, Congress has declined to adopt the destructive ABC test via the PRO Act, so the Labor Department is seeking to enact a functionally equivalent legal standard by rulemaking. This is the most brazen example yet. Having made the worst possible pick for Secretary of Labor, which the United States Senate is rightly rejecting, the President is trying to install his nominee as the permanent Secretary anyway.

Now, the student loan executive order, of course, was just struck down by the Supreme Court, but what the administration is attempting here is much more potentially disruptive. What is at issue is not just one policy, rather, it is every action the Department of Labor takes under Acting Secretary Su that will be put under a legal cloud.

Now, Su's allies have tried to make a legal argument relating to the interplay of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of the statute that created the position of Deputy Secretary of Labor. This argument is without merit. There is no statutory authority to have an Acting Secretary who has been nominated for permanent Secretary continue serving indefinitely, with or without confirmation; nor could there be because any such statute would violate the Constitution.

Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and I have sent a letter to Gene Dodaro, U.S. Comptroller General at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, requesting an opinion on the legality of keeping Su as the head of Labor indefinitely.

None of this should be necessary. The White House and Julie Su have had every opportunity to persuade the Senate. They have had a nightly war room and daily arm twisting for months. It is well past time to withdraw the nomination and for the President to nominate a Secretary of Labor who will be on the side of American workers. The Fentanyl Crisis

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, last month, the district attorney of Placer County in my district secured the first-ever murder conviction in California for dealing fentanyl. This is a very important moment in the battle against the fentanyl epidemic that is taking such a tragic toll on every community across the country.

As The New York Times reported: The novel prosecution in Placer, northeast of Sacramento, is being closely watched in law enforcement and legislative circles in California, which lost about 6,000 people to fentanyl and other opioids in 2021, the last year for which complete data is available. Prosecutors have been looking for ways to hold people distributing the drug accountable for the staggering death toll.

Now, I would like to share the details about this case and the successful legal strategy of the district attorney, but first a word about the scale of the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

Fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, surpassing car accidents, surpassing suicides, surpassing everything. It is now the leading cause of death for young people in our country. It is affecting every community, including my own.

It has been reported that 73,102 Americans died from fentanyl in the past year. That amounts to 200 deaths every day, one every 7 minutes. The reason is largely because of the lethality of fentanyl, which is unlike any other drug; 100 times more potent than morphine. Two milligrams, or the amount that fits on the end of a pencil, is a deadly dose.

Fentanyl is being added to street pills. Mr. Speaker, 98 percent of the pills sold on the street are fakes, and 60 percent have the potential to be lethal.

Many victims are teenagers, people with no prior drug use who perhaps were stressed out from isolation during the COVID shutdowns. They purchase what turns out to be fake pills, such as Xanax, over social media or the internet. Dealers often deliver these pills straight to the victims' homes.

A huge part of this problem is to prevent fentanyl from coming into the United States. The southern border is by far the primary source. In fact, in 2022 alone, the DEA seized 379 million lethal doses of fentanyl. Securing the border would diminish the availability and ability to traffic into the United States, and it would save many lives. That is the most important part of this equation.

There are other ways that we can tackle the problem, and that is where Placer County is leading the way. Like other communities across the country, our county experienced an astronomical 450 percent increase in fentanyl deaths from 2019 to 2021. Almost half of those were among residents 25 years of age or younger.

The case that was recently prosecuted involved the tragic death of a 15-year-old Roseville girl who passed away on June 21, 2022. The dealer was a Placer County area drug dealer named Nathaniel, who was involved in selling fentanyl to minors. He possessed and transported fentanyl in the form of M30 Percocet pills. The fentanyl was pressed into the pill.

One of his customers was a 15-year-old girl who overdosed on one of those pills and, as a result, passed away in June. Nathaniel witnessed this OD, and after his customer died, he continued to sell pills from the same batch to other individuals. This is why he was charged with murder. It is the first murder charge and conviction of a fentanyl dealer in California.

Specifically, he was charged by Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire and convicted of second-degree murder in Placer County Superior Court.

In order to establish his case, District Attorney Gire had to prove the following elements: first, that Nathaniel did in fact deal the deadly fentanyl pills to his victim; second, that the defendant knew that the pills he provided to his victim contained fentanyl; and, third, that he knew how deadly the fentanyl he provided was.

In other words, he had to know his actions could lead to the death of the customer and then choose to deal anyway. That is the basic predicate of the murder charges and conviction.

Other factors in play in this case involved callousness. District Attorney Gire indicated that he would only pursue murder charges if a degree of callousness is present, if a dealer continues to deal after he or she knows someone died of the pills and is pursuing profit. Gire said charges would be less likely in cases where addicts were simply sharing pills with one another.

A second additional factor in play here was deception, where the dealer deceptively markets fentanyl as something else. Gire said that that changes the legal landscape.

In an era of skyrocketing and tragic fentanyl deaths and the increasing prevalence of it in our communities, a multipronged approach of education, accountability, and stopping the supply is needed. The prevailing prosecutorial approach and many of the criminal laws on the books in California are failing to achieve an adequate level of this occurrence.

The strategy that is being pursued in Placer County is that by raising the cost of dealing fentanyl for dealers--we are talking about a 15-years-to-life sentence here for second-degree murder--we can keep these predators away from our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I want to add a quote from District Attorney Gire, which I think is a very important one. ``I have heard the criticism that this is a retread of the war on drugs,'' he said. ``It isn't. Fentanyl is something different.'' That is an argument that we really need to understand.

Whatever arguments we might make in terms of prosecution strategies, when it comes to other forms of drug use, there is simply no comparison to the damage that this drug is doing across our country. We must take action in every way possible.

This murder conviction, the first of its kind in Placer County, sends a loud and clear message to those who would victimize young people and Americans with this lethal substance. It says: Stay out of our community.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage prosecutors across California and across the country to look at the model District Attorney Gire has provided in California because it will save lives. Pay Raise for Military

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the 5.2 percent pay raise for our servicemen and women provided for in the National Defense Authorization Act, or the NDAA.

Americans have been left struggling under the weight of runaway inflation and an ever-increasing cost of living--perhaps none more so than those in uniform.

Skyrocketing inflation has contributed to pay for servicemembers falling behind that of their civilian counterparts in terms of purchasing power. The much-needed pay increase that we are providing with this legislation is the largest in 22 years, and it will ensure that compensation for military service is at least commensurate with the rise in civilian wages.

In concrete terms, this means more income to cover housing, food, providing for a family, and other basic necessities that those in uniform serving our country shouldn't have to lose sleep over.

In addition to this across-the-board pay increase, the NDAA contains numerous provisions designed to make life more affordable for junior enlistees. Pay for our military's most junior enlistees, E-1s, is currently a paltry $22,000 a year. The NDAA increases that base pay rate to $31,000 a year so that the starting wage for junior enlistees isn't lower than that of a fast-food cashier in California.

The calculation of basic allowance for housing is also improved to provide a more accurate and higher level of aid for housing, and the basic needs allowance, which enables low-income servicemembers to support a family, is expanded, as well.

Finally, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to provide monthly bonuses to junior enlisted members to mitigate the impacts of inflation.

Mr. Speaker, we owe members of our military a debt that can never be repaid for their service and sacrifice to our country. Americans undoubtedly have an obligation to provide a level of compensation that matches at least that of their civilian counterparts and enables servicemembers to meet basic housing costs and provide for their families.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation fulfills that basic foundational commitment, and I am proud to support the pay increase for our military. Vaccine Discharge Reinstatements

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of offering reinstatement to the over 8,000 servicemembers who were discharged from the military for merely declining to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. As we speak, our Nation's military is in the midst of a severe recruitment shortage.

The Army fell short of its recruitment goal by 15,000 recruits last year. This year, it is on track to fall short by 20,000. The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are facing similar challenges.

The consequences of failing to recruit enough volunteers are severe-- reduced combat readiness and a reduced ability to keep us safe. This is all the more notable given that our military, of course, is all volunteer. We rely on citizens willingly stepping up and joining to serve our country.

These severe shortages have been exacerbated by our Secretary of Defense taking the same approach to COVID as, unfortunately, many civilian leaders did, an approach characterized by heavyhanded overreactions and a complete disregard for scientific evidence and informed policymaking.

Members of our Armed Forces, young, physically fit men and women, are the least at-risk population for COVID. Moreover, over 95 percent of the military has already been vaccinated against COVID before the discharges occurred.

Like students, small business owners, and many other groups of individuals, servicemembers were harmed and had their lives upended by wholly unnecessary actions pursued by politicians and political leaders who simply were not looking at data and evidence, and had no regard for personal freedoms.

The National Defense Authorization Act offers a corrective course to these mistakes. The act provides a pathway to reinstatement for any servicemember discharged for declining a COVID vaccine and requires the Secretary of Defense to fully inform discharged individuals of the steps they can take.

Further, it assures that veterans, for the time spent discharged, will be classified as a ``career intermission'' to prevent any negative impact on future promotions. It will also prohibit the Department of Defense from forcing cadets discharged from military service academies to repay tuition.

While the damage done by the original discharge decisions can never be undone, I am very proud to support legislation that at least allows Congress to do everything in its power to mitigate the harm that was done. Providing Transparent Accountability

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act.

What this measure does is very simple. It requires that Federal agencies, when issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking, simply include a link to a plain language summary of the proposal in 100 words or less.

This is a basic, commonsense measure to make our government more accessible to Americans. I think right now that is something that is very important. After we went through a few years where many people felt like their ability to participate in government was foreclosed altogether, and where we have had a trend that has been decades in the making where more and more power is consolidated in Washington, D.C., and in Federal bureaucracies, ordinary citizens have less and less of an opportunity to participate. When there is some opportunity, such as a notice of public rulemaking up for public comment, oftentimes they are confronted by a blizzard of legalese that makes it very difficult to make heads or tails of what is going on.

What this measure does is it says, in 100 words or less, let's put it right there in plain English so everyone is on the same page, so we as a country can have a debate about whether this is good or bad policy.

It is a simple step, a modest step, but it is a step in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker, for that reason, I am proud to support this measure. Commemorating Israel's 75th Anniversary

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of Israel's 75th year as a nation.

For these last 75 years, Israel has stood as a sanctuary for the Jewish people; as a beacon of freedom, democracy, and human rights in the region; and as a steadfast ally to our Nation.

The United States has been among Israel's closest allies from its very inception. In fact, President Harry Truman officially recognized Israel merely 11 minutes after its formation. Since that moment, the bond between our two nations--one based upon shared values, common interests, and a united vision for the future--has only grown stronger.

Our Nation's welcoming of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to speak before a joint session of Congress this Wednesday is just the latest reflection of this special relationship. I look forward to continuing to advance this partnership in every way I can in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I will take a moment to remark upon the unique place Israel holds not only in the heart of its citizens but in people across the globe.

In 2018, I had the chance to visit, as part of a bipartisan delegation, and spend a week meeting with leaders from business, academia, government, the media, the IDF, and other facets of Israeli society. We also visited the West Bank, a kibbutz outside of Gaza, the Holocaust memorial, a hospital caring for the wounded from Syria, the Lebanon border, and much more.

Mr. Speaker, I came away with a sense of deep admiration for the tremendous dynamism and diversity of Israeli society, for the way such a deep connection to history coexists with a drive toward innovation and modernization, for the spirit of self-reliance and national service, and for the deeply felt sense of Israeli identity and pride in the nation's achievements.

The United States and the global community is enriched by the presence of Israel on the world stage. As a Member of Congress, I take great pride in supporting Israel, and wherever possible, advocating for Israel in the global arena. Today, I am honored to recognize and commemorate that fact by celebrating Israel's 75th anniversary as a nation. Recognizing Rocklin Donuts & Cinnamon

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate an exceptional small business in my district, Rocklin Donuts & Cinnamon, for their recent recognition on Yelp as the top doughnut shop in the Nation.

Let me say that again: the top doughnut shop in the Nation.

This distinguished, family-owned establishment is operated by Ky and Anna Pho, a couple whose story embodies the American Dream. Over 40 years ago, Ky and Anna emigrated from Cambodia to the United States of America. After overcoming the many obstacles they faced in immigrating to a new country, they committed themselves to this enterprise and are now recipients of a well-deserved reward for their diligent efforts.

Their commitment to their business and strong work ethic is truly inspiring. They rise every morning between 2 and 3 a.m. to prepare fresh doughnuts for the many patrons who frequent their shop. They serve a wide array of delicious treats, ranging from an assortment of doughnuts to breakfast croissants, and, of course, the traditional cinnamon roll.

It was not long ago when they opened their doors, just in May of 2022, and they quickly rose to high regard in our communities, earning a five-star Yelp rating and national attention in this short period of time.

I have gone by there a few times recently, and I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, the line is out the door.

Therefore, on behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Rocklin Donuts & Cinnamon for this outstanding achievement. Recognizing the Downieville Classic

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the silver anniversary of the Downieville Classic, a world-renowned annual bike race staged in Downieville, California. Before becoming a cherished destination for mountain bikers, this historic gold rush town in the Sierra Nevada was known mainly for its past notoriety of vigilante justice, claim jumping, and boom and bust fortunes.

Downieville's famous--or inglorious--days, such as they were, were in the past until a pioneer of backcountry mountain biking named Greg Williams realized that the true treasure of the Sierra Nevada was not the gold in the rivers but in the recreational challenges of the mountains themselves. Greg's vision was to combine world-class ultra biking with spectacular mountain landscapes to revitalize the economy of his hometown.

Letting the mountains dictate the course, Greg and his team designed the premier classic point-to-point route as a 26.5-mile black diamond lung-busting endurance run from Sierra City to Downieville.

Riders climb to the 7,469-foot crest of the Sierra Nevada, then plunge 5,700 vertical feet along a route of flowing turns, rolling jumps, boulder staircases, and river crossings. This ordeal on wheels tests both the sturdiness of riders and their bikes.

Recognizing the challenge of the race and beauty of the course, Outside magazine named the Downieville Classic one of the 10 best bike races in North America.

The combination of sustainable recreation, job creation, and world- famous athletic events has made Downieville a model for the economic recovery of struggling mountain communities throughout the Lost Sierra.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am honored to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the Downieville Classic in recognition of the profound impact the race has had on Sierra County and the broader region.

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