Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am very pleased to rise in support of President Obama's nominee to serve as Solicitor of Labor, Patricia Smith. I am very confident that she is the right person for this critical job. The work she is going to do to protect our workers is more important now than ever before.

American workers are facing incredible challenges today. They are struggling with record unemployment and a devastating economic crisis. They need and they deserve strong leaders in the Department of Labor who are passionate about public service and committed to fighting for them.

The Department of Labor is charged with a critical mission in our Nation's government. Their role is to foster and to promote the welfare of America's workers by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and their health care benefits, helping employers find workers, and strengthening free collective bargaining. I believe during these challenging economic times it is absolutely critical that the Department has the leadership it needs to make those goals a reality. That is why I was very pleased that President Obama nominated such a strong candidate for the position of Solicitor of Labor.

Patricia Smith has been the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor since 2007. She is cochair of the New York State's Economic Security subcabinet, and she oversees 3,700 employees in 80 offices, with an annual budget of $4 billion.

For the previous 20 years, Tricia worked in the Labor Bureau of the New York Attorney General's Office, and she served on the Obama administration's transition team for the Department of Labor.

I have received many letters of support for Patricia Smith from people who admire her work, from people she has worked with, and from workers she has helped. I want to take a moment this afternoon to read some excerpts from some of those letters because I believe they do demonstrate Patricia's broad support and why she deserves to be confirmed by the Senate.

I have received a letter of support from the CEO of the Plattsburgh, NY Chamber of Commerce. He knows Patricia well. He said:

Patricia Smith has been an outstanding partner as Commissioner of the New York State Labor Department and will be an outstanding solicitor for the U.S. Labor Department. We strongly encourage her earliest possible confirmation by the Senate.

That was the CEO of the Plattsburgh, NY Chamber of Commerce.

I also heard from the United States Women's Chamber of Commerce. They said:

After learning of Ms. Smith's qualifications, expertise, and the laws she has worked to uphold, I can clearly see that she is someone who would work with conviction to enforce the laws of the United States of America. Additionally, I am impressed by her out-of-the-box thinking in creating programs that will keep jobs. We especially need these attributes in this time of economic challenge.

I also received a letter from a group of professors and scholars of labor and employment law and labor relations, from over 50 scholars of highly respected institutions across the country such as the Georgetown University Law Center, Columbia Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Yale Law School, and Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. They too urged speedy confirmation, saying that Tricia has:

consistently demonstrated the highest integrity and commitment to ethical standards. She is experienced, intelligent, thoughtful and energetic. We believe this is exactly what the U.S. Department of Labor needs in a Solicitor. Once confirmed, she will be among the best Solicitors of Labor the Department has known.

Her support transcends party lines. Former New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco, a Republican, had this to say about his former employee:

Patricia Smith has proven herself as one of the foremost experts in the nation in the realm of labor law, which is why President Obama saw fit to nominate her. ..... She was an asset to the New York Attorney General's Office and I am confident. ..... She will be an asset to the Department of Labor.

I am here this afternoon as Chair of the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety. I know the challenges American workers are facing right now. That is why they deserve a Solicitor of Labor such as Tricia Smith who will fight every day to protect them. If she is confirmed as the Department's top legal counsel, she will have the profound responsibility of enforcing more than 180 Federal laws and managing more than 450 attorneys nationwide.

She will be responsible for defending the Department in litigation as well as providing legal advice and guidance on nearly every policy, legislative, regulatory, and enforcement initiative of the Department. Most importantly, she will be responsible for defending the rights of workers when they are not able to speak for themselves.

Tricia has a big job ahead of her, but we need to act now to allow her to get started. We owe it to our country's workers to have a confirmed Solicitor of Labor in place. I have had a number of conversations with Tricia and I wanted my colleagues to know I am confident she is highly qualified and very eager to get to work. I will be voting with confidence to confirm Patricia Smith. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I yield the floor.

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