Abouts and our god dam bodies. [ applause ] this committee on the work force will come to order. Welcome to todays hearing. The committees honored to welcome our distinguished guests, secretary alexander acosta. Secretary acosta has been at the helm of the department of labor since april and were grateful he could join us to testify for the First Time Since his conformation. Mr. Secretary, welcome to the committee. We look forward to your testimony which we are sorry did not arrive earlier. And discussing the department of labors policies and priorities under the new administration. The department of labors on the front line of the issues facing workers and job creators and it sets policies that have a widespread impact on our nations economy, Retirement Security and more. Where had they relate to health care, retirement planning, or employee wages and benefits, its the responsibility of this committee to insure these policies are in the best interest of workers, employers and taxpayers. Ive said it before but ill say it again no matter what Party Controls it administration, its committed to robust oversight. Todays hearing is the latest step in our effort to hold federal government officials accountab accountable. The American People are counting on that accountability especially at a time when the economy is still improving. Were all if krjed by the Economic Growth weve seen in the Third Quarter of 2017. Real gdp increased at a rate of 3. 7 . More than the mere 1. 5 growth rate we saw in the final year of the Obama Administration. Its also great to see more and more americans getting back to work. Nearly 5 million jobs have been added since february. Theres no question we have more work to do after eight years of lost opportunity. However, even though thun employment rate is down, we still have 6. 5 million workers out of work, including 1. 6 million on longterm basis. 4. 8 million working part time because their hours have been cutback or because they were unable to find a fullf had time job. At the same time we have 6. 1 million jobs unfilled due in part to the skills gap. Expanding pathways to career success is a critical component in help hadding find good paying jobs. Thats why congress and the administration have made skills based the leading priority. This happens to be National Apprenticeship week and so were eager to you on steps the Department Plans to prumoke apprenticeships and other skillsbased. Its inhad krjing to have a partner in the white house and the department of labor. We look forward to further discussion on how we can Work Together and empower more americans to realize their god given potential. Youll be able to provide the Committee Members and their public about their views to advance Economic Opportunities for workers while strengthening work place democracy. Inh insuring safe and health haddy work places and affording more Health Care Options and interested in the regulatory and enforcement agenda. This committee spent the early part of the year under the Congressional Review Act clean up the mess, deliver regulatory relief for hard working men and women. Five out of the 14 of the cra resolutions signed into law originated from this committee and just last week the house passed a save local business act to roll back the joint employer scheme that threatens 1. 7 million jobs according to the American Action forum. We know ta have their work cut out. But we look forward to building on the progress weve made together so we can get government out of the way and unleash prosperity and opportunity. There are also a number of issues impacting Retirement Security that deserve our attention. This includes the need to protect access and empower more americans to plan for it future. As the department that over sees so many important priorities, i feel ive barely scratched the surface. Mr. Secretary, thank you again for joining us. I look forward to our conversation. With that i recognize Ranking Member for izhad opening remarks. Thank you, madam chair and i want to thank secretary acosta for appearing before the committee. Youre the first agency head to appear before this committee. Youre the first one to come before the committee since the administration took over 10 months ago and i want to join it chairs criticism for the lateness of the arrival of your testimony and i want to add were disappointed you have given insufficient time for all it Committee Members to ask fiveminute questions. Its been six months since the departments fiscal year 2018 budget requests were submitted to congress and although were already well into the fiscal year, its still timely since its still under liberation. As the secretary, youre the steward of legislation this committee has pasds over many decades that has made our economy fairer and work places safer. I want to direct your attention to the portraits on the wall to your left. In these leaders have secured passage that measurably improve the lives of millions of workers. The first woman to chair the committee who steered the passage of the fair labor standards of 1938 called perkins who spearhead hlegislation civi rights act of 1964. And the minimum wage act of 2007. And enforcing employment laws covering about 10 million employers. There are troubling questions about how the department has reversed. Progress made for Previous Administrations. The work place and Affordable Health care and Skills Development. And over time benefits. Salaried workers. Most fulltimed salaried workers with fulltime pay. Recovers 35 of fulltime salaried workers. Under your leadership decided not to defend this thresh hold in the court of appeals. And in recent Court Filings it would release a revised over time thresh hold. It thresh hold based on an inflation adjustment. But there are legitimate questioness about it baseline do you base it on the 2004 level with had they had had over time protection. 62 had over time protections. And seeking a delay in protections, they study found as much as a quarter of the hard earned savings can be depleted over 35 years. Rather than bolstering the ability to save for more, there are questions about whether the departments actions regarding the fid yushary rule ahead of the interests of workers. And the department has taken steps that would leave workers and their families without access to comprehensive Affordable Health care. The department is released an interim rule that allows employers to eliminate coverage in the Health Care Benefit plans for contraceptive care based on vaguely defined moral objecti objections. This is it raises legitimate questions about the constitution. Department as also been directed to expand access to association plans. Which as a committee has heard over and over again would steer elth haddy people into junk plans and leave sicker people behind, thereby if creasing a cost for everybody who doesnt get into one of those health plans. Worker safety protections are under attack. Previous Administration Rules helped end the skurage of black lung disease and it current dol proposed a roll back of protections for construction and Shipyard Workers who are exposed to the toxic berillium and is jettison work on toxic chemicals and combustible dust. Its unclear whether theyll file a december 1 deadline. Without this deata, there are questions about how ocea will secure needed to work sites for workers who are at greater risk. We want to make sure theyre targeted without this information that cant be done. 1 5th cuts 1. 3 billion, which is a 40 reduction compared to current levels. This threatens access to jobs and Skills Development programs that workers need to secure better paying jobs and while i hope the expansion of apprenticeships remains a bipartisan issue, the questions regarding the departments plans, for examplethal signal it will allow federal support for apprenticeships relying solely on employer standards but theres no clarity on whether this will produce high quality Transferable Skills and credentials relative to apprenticeships and no indication on how well insure federal dollars only spent on quality programs. I look forward to your testimony and yield back. Persunt to Committee Rules all members will be permitted to submit written statements and without objection it will remain open for 14 days to allow such statements and other extraneus material referenced to be submitted for the official hearing record. Its now my plesher to introduce the honorable r. Alexander acosta. Among his career highlights secretary acosta served in three president ally confirmed senate positions in 2002 appointed to serve as a member of the National Labor relations board. In 2003 he was apointed assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the u. S. Department of justice and from 2005 2009 he served as the u. S. Aturny general for the Southern District of florida. I ask you to raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony youre about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but it truth . Ret the record reflect secretary acosta anszered in the affirmative. Let me briefly remind you of our lighting system. We typically allow five minutes for each witness to present. Although ill be somewhat flexible with your testimony given youre our only witness today. With you begin the light in front of you will turn green. When one minute is left, the light will turn yellow. We understand you have a busy afternoon and have asked for a hard stop at noon. Secretary acosta, youre recognized. Ranking member scott, members of the committee, thank you for the invitation today. Im honored to be it first cabinet officer to appear before the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear here to represent the administration and the hard working men and women of the department of labor and to provide an update on our critical work. At the outset let me just say this has been a remarkable year of growth for the American Economy, for American Workers, job seekers and job creators. Some highlights as the chairwoman mentioned, since january 2017 the American Economy has created nearly 1. 5 million jobs. Gdp as grown at 3 or more for two consecutive quarters. This is great news for Retirement Savings. Yet employment rate as decreased to 4. 1 , the lowest in just about 17 years. And the number of open fullf had time positions in the American Economy is at near allf had time high of 6. 1 million open and unfilled jobs. Job creators want to hire and job seekers want to work. And the fact that we have 6. 1 open million jobs speaks to the strength of the American Economy. Since becoming labor secretary ive made the a point to travel, to leave washington when i can and visit different places across the nation. I visited the ford rouge facility where a new f150 rolls off the Assembly Line and i met with apprentices that are receiving wonderful and strong workplace education. Another place that i visited. If you havent been there, i would commend tattoo you. It looks like a modern university is a very high tech, very high touch training center. I went to the graduation for dozens of steam fitters and pipe fitters who are working hard to educate them svls so they could educate new apprentiapprentices. Throughout my travels one thing struck me as very clear our nations work force is an amazing work force. And it is why we are doing so well as a country. It is the best work force in the world, which is one reason why we need to focus so much on Work Force Education. And so we at the department are hard at work to increase Employment Opportunities for all americans, to enforce safe, healthy work places sdwoo insure the departments regulations are commonsense regulations that make sense. And so i think its particular that as the chairwoman mentioned, fitting its here this week. On monday i chaired the inaugural meeting of the president s task force and expansion. President trump signed an executive order and this is an issue that is so important. We should be growing apprenticeships in this nation. Members of the task force included leaders from business, from educational associations, to governors. Community organization leaders, public individuals, all coming together to talk about how to extend apprenticeships across industries especially where theyre under represented. One important take away was the Apprenticeship Programs are not scaling. Theyre not growing at the rate they could grow. Currently its 0. 3 m of the wo force is to scale and grow these further and were engaged in discussion on how to do that. Let me say the trumps focus on expanding access to health coverage. He signed a executive order on how to best aloafor more employers to offer Association Health plans. Yesterday the office sent to the office of regulatory affairs, a notice are eguarding age. That notice became public this morning. Finally in conclusion ret me say on november 9th, the Charlotte Observer published an oped co authored by the chairwoman and myself. I want to conclude by reading from this because i think it captures much of what were looking for on the Work Force Education issue and it says when americans make career choices they should be encouraged to consider a broad range of options. That was the case for us referring to dr. Fox and myself. A university is right for many young people yet not it only route to career success. We need to change the perception of a single right career path. To that end were encouraging leaders from business, labor and trade associations to recognize the benefits of apprenticeships. It goes on to say were partners with it comes to modernizingjf Work Force Education process. With over 6 million americans looking for jobs and over 6 million open nation wide, its time to modernize that we prepare americans for it work force and thats to respect all career choices made to develop the skills that will lead them to excellent family sustaining and finally let me acknowledge my written testimony did not make the deadline. I apologize for that responsibility is mine. Im not happy it did not make the deadline. I do want to apologize. Thank you very much, mr. Acosta. As i mentioned in my opening remarked, we will have to because i believe in the interest of all the members here to give every member an opportunity to ask questions because of the hard stop. We will confine our questioning time to three minutes. I will recognize my sfrfl three minutes. Mr. Secretary i appreciate the recent efforts to if krj success in the job core program, including by suspending or ending Center Operations when they consistently fail to meet the needs of the students. What steps will they take to insure the safety and hold Center Operators accountable. We received a detailed letter with questions from your office. And they touch upon and agriculture runs several of the job core centers and so were in the enter agency. And were concerned about it it level of safety and violence. Weve implemented a zero tolerance policy where if individuals engage in violence or if theres safety concerns, individuals will not be that job center. They will not be part of the program. That is a start. In my opinion we need to take a hard look at how the job core centers are organized. We need to ask if it makes sense to have such a broad range of ages in the job core center. Students ranging in age from 16 to 25 all housed in a Residential Center and for me that is an issue of gracve concern and i think more broadly we need to look at program and measure it on out puts as posed to inputs. Its not how many are there but how many graduate, how many go on to get jobs. How successful are it sethe cen. Sometimes we just measure and you see this times in Higher Education where many are familiar with the enrollments but less familiar with a Graduation Rates and the job rates and taking a page from a trend that we see in Higher Education accreditation. I think its important that job center is also focussed on out put measuremeasure. Thank you, mr. Secretary. You may not have enough time to answer this entire question but i want to get it on the record and ask that we get a more robust response from you. I apreciate the departments actions in rescinding the harmful persuader rule but id like to ask about what further plans you have for the it office of Labor Management standards, olms, specifically what steps will you take to insure this agency can again provide robust oversight on behalf of Union Workers and again, in the interest of time i will ask that you give us a written response to that so i dont init fringe on the time of other members. Thank you, chairwoman. Thank you very much. I understand it Ranking Member will defer and so i will recognize ms. Davis for three minutes. Thank you, madam chair and madam secretary for joining us this morning. I know you agree with me on your importance of apprenticeships. And you mentioned they would be set by certified subject matter experts. I had the opportunity to visit switzerland and take what we all thought was a reasonably deep dive if had to their system and to understand the really infrastructure that has been built around it over many years. It was clear to us that while the industries lead the programs that there is government involvement in establishing the prestige and of quality. Could you give us and i know its short amount of time but where do you see that federal role and could you address registration process, certification and really what happens with federal dollars, especially if we need to mitigate against what people might call quick upstarts that arent providing the kind of ba background students need. Let me say i share that you and i do share a great interest in Apprenticeship Programs. And as we go forward it it is critical and important that we maintain high quality apprenticeships. As we talk to leaders across the nation, theres great interest but the registered Apprenticeship Program is viewed as cumbersome. The registration process takes a long time. In addition to registering at the department of labor, individuals have to register with various state work force committees and so an individual or Company Interested in having 30 or 40 apprenticeships by the time they look at the registration process at it department of labor and the registration process of various work force committees, theyre making a calculus that they shouldnt engage at all. So were looking to develop a system that can streamline the certification process that would be flexible and really depend industry by industry. So by example, lets take the building trades. You have these Labor Management groups that come together and tave rr really scaled up these Apprenticeship Programs in amazing ways. They spend nearly a billion dollars in federal sector money setting up 1600 Centers Across the nation. And so the vision is wouldnt it be wonderful if we can find ways to bring parties together, labor, management, trade associations in setting up apprenticeships that are sellable, that have credentials that can go from institution to institution. I appreciate that and i know that were talking beyond the trades as well. But i hope youll be open to seeing how we integrate that. Because i think what we heard repeat repeatedly is you do need have that over arching role and i appreciate your concern. Thank you. Thank you, ms. Davis. Youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chair and welcome to the secretary. One, im very excited about the Association Health plans. As a Business Owner, a Small Business owner being able to associate and buy insurance across the state line has if credible opportunities to epihad us lower costs and increase and provide more affordable coverage for people. So we see the success and the self insured plans. We see success in the christian ministries. Certainly. As i mentioned the draft was sent to omb and is pending. Im limited in how much i can talk about it as its currently still a draft. But Association Health plans generally will provide and do provide an opportunity for often Small Businesses to come together and create scale. That scale will redice it cost of health care in important ways. First, because there had scale, theres more negotiating power. Rather than every business having to have its own plan it administers, theres one Central Administration and finally because theres a larger risk pool, the variation lessens as the risk pool grows as you well know and as a result, theres more predictability, more certainty and therefore it cost of uncertainty is lessened and not passed on to the american individual who is buying health care. And so for all those and other reasons the there is a history of them reducing the price and benefitting the consumer. I very agree. Im excited about it grouping up and get larger with our businesses and i know it will low r our costs. I have a passion and have always had had for pension savings. One of my concerns, i agree with my colleagues on that. Completely do. But my concern is it would lower income people and new businesses because i was a new business at one time in my life and we were able to start a pension plan and then grow our plan to where we then did have a fudoucheiary. As youre aware the best interest standard went into effect in june. The other part of the rule that had had many of the remedies and remedy options available are the subject of a proposed rule making that is pending at omb. The title of that notice would make clear that there is an 18month e tension if that notice goes forward. I yield back. Thank you, for had smr. Secreta. Thank you, madam chairwoman and mr. Secretary i would invite you to come to eastern connecticut and see a sizing up of Apprenticeship Programs seeded by federal dollars through the Work Force Innovation fund using fitzgerald act standards which applies not only to the shipyard i wr were reclausing the submarine force but the small chain, the small guys who have initial fears about taking on apprenticeship regulations and found actually that the process was very flexible and manageable. I think you would benefit from seeing a sizing up, dramatic sizing up, 3,000 hires this year as again we move forward to enlarge our undersea fleet and i have a letter from the eastern Connecticut Work force board that has data and statistics about aagain tremendous success thats happening with fitzgerald act standards in place. Without objection. The other question i want to jump in is a number of us have been working on work place violence trends that are happening. Your department reported an uptick. 27,000 incidents reported last year up from the prior year. Again the last administration committed to using the general duties clause to develop work place standards and guidelines to help again it front lines in the Opioid Crisis dealing with whats coming through the emergency room doors causing serious injuries. We had an event in the capitol where a nurse from the state of connecticut who worked at a psyc psycho unit was shattered her hip and fema bone. And the fact the department has suspended that initiative that as been the result of a goa study is kind of amazing to those of us who have been following this issue. Do you believe work place violence is an issue for your department to set up standards and epihad people trying to do the right thing, the care givers in our society . Thank you for both questions. First respect to the first quickly let me say i appreciate the comments. Ive heard very good things about that particular shipyard and just to put something on the table and elay any concerns. Irrespective of what alternatives we provide the registered Apprenticeship Program is going forward. This does not have to be an either or proposition. Were interested in expanding the program but that does not mean we would pull back on anything already working. With respect to the second point, certainly work place violence is a very important issue to address and im happy to maybe follow up with your staff, get more details on your particular concern and address it and follow up. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Courtney. Mr. Guthrie, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you for being here. I appreciate it. I worked extensively with them on east ops. I have ive seen experience and seen the ownership plans one particularly in my district has given people not just Retirement Security but great wealth. They had to have financial counseling to handle how much their lifestyle would increase when they retired. Which is the goal. The problem is in the last seven years the Previous Administration enforcement against esops there were more in the past thri35 years. I know theres a concern that maybe previously but id like oo to talk about your view of them. Were trying to not increase these or move forward and i understand the argument is we dont peoples entire retirement tied up in one enterprise. But i think weve learned were still struggling they are tied up in existence of a single enterprise. If your business fwoes out of business thatd guaranteed it to you, you lose that guarantee. A good example was whenever there is an enforcement opportunity at action against an esop, it started with is penas. It didnt start with lets see whats moving forward and i think everybody here would say there needs to be adequate regulation and appropriate enforcement. So if you would talk about esops and your view of them and is the department of labor intentionally trying to keep them from growing and would you be willing just pub lackly we talk about working with it community to make sure one, people are protected, but two, theyre allowed to create the wealth they create for people. Thank you for the question. Let me start off by making the broad statement that we, as a policy matter do not have any concerns about esops and in fact i think e srkesops have many advantages. Making emploies part owners, it empowers individuals. I think Many Companies have done quite well using it as part of their strategy to make employees feel like theyre part of the company. One subject i like to watch and a second job. Lets make a career path. Lets have for example, a cashier to store manager Work Force Education programs so someone feels theyre not just doing a job but they have a career path and a certain employer. I have five seconds left and i want to say beverly with the great onyx job core is here today. She was in town and i know shes interested in job corishis as well. I know the chairmans going to take my time. Yield back. Thank you, madam chair, thank you mr. Secretary for being here. Do you or the Department Support the right to organize and collectively bargain . Yes. Both i and it department recognize individuals right to organize and to collectively bargain. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, were rapidly aproaching the 2020 census and we know its mandated by a constitution and we know why we have it because so many resources are determative by whats in the senses. But past directors have said its woefully underfunded. What are you doing to insure we have an accurate census in 2020 . Well, i certainly thing having an accurate census is important and critical. As youre awear the bureau of labor statistics that conducts surveys on unemployment rates, open jobs and it does work with the department of the census. Or with the census bureau. The primary budget responsibility for the census really should go to the department of commerce. Let me say though that the statistical agencies all work very closely and im certainly apy to take this back to the bureau of labor statistics and ask them if it they have any suggestions i could pass along to my colleague, secretary ross. I want to bring to your attention that right now we believe it is significantly underfunded and we want to be sure we have an accurate census. So thank you for looking into it. In october of this year the administration announced two interim final rules that would allow moral and religious objectives to contraceptive coverage. On what Legal Authority did you do that . Well, congresswoman, as you mentioned it interim final rules that were announced allow a religious exemption to contraceptive coverage. It does not mandate but it alows i understand what the does. On what Legal Authority . It allows individuals to exercise that option. Those rules were if acted persunt the administrative procedures app. Its well known and set out by congress and it alows agencies to enact rules through proper notice and comment and all those rules went through apa. They went through the omb process and they were so its not based on law, its just based on process, policy. Thank you i yield back. Thank you for being here today. Im honored to serve as the republican cochair of the job core caucus because it is a program i truly believe in and ive seen the benefits first hand. The keystone job core center play as significant role in our community. Back when i was mayor, students from the keystone helped build sidewalks around city hall and design trash resep ruicals during the downtown beautification project and ive had had numerous job core students intern in my office. I was disappointed to see earlier this year the employment and Training Administration which falls within your department anounce severe cuts to job cores student slots despite a 1 m funding increase from congress. I appreciate your department rescinded these just last week but i want to make sure a similar situation doesnt provide in the future. Can you say why eta cut job corp students slots and due to it faced fiscal management under the obamaed a m ed administrati you if sure what youre doing to make sure its appropriately managing the job corps budget . Thank you for the question and i noted for was an article in i believe the hazeltine paper that doctorsed this issue more generally. Let me say the letter that went out from the eta Agency Within the department of labor, my understanding that went out in anticipation of what would be perceived as a funding reduction when in fact as you just mentioned it funding reduction did not materialize and although we dont have a final conference bill. It appears at least on the house and senate side that there is funding reduction may not materialize and given that we have received a letter. Now if it funding levels change, obviously youll have to address that. Let me say more generally, it might make sense to start a discussion among the co chairs of that caucus. Because the Job Corp Program in one way is a Wonderful Program that provides a lot of Work Force Education and it lead to jobs, it can change lives. And another way there is the significant safety concerns. There inefficiencies, many sole source contracts that raise concerns. For me its not the traditional way to issue government contracts and i think its appropriate for more fullsome discussion to better use taxpayer dollars to fulfill a mission you just mentioned, puing individuals to work. Thank you and thank you for your work. Mr. Poles. Thank you, Ranking Member scott, secretary acosta. I think we all agree apprentice. Ships are a promising mod tool put students on a path to good paying jobs. We recently put aprentsships. Several Hundred High School students are participatinpartic. These aprentsships are especially valuable when tied to transferable credit should a student choose to go on to a two or fouryear university. They can provide taxfree education to their employees. This is really a linchpin helping to incent vise apprenticeships and continuing education. Unfortunately house tax bill in its current form that were voting on this week eliminates that benefit. Secretary costa, do you support continued assistance from the tax code . Thank you for question. Let me just note at the outset, it sounds like these are examples of apprenticeships that arent registered apprenticeships. And precisely the times of apprenticeships that you mentioned we want to support and expand, which goes back to the earlier discussion about should there be alternatives to the registered apprenticeship. And one of the one telephone topics of the task force is going to take up is what are the appropriate incentives to provide to support apprenticeships . Now the tax code is a large and complex code. And we want to strive to make it fairer and simpler and simplify. So putting aside whether or not this particular provis ion is te most appropriate, let me say obviously we want to find ways to support and incentivize Apprenticeship Programs, whether registered or whether it sounds like 6n this is a dual Enrollment Program where individuals are receiving great, great benefit. But wouldnt it do the opposite of incentivizing it if you were to get rid of the deduction for employers to provide 5,000 of taxfree Education Assistance to their employees . Well, ill give you an example. I was speaking to the American Association of public and land grant universities yesterday. And i made the point that universities offer a semester abroad and universities offer a semester at sea. So why not offer a semester working in a Public Defenders Office or a state Attorneys Office for pay as part of an Apprenticeship Program. So thats correct. If you want all the students to do apprenticeships with the government and learn how to do government jobs, the tax incentive is not useful. If crew want them to do real jobs in the private sector creating value, the tax incentive is very important. Have i additional questions about protecting worker ill submit for the record since were out of time. Certainly. And i yield back the balance of my tile. Thank you, mr. Polish. Mr. Burn, youre recognized for three minutes. Mr. Secretary, thank you for coming today. One of the things that unites everybody around this table is we share your passion for doing something about the Workforce Development of all of our workers in america. I share your frustration with the number of duplicative and ineffective job programs within your agency and really across the national government. Within the employment and Training Administration alone, there are nine, nine programs administered primarily at the national level. So twopart question. What can you do about that dupe polit duplicative and ine ivive ineff . Congressman, thank you for question. Let me say this. I have spoken to governors from both sides of the aisle, all of whom have expressed frustration over the limitations on the spending in workforce education. They have said my state is not like the other state. And my state is different. And in my particular state, i think we should do it this way. And ive heard from governors on both sides of the aisle on this. I have very little discretion in waiving restrictions on how to spend workforce money. And i have very few or very little discretion on how to eliminate duplicative programs. We have in the budget that was submitted, asked for Waiver Authority. And i told governors that im all that i would favor Waiver Authority so long as governs would provide a plan for this is how were going to do it, and, this is the important part, and an outcome goal. And so for me, its less a question of how are you going to spend it and more you going to provide this number of graduate, this number of Job Opportunities . How do you develop the outcomes . Ultimately, those questions are in congress, and you have the authority to authorize waivers or not. You have the authority to merge those programs. Weve asked for that in the budget documents. But that authority will come to congress. Im going ask my last question. You may not be able to finish it in time youve got. So if you could give me a written supplement, i would appreciate it. As youre a way, many multiemployer Pension Funds are underfunded, which threatens the entire system. And the Pension Guarantee Corporation which back stops multiemployer plans estimates that there are more than 100 multiemployer Pension Plans that are in critical or declining status. I know chairman wahlberg who leads our help subcommittee is well aware of these issues and takes them very seriously. What steps are you taking to address this issue that threatens Retirement Security . Congressman, this is a critical issue. It is an issue ooh that has not been fully addressed in the past, and is rapidly not rapidly becoming, but actually is past the point where there is an easy solution. This is something that we will have to work closely with congress on, and im happy to follow up. Well, my time is up. If you would give us a more thorough written response, i would appreciate it. And i yield back. Thank you, mr. Byrne. Miss bonn ahmici, youre recognized. Thank you for being here. You are the first cabinet level secretary to be at this committee this year. And i trust the chairwoman and members agree that hearing from representatives of this administration is important especially to our oversight responsibilities. And i hope well see secretary devos and the hhs secretary here soon. So there are many issues were discussing today. Im going focus my time on the ability of oregonians and americans to plan and save for secure retirement. We were making some progress under the Obama Administration. It seems that some of that progress is being rolled back. So i have to start a few yes or no questions. Most americans are not spending their days studying the financial markets. They rely on advisers to help them invest for retirement. So do you agree that saving for retirement involves significant Financial Decisions and that oregonians and americans deserve Financial Advice thats in their best interest . Congresswoman, obviously i do agree that saving for retirement involves significant Financial Decisions. And that they should receive the best Financial Advice available. Advice consistent with how they choose to receive advice, and advice that im going reclaim my time. Have i more questions serve. Who is saving for retirement in the United States now getting advice that is in their best interests . And so so congresswoman, everyone is a very broad statement. It certainly it is there are millions and millions of individual americans. And we at the department prosecute cases where individuals have not received appropriate advice. And so everyone certainly is far too broad. And again, reclaiming my time, we sat in this Committee Room and had unanimous members of the financial industry say investment, people investing advise information in their best interest. I hope the department will implement the conflict of interest fiduciary rule. Will you provide assurance to the public that the department will protect their hardearned Retirement Savings . Congresswoman, we are working quite diligent to do what is in the best interest, as as my colleague at the ssc has said 401 k . Americans have worked very hard for their Retirement Savings. It is important to protect those Retirement Savings. I appreciate that workers in oregon and across the country with limited access to employersponsored retirement programs have limited access. And congress has not expanded access to those programs. So some states, including oregon stepped up and established Retirement Savings programs for private Sector Workers who who do not have an employersponsored plan. But this year President Trump signed legislation that nu nullified rules that make it easier for localities to set up these programs. What would you say to the workers now whose access to good Retirement Savings programs is in jeopardy. What should they do now . Congresswoman, this goes to a broader question. And i do think it is important, particularly as bls comes out with a study on the economy this spring that we engage in a larger discussion so that individuals that have various employment relationships can have access to employer benefits. Thank you. Yield back. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you, mr. Bonamici. Mr. Lewis, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chair. Over the past through years this committee has conducted numerous hearings focusing on the departments overtime rule making which was initiatived by the Obama Administration in 2014, i believe. The committee has had significant concerns with the Previous Administrations approach. Weve heard testimony about the negative effects of this rule making, especially on Small Businesses, nonprofit organizations, institutions of Higher Education. Among a number of stakeholders adversely impacted. In july, the wage initiation a question for information related to overtime regulations related to white collar employees. Mr. Secretary, could you provide us with an update with respect to the information collected, where we are in this process, how its going to be used to inform the revisions going forward, and what kind of clarity well need for reviewing the information . Certainly, congressman. As the congressman is aware, this was also brought up in the federal court, and the federal court enjoyed the implementation of that overtime rule. Ive said previously and ill just repeat here. It hasnt been updated since 2004, and it is in need of updating. Life has become much more expensive. The going to the 47,000 level, not only created a shot to the system, whatokn was found to be unlawful by a federal court. And so the request for information allowed us to gather data, to ask some important questions to the public about how we are going to write a new overtime rule that will be in accordance with legal standards. Were in the process of doing that. I believe we received over 200,000 comments. And were in the process of reviewing those comments. Let me also say that we have appealed the decision. And we have appealed it because that decision was somewhat we believe it was clear, but it could be read as less than clear with respect to the departments authority to set the overtime rule in the first place. And one of the issues with the overreach it is brought into question the departments authority. So we are appealing that decision to have certainty that the department actually has the authority to write this rule, which i believe we do. Any personal views on if once you get the authority, the deleterious effects of having the executive agency determine who is a manager and who isnt and at what level they should be paid . Well the department of labor has been in we have determined for decades and so the overtime rule has been in effect. The focus of this particular exercise is to update it. And it does need to be updated. There is certainly room for a broader discussion. But for now, this particular the particular question on the table is how should the overtime rule be updated . Has it been updated since 2004 . And it really is in need of updating. My name is up. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Takano, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chair. Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us this michael jordaor. Mr. Secretary, prepared long reports, but since were short on time, i want to note that on the issues of joint employer, fiduciary role, this administration has consistently sided with business interests instead of workers and worker advocates. And i find it deeply troubling. But i want to focus right now on the overtime rule. You know, in 1975, more than 60 of fulltime salary workers fell below the salary threshold for overtime protections. In 2016, that number was less than 7 . The obama rule would have covered 30 of salaried workers at the 47,000 level and change. But the threshold of 31,000 only covers around only covers around 13 , a mere uptick of maybe 4 or 5 Percentage Points of the workforce is covered. I would argue this is not a time for modest change. We needed to update this a long time ago. And i understand the shock argument. But really, were talking about only 7 of salaried workers being covered. I think its time to stand with American Workers who deserve to be paid for their overtime. Now let me just say that, you know, the last year the Obama Administration issued a rule that would have expanded overtime protections to over 4 million workers and strengthened protections for an additional 9 million. That salary threshold under the rule was set just above 47,000 and was supported by the National Employment law project and other worker advocates. Big business organizations, including the chamber of commerce believe that the threshold should have been significantly lower. Now does the Administration Support the threshold set by the Obama Administration . And supported by worker advocates . Or does it support the business communitys position . Congressman, thank you for the question. And let me note at the outset, when we talk about the overtime rule, we tend to talk about it in the context of salary thresholds. But if you look at the law passed by this congress, this congress did not say whether or not youre exempt or not exempt, whether or not youre subject to overtime or not is set by a salary level. But it set a very different test. The salary level is in essence a shorthand way of getting to the law. Now ua federal court looked at this. And the federal court said that the way the 47,000 was set and that level was not in accordance with the law. And so its not simply do we support and you chose not to contest or appeal that decision. And you do believe that the that you have the authority to set the salary threshold, is that correct . And so i was saying, irrespective of whether we support or not, and we chose not to support that level because we believe both it is a shot to the system and not in accordance with the law. We do believe we have authority to set a salary level that acts as a proxy for the test secretary, just to be clear, you do believe you have the authority, but yet your department chose not to appeal that decision . Congressman, we appealed the decision with respect to the authority, not with respect to the salary level. Thank you. My time is up. Uyield back. The gentlemans time is expired. Mr. Wahlberg, youre recognized for three minutes. I thank you the chairman and thank the secretary for being here. I appreciate a number of things that you have pushed forward and worked on. Let me ask you. The Retirement Security issue is big on our venue and our consideration, policies that empower americans to put money aside for retirement is a leading priority for this committee. Safe harbor. A safe harbor annuity issue we believe needs some more clarity in how its dealt with. So let me ask you this question. Does the Department Plan to revise the existing annuity safe hasher to make sure it provides a certainty that Plan Sponsors need to consider these types of products . Congressman, he will have to consult with the department and get back to you with that answer. Id appreciate that. That is an issue that comes up as we consider the pbgc question. And that was addressed thus far. Anything relative to making sure that we have safe harbors, that we have better opportunity, it would be greatly appreciated. Congressman . Yes . Let me just say as a general matter, i think safe harbors are very important. I think having there is a value to certainty and predictability. And that value is substantial. And so i understand the premise of your question. Thank you. Jumping over to a totally different area, silica. Under the Previous Administration, osha promulgated a new related to the exposure of silica in the Construction Industry that i and many other members of congress have concerns with. We believe its extremely challenging for many in the Construction Industry to implement and comply with this rule. Are you willing to further stay the enforcement of this rule until you have worked to ensure that this rule is feasible and your employees are able to adequately educate employees throughout the country . Thank you once again. The si silica rule is a sensible rule. We provided a 30day extension to provide the parties time to address this. The parties were a little late at coming back to the table. But it is my hope that the parties can come together, that they can express their concerns, and that we can find a sensible outcome to this rule. That would be an improvement. So i appreciate that. Thank you, madam chairman. I yield back. Thank you very much. Ms. Bluntrochester, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, chairwoman fox, Ranking Member scott and secretary acosta for being here. In your testimony, your written testimony, you briefly discussed employment of people with disabilities. And as im sure youre aware, nearly one in five americans have a disability. About almost 57 million individuals. And in the interest of time, ill submit the bulk of my questions in writing. But i would love to hear about competitive integrative employment. Also clab brace amongst agencies like rsa and how youre going to Work Together. But because have i very limited time, i want to focus on one other question. The president s proposed budget calls for about a 40 cut to workforce, innovation and opportunity act programs. And also, the elimination of the Senior CommunityService Employment program. Even though Congress Just reauthorized the Older Americans act on a bipartisan basis. What is the rationale behind eliminating the Senior CommunityService Employment program . Congresswoman, briefly, first let me say that i thank you for the questions on individuals with disabilities, and something that i heard that i thought was a useful way to think about this is that were all temporarily abled. Because at some point in our life, most of us at some point will have a disability, particularly as time goes by. Going to your second question, the hope in the budget and ultimately that will be up to congress, and congress may not agree, is to try to consolidate all the disparate programs into one Large Program so that there are efficiencies so, so that there are flexibilities at the state level. The budget made some hard decisions. And in congress has the discretion to change those decisions, to pass the budget that it wishes. But the intent of the budget was so rather than have the money in separate programs, to combine them into one Large Program. So mr. Secretary, its my understanding that on this program in particular, which has been around maybe since 1965, that the Performance Measures the Program Actually preceded the Performance Measures. So can you just help me understand, if youre going to consolidate, wouldnt you maybe get rid of programs that arent effective, but maintain ones that impact Senior Citizens across our country . Well, by consolidating, it doesnt mean that the program isnt in existence. It means its not a separate budget item. But where it is successful, i would argue you want to continue programs that are successful, that have positive outcomes. And you want to look at those Outcome Measures and focus the monies whether they come through a general budget line or through a specific budget line on just those outcomes. Were getting to the same end point. My time is expired, but i would encourage you to support senior employment programs in addition to employment of people with disabilities. Thank you so much. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. Mr. Smucker, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you, mr. Secretary for being here. Id like to just take briefly a minute or so to thank you for your leadership in the department and thank the administration for the focus on creating opportunity for americans through job creation through creating an environment where businesses are focused on growing and creating those jobs. I can tell you businesses in my area responding was just part of a round table recently in my area where Business Owner of a family farm said we feel like weve been unleashed again. So businesses are investing. Theyre growing their businesses and theyre creating jobs. Thank you so much. Its refreshing to see that kind of approach and that kind of focus. Im also very pleased with the attention and focus on Apprenticeship Program. One of the things ive always noticed, having served in the state senate and now in this position, you have individuals who are unemployed, and at the same time, you have businesses on the other hand who are looking to fill jobs. And its becoming theyre almost desperate to fill jobs. What it really takes in fact, the best way to promote upward mobility, lifting people out of poverty is connecting people with great paying jobs that are available. I think Apprenticeship Program is a tremendous tool to do that. Its one thats been underutilized here. Im very, very thrilled with the initiative. I look forward the working the administration to create scaleable Apprenticeship Programs across the country. And with that, i have about a minute. I do have a question. One of the areas that businesses have been concerned about in my district is on osha compliance. And, in fact, employers understand that it is important to provide a safe workplace, a healthy workplace for their employees. But are concerned about the approach that osha has taken over the past number of years where its more punitive rather than collaborative. So id like to hear your thought on that. What ideas do you have to create an environment where businesses are receiving assistance to comply and to assure that they have a safe workplace . Congressman, thank you for your words, and thank you for the question. Briefly, let me say on the one hand, we have asked for additional funding for a program called vpp, which is in essence, a compliance Assistance Program, a voluntary compliance program. And as a general matter where you have employers who are trying to do the right thing, you want the help them do the right thing. Let me say that has to be balanced with a vigorous enforcement program. And so where you have an employer that has engaged in repeated violations, in willful violations, my view is you have to enforce and enforce vigorously. And as a former u. S. Attorney, if need be, you should even refer those where there is willful violations that result in death or serious harm, refer those for prosecution. I think its important to have compliance assistance and a very fulsome compliance assistance for all those employers who are just trying to do the right thing, while we acknowledge that as with every situation the congresswoman earlier asked me to say. Does every american. Not every employer is like that. Where the employer is repeated and willful, then there needs to be vigorous enforcement. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Norcross, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chair and secretary acosta. Good to see you again. Seems were hearing quite a bit again about the Assistance Program which has been around since the middle ages. They refer to it as the other fouryear degree. It is a system that works. Unfortunately, the United States is primarily the building trade tour doing such a great job. And when you were asked about the job centers and some of the issues that were taking place there, i was really happy to hear you talk about Graduation Rates and does it lead to a job. The piece of paper on the wall Means Nothing if you have a job. When we were in switzerland, they said the United States has the best trained Unemployed People in the world. Which goes to the point in the question that we want to talk about. White collar commercial jobs is a nice area that we can go into. But we want to make sure, particularly with the trades who have a proven history of doing this great, were not throwing the baby out with the bath water. Their Graduation Rates are between 80 and 90 . But what we had found over the course of the last decade, not everybody is following that. A, they never graduate. And this is indicative of a program that isnt working. So when youre looking at creating the next generation or you want to keep the very issues that we talked about, Graduation Rates and does it lead to a job. Congressman, absolutely. I think the outcome measurements are so critical, whether its a university, whether its an Apprenticeship Program, whether it is a hybrid. How many graduate and does it lead to a job is the goal. And thats what we should focus on. One of the issues that we found coming off the Great Recession is we have all these openings. Training somebody for a job that doesnt exist is nothing short of cruel. These cycles in the construction ebbs and flows. So if we had the amount of people ready to go to work today, that means they were unemployed for many years. So the industry does react, but there is always a lag here. The system works remarkably well. Remarkably well, as you pointed out with virtually no federal or state money. But there are standards. And we heard from others. Nobody wants to burden the employers. They have a great way of giving input. But everybody cant create their own standards, no core competency. So when we go to look at the new system, as susan davis talked about, we want to make sure that were in partnership. That joint programs are the ones that work best. And i yield back my time. Thank you, mr. Norcross. Mr. Ferguson, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chairman and mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being here today. A couple of questions. First of all, as i understand it, on july 6th of this year, the department of labor published a request for information examining the fiduciary rules. That correct . I dont recall if thats the exact date. But thats generally correct. Okay, good. Now that the Comment Period is closed, im assuming that the department is reviewing and considering the next steps. Congressman, that is correct. We are. Okay. Had there been discussions with the sac on the next steps with the fiduciary regulation . Congressman, i in a wall street journal opinionated editorial that i published, i very publicly as a matter of fact suggested that the sec should be a partner in this effort. The sec declined to be a full partner in the past administration. And i do believe that they have an Important Role to play. They are part of the regulatory structure of this industry. And should be a partner, and therefore, yes, we have had discussions. That is good to hear because weve heard a lot from our constituents that believe that the dol and the sec should be collaborating on this to address the issues and solve the problems associated with it. So thank you for your commitment to continue going down that road. Also, i want to make a comment about the approval of the georgia wesap application. I want to thank you so much for that support in learning whats going on in our district. You know, being able to do this and work with states, and particularly the Georgia Consortium for advanced technical training, we see this as a great opportunity to begin to prepare our young people to go to work in a 21st century economy. And its a step in aligning our Education System with the direction that the economy is going. I know that you and the administration are very much focused on closing the skills gaps. Its something we believe is vitally important to do. And we believe that innovative apprenticeships are a very valuable part of this. So, again, i want to thank you for the work that yall are doing on that. I think that that is something that every person on this committee can agree with that preparing our young people to take advantage of the jobs that are being created is vitally important. So thank you, madam chairman. I yield back. Thank you, congressman. Thank you very much. Ms. Adams, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, chairwoman fox and Ranking Member scott, and thank you, mr. Secretary, for being here. I was interested in the response that you gave to congresswoman fudge. So i want to follow up for just a moment. Controlling family timing and size can be key to unlocking opportunities for economic success, education, and equality and access to contraception can help women complete their education and join the workforce, planning, delaying and spacing births will also appear to help women achieve their education and career goals. And so with all of the economic benefits that access to contraceptive bring, it seems a bit illogical to me for the department to issue interim final rules that erodes a womans right to access to comprehensive Preventative Health care. My question is, have you done the department, have you done a complete assessment of the number of women and dependents and risa plans that could lose access to contraceptive coverage, and if so, whats the number . Congresswoman, as i said previously, the rule recognizes that for some organizations, their religious freedom should allow them to not offer that coverage. It provides the option for that organization. It was enacted pursuant to the administrative procedures act. Within the apa, there is a requirement that the apa process engage in a cost benefit analysis. And that would be contained within that cost benefit analysis. Thats something that we certainly can provide to you or to your staff. So you have done an assessment. You know how many . Is that what youre saying . What im saying is that within any rule, there is a cost benefit analysis that takes place. And that assessment is required by the administrative procedures act. And so that assessment let me just okay, thank you very much. And i would like to receive that. So according to the National Womens law center, when we think about the wage and someone raised the questions about the minimum wage, the federal minimum wage now is 7. 25 an hour. The average cost of a full years worth of Birth Control pills without insurance was the equivalent of 51 hours of work before the acas contraceptive benefit was imposed. So when its affected, women on average are paid less than men. I dont see how you justify forcing them to pay more than men for Preventative Health coverage. And ill just submit my other questions to you. And thank you very much. Madam chair, yield back. Thank you, ms. Adams. Ms. Handle, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chairman. Good morning. Thank you, secretary, for being here. Just a quick question on the workforce innovation and opportunity act, which as you know in july of 20 instituted a new account canability program with measurable performance. Are there other programs within department of labor to which this type of approach could be applied . Congresswoman, thank you for the question. I believe it was instituted a year ago, and that states were responsible for submitting the outcomes, i believe about two to three weeks ago, it was at some point in october. I dont remember the exact dateo were in the process of reviewing that data. Once that data is reviewed, im happy to provide further thoughts on what that data shows. Id also like the say that while most states did submit the data, there i believe are seven states that are still working on the submission of that information. And were providing that hopefully georgia is not one of them. And if so, if you would let me know so i can foul. I will. I believe there is seven. I dont remember all seven. Okay. But i will we are working with them to provide compliance assistance so that they understand their responsibilities. Super. If you would be willing to once you sorted through all of the data, either you or someone from the team perhaps send something in writing to chairman fox for the whole committee, i think we would all be very interested in how that Accountability Program is playing out. That is a fair request. Super. Thank you so much. Madam chairman, i yield back. Thank you very much. M youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you for being here today. Before accepting the nomination to be secretary of labor, you were the dean of a very successful i may add dean of the Florida International law school. Floridas international universal has been at the forefront of standing with daca students. Do you stand by Floridas International commitment to support and protect our daca students . Congressman, i appreciate your question. I certainly hope that congress resolves this issue and finds a legal solution to this daca issue. And i should add that its the clock is ticking. So i Hope Congress does so expeditiously. Thank you. My district alone has 2400 daca recipients, and a total of 5800 total daca eligible recipients. Removing these individuals from our workforce, our experts have said will decrease our gdp by an estimated 155 million. What in the world is going to what are we going to do to fill this labor gap and other labor gaps across the country if this is not resolved . Do you have a plan for this as secretary of labor . Congressman we have a skills gap. We have a substantial skills gap. And we need to find a solution to daca. It is my sincere hope that congress can take this up and that congress can find the solution. Thank you. I am encouraged by your positive response and i may add that unfortunately, we have not heard that positive a response by other members of the administration. So i commend you. And by your positive response, it only encourages the support for these young people that are members of our military. Theyre teachers. Theyre workers. Theyre students. I think theyre probably the best Economic Development program we can have for the thanksgiving with their aggressive innovativeness, their entrepreneurship, their immigrant hunger to succeed and make america move forward. My final question is according to the new years reports from earlier this year, the result of the administrations antiimmigrant rhetoric under the department of homeland securitys overaggressive enforcement efforts, the department of labor officials have noted a marked uptick in workers reluctance to file complaints against a employer, take part in labor investigation, and even accept back wages collected by the department on behalf of the workers behalf. What is the Labor Department doing to monitor and to respond to this situation and reaffirm this could be a mental protecting individual information during the course of labor investigation. Will you commit to continuing to ensure that the department of labor enforces labor laws, regardless of the persons immigration status . Congressman, that has been a longstanding practice that has been an issue that has gone all the way up to the supreme court, and it is my intent to continue that practice. Thank you so much. Thank you, madam chair. I yield back. Thank you. Mr. Allen, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, chair woman. And thank you, mr. Secretary, for being here with us today. I was in Construction Industry for 35 years before being elected to congress. And just a point of clarification, if i understood you correctly on this silica rule. Has the rule been finalized . And is it being now implemented, or it is going to be different . Ive got people that dont know what theyre out pricing and getting quotes. And this is very expensive to deal with. And so so where are we with this . Are they to comply by this exact rule now . What happens if it changes . And like i say, its very expensive to comply with this thing. Where are we with this . Congressman, i appreciate the question. And i was smiling because the rule is complicated and has multiple dates, which might be the basis for some of this confusion. Parts of the rule are in effect. Parts do not go into effect for some amount of time. You know, the parties to litigation and all sides are represented in this litigation were im told close to settlement. Each side has their own set of concerns. And my view is if there is some common ground, we should look for that common ground. We provided a further 30day extension that has now expired in an effort to get the parties a little bit more time. I was disheartened that rather as often happens, didnt come to the table until right up to the deadline. And so it is my hope that the parties come to the table and come to the table quickly so that we can get this issue resolved. There is an awful lot of confusion. And like i said, there are people that are being faced with huge costs disadvantages on work that theyve already estimated contracts, theyve already signed. And now this rule, they had no way to know what to anticipate the rule might say. Obviously, it is very complicated. Is there any way we can at osha that osha can somehow clarify whats going on and then say, all right, here is where we are. And give the industry some time to adapt to whatever rule we finally come up with. Because, again, its very costly. These people are on fixed costs. I mean, they dont put these compliance things in their estimates to complete the work. So all of the sudden, look you said, predictability is critical in the Business World out there. And it is critical that these people know where we stand with this. I understand, congressman. And we are engaged in efforts to clarify. We will redouble those efforts because it is important that individuals know what is expected of them. I appreciate it. Thank you so much, mr. Secretary. Uyield back. Thank you, mr. Allen. Mr. Desaulnier, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, madam chair, and thank you for having this hearing. Mr. Secretary, thank you for your testimony and your tenor here today. Its encouraging. I dont know if you have ever attended a funeral of an American Worker who has lost their life in a workplace incident. I have. I represented for 30 years in an area of the bay area that has amongst the geographic and per capita hazardous chemical facilities, chemical plants. Michael lost his life because a fortune 500 company, tosco at this time was appealing over 100 citations issued by cal osha just the week before. Two of them, the most concerning that ill always remember that were at the root cause of this incident was that the backup indicators for temperature variations were outside the control room on the unit. Mr. Glanzman that day was unfortunately the junior member. He was sent out to verify that they should shut the unit down. Even though it turned out later under inspection that the written policies that instructed them to do that were being overwritten by oral instructions. Mr. Granzman went out. And the second citation that was being appealed was that should replace the walkietalkie he was using didnt work. We think the last thing he said was shut it down, shut it down. We dont know because he was eviscerated that incident not only took his life, but raised gasoline on the west coast. Another year another four lost their lives in a gruesome explosion and burned to death. Well shut that refinery down, a local government for a year and did a full facilities audit. And the result that of audit was very succinct. Corporate culture caused those deaths. So in that context, forgive for me being suspicious when i see a department that is being cut by 21 million over its last funding of last year osha, 11 million more than the administration asked for. And that your staff did a level thats consistent with the 90s, and it would take 159 years for your inspectors to inspect every facility in the United States. So forgive me for being cynical. But you can help me with my skepticism. Last year in may 12th of 2016, the Previous Administration had a rule making that would instruct employers of over 20 employees in heavy Industries Like this to electronically notify them when there is a lists or workforce injuries. That seems like thats what youre after is efficiency and better results. You have postponed that rule making. The website is up and capable of running as of august. We anticipate that over 300,000 reports will be in. Well be able to track these incidents better. So mr. Glanzman of the future will not have what happened to him. So i would like to know if you plan on setting this up and making it work effective december 1st, and if not, why . Congressman, thank you pour the question. Let me just briefly respond. I understand what your point that youre making. And i understand that because we had a similar incident in miami. And that incident was prosecuted criminally. People died. A boiler blew up. There was a flash steam result. And people died. And it was prosecuted criminally. So i am very much aware of the importance of vigorous prosecution, particularly as i said earlier when addressing one of your colleagues when violations are repeated and when violations are willful. And so sinnial or not, this is something that we take very seriously. With respect to the particular rule that youre addressing, were looking at that rule. We are balancing the issues of privacy. Because it was asking for some information that very detailed and that identified individuals with the needs to get information so that we can engage in appropriate and targeted enforcement. We are moving forward on that. But that does not lessen the seriousness with which we will take instances in particular that are repeated and that are willful. And im perfectly fine referring them to prosecution. As a matter of fact, in other context ive already made clear to my staff that where appropriate, they should refer things to the u. S. Attorneys office. That i am more than happy to encourage u. S. Attorneys offices to take our cases because in addition to civil fines, where you have a culture that is not compliant and that disregards safety matters, that can be a criminal violation. Thank you. I appreciate the time the secretary took to answer the question and did not call time. Because i thought it was a very serious matter. And i wanted to allow the time for that answer. And i appreciate it. Mr. Thompson, youre recognized for three minutes. Chair, thank you. Secretary acosta, good to see you. Thank you for your leadership. Weve heard the word skills gap. Youve used that. It certainly exists. We know by 2020, six million jobs will go unfilled because of a lack of individuals who are qualified and trained. The tax reform bill that be on the floor here within the next 24 hours, thats been estimated to create conditions where a million additional jobs will grow. That will all be for nothing, though, if we dont have individuals who are qualified and trained to fill those positions. So i just want the get your reflections. With many colleagues in this committee and specifically with christian worthy, we introduced a bill that passed out of the house unanimously. It now sits in the senate. I really appreciated your support that youve and the administration generally have said about skillsbased education. And i wanted to just get your given thats a that many jobs that we need to fill, and its so important there is so much opportunity there. Any reflections is the legislation we put forward to the senate, waiting on the senate, will that be helpful to creating those onramps to opportunity for american and American Families . Congressman, thank you for the question. And let me i dont have the detail of the legislation in front of me. So let me answer the question generally. Uopened di saying ive been traveling to different parts of the country and i visited the carpenters facility and the pipe fitters graduation. But ive also visited a Community College in los angeles. I have visited a Community College in reno. I have visited several Community Colleges and too an institution. What i have seen is amazing. Whether its teach iing nursing skills in pittsburgh, teaching h vac in reno, teaching welding in los angeles, what Community Colleges and Vocational Education centers are doing is not just creating jobs, but changing lives. I had an experience where i met with some young men and women. And the folks that ran the institution were there. But i wanted to really hear from them. So i asked everyone else to leave, and i just talked to students. And i wanted to do that because they were kids that came from the street that hadnt finished high school and were coming at this late in life. And what they said was that it was transformative, because they now had apartments. One was about to get their first car. And so i think taking a step back and recognizing that there is no right path for everyone, and that the question is what is the right option for an individual and does it lead to a good job is critical. And so any measure that does that subject to all the fiscal issues we always face as a government i think is something that should be supported. Thank you. Thanks to the chair. Thank you very much. Mr. Christian worthy, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you, chairwoman foxx, and thank you Ranking Member scott for calling this important hearing. And thank you, secretary acosta for coming. Im going to piggyback off of g. T. Thompsons questions. I think this is really important. The bill, its called strengthenening career and Technical Education for the 21st century act. Its one that congressman thompson and i championed. It passed out of the house unanimously. That unfortunately doesnt happen enough with significant pieces of legislation. Its extremely bipartisan. I wanted to get your thoughts about this legislation, whether you and your staff could dock back to us with your thoughts about it. Because we could definitely enlist your support to get it through the senate. This is something that employers are clamoring for right now. Its hr2353, just in case youre wondering what the bill number is. And basically, employers as well as workers, people in my district are clamoring for this bill to be passed. It basically increases transparency. It moves authority for spending a lot of the money from washington to local Community Colleges and high school districts. Increases some resources over time for cashstrapped local school districts, and it also requires that if any federal job training dollars are spent, employers have to be at the table so that people arent trained on skills that are not in demand. So can we get your commitment to take a look at this bill and help us to usher it through the u. S. Senate . Congressman, you certainly can. And let me just pick up on something that you said was very important. Because in every Community College that i have seen, and all of them have been successful, there is an employer partner that is assisting with informing the Community College of what the skills are that need to be taught, and that is also very anxious to hire the graduates. So i think that is ksncritical. Let me also say that that one issue of confusion is that there is an office of Vocational Education at the department of education. We talked about overlaps of workforce education earlier. One of the large overlaps is we have the department of labor. Labor force education and the department of education Vocational Education. And i think the overlap between those two is quite substantial. So let me say im more than happy to return and speak with your staffs. I also think its important to engage the department of education because im told that ultimately, this is within their jurisdiction. I understand. The more allies that we can have on this critical piece of legislation that will help our workers and employers, the better. Absolutely. So i definitely could use your help. And thank you for committing to us youre going to help us. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Rooney, youre recognized for three minutes. First, mr. Secretary, thank you for changing back the administrators interpretations on joint employer and the definition of contractor, et cetera, bringing some kind of sanity back to the Labor Department and the workforce. It sure needs it. Id like to talk about work centers today. Only 6 of workers are represented by unions last year, but the National Unions still bring in hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue per year. A comment was made a while ago about corporate culture, something i know about. Lets talk about union culture. Maybe dues paying Union Members would like to know where their money that is funding these work centers is going. Yet another union boondoggle has been able to operate in a legalfree zone where there is no tracking of their spending. They can have unlimited spending. Theyre independent organizations but the black hand of the unions is behind them. And theyre not subject to union disclosure. What id like to know, now that weve got you in there, what can we do to work to define these things and to the lmras, Labor Organization to rein them in and show the people theyre just a front for labor unions . Congressman, thank you for question. That question was raced previously at another meeting i was at. And then ill provide the same answer, which is its something that were looking at. And happy to follow up with, with your office and your staff probably in few weeks. I hope youll move aggressively, because the people have been waiting a long time to return some balance to the equilibrium and equilibrium to labor versus corporate entities in this country that provide the jobs. So thank you very much. I yield. Thank you very much, mr. Rooney. Mr. Scott . I believe you want us to go ahead . Okay. Mr. Grossman, youre recognized for three minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much. How many employees do you have over there at the department of labor . Congressman, i believe we have about 15,000 give or take. And how many do you get to hire . To try to get a handle of this organization . Very few, congressman. Dont have an exact number. Less than 20 . Less than 30 . More than 30, but less than 100 i would say. Okay. Next question i have. With regard to osha, right now there have been some complaints in my district of people who come in, write citations for what we have to say relatively minor things, sometimes sending out public press releases as far as things that may be minor or easily correctable do. You have any plans to kind of rein in osha . Are you aware of that problem . Congressman, as i said earlier, my perspective on osha enforcement and enforcement in general is where you have individuals that are trying to do the right thing that are trying to comply. There is a value to compliance assistance the same, look, this is how it needs to be done. On the flip side, if you have an employer that is engaged in repeated and willful violations, violations that have resulted in serious harm, we need to be very glef the enforcement. So i think appliance assistance goes hand in hand with the aggressive enforcement. We talked about the lack of i think maybe the number one problem from employers in my district is they cant find people to work. And can think of a couple of things we can do about that. For one thing, of course, we still have a large government bureaucracy. Do you feel that you need all the people who are working for you right now u . Or are you looking into areas of efficiency at least in your little bailiwick, you can maybe decrease the employment and open up some of your folks for work in the private sector . Well, congressman, im certainly there is always room to improve efficiencies. What were looking at right now and where were focussed is particularly on the programic dollars. Because thats by far where most of our spending is and in how we can spend those dollars wisely to focus on outcomes. As i said earlier its not simply particularly in the labor education the Work Force Education side. Not just how many folks are receiving services. But what is the out come. How many graduates and how many jobs . Okay. Next question. To a degree your Organization Deals with help for people. We have a lot of centers in the society. Could you comment on if you feel you have any role in dealing with our kind of income transfer payments as President Trump has said he wants to take this up next year. Would you give us any role you may play in this. Koj man, obviously well be playing a significant role. Particularly when it comes to work force issues. This is an important factor. And as the president has said this will be an issue for next year. Thank you, mr. Gross man. Mr. Wilson you can recognized. Thank you for the leadership and the efforts today. With Ranking Member. We appreciate you and the Administration Strong focus on creating jobs. By expanding industry driven apprenticeship and work base learning. In South Carolina we have found that the most successful programs are industry driven flt for ta reason apprenticeship South Carolina is considered a gold standard. We can make strides by starting with High School Students having opportunity for training for fulfilling lives. In South Carolina bowing with over 9,000 jobs in the charleston area and with the aparen tin ship it has recently kicked off a paid youth Apprenticeship Program. Students attend high school and take career courses. They complete five hours per week of job training at boeing South Carolina. Which produces the worlds most advanced wide body airliner. The 787 10 dream liner. To bring on High School Students as paid interns. These students are working won a special project and reclaimed over 1 million. In what would have been wasted over the first three months of the program. What is your view of the department of labor plans to focus on encouraging such industry driven youth apprenticeship and learning programs in the forthcoming pilot Apprenticeship Program . Thank you for the question. The remarks and i would observe this is a second or third set of questions around apprenticeship. That raise apprenticeship that are not registered. Which goes to my opening comment about how important it is to have a broad view of apprenticeships to recognize the advantages of registered but recognize that there is room for other models such as the model that you raise. My perspective is were large a nation. And diverse nation. And there is room for a variety of programs and we as a department should encourage Work Force Education. In various forms. So long as there is high quality. So long as there is standards. So long as theres some degree of portability. So that the skills learned in one venue can be ported to different venues. And so long as there is credential earned. So as we look forward to this Apprenticeship Task force and how to grow programs, my hope is that we take a broad view of the concept of apprenticeship and empower individuals to have family sustaining jobs. Another extraordinary sample was South Carolina. With the Engine Development working with a technical college. Thank you for your efforts. Thank you, mr. Wilson. Now recognize the Ranking Member for three minutes. And for his closing comments. Thank you. Thank you for being with us today. As you can tell theres a lot of interest in the issues under your jurisdiction. First i want to theres by partisan support for Apprenticeship Programs so far is so long as we can make sure the federal dollars are going to quality programs. And that will take work to get that straight. I think youre aware of the Apprentice Program at the shipyard which is one of the best in the country. I invite you to visit or at least familiarize yourself. Because its one of the best in the nation. Let me ask you a couple questions the minimum wage hasnt been raised in a long time. Do you have a position on increasing the minimum wage . Congressman, that is an issue that is within congresss per view. The minimum hasnt been raised in a number of years and its set by congress. You would support an increase in the minimum wage . I think if that is to happen, congress should have a discussion. Were happy to be part of that. Thank you. On the role you have indicated that the best interest standard is now in effect however other parts not in effect. What would happen with a retiree has vested interest violated is essentially ripped off. What are the remedies . So congressman, so long as companies are proceeding in good faith to implement the best interest standard, we are in a compliance assistance mode. We still have Enforcement Authority. If there are willful violations we have Enforcement Authority sdwl does the individual have individual remedy . Congressman, the Enforcement Authority within is a federal Enforcement Authority. Not individual Enforcement Authority. The rule is as i understand it you have accepted the lower threshold for exposure. But according to to osha 70 of the value of the rule was the services and protection is that your understanding . Congressman, i couldnt speak to the 70 figure. I have not seen that figure and i believe there might be a disagreement as to whether the ins lair services contribute or do not contribute to the protection. Will provide you what we have. I think thats the accepted from the osha department. We have heard a lot about associated health plans. I agree they always work for consumers. The costs are always cheaper. For those that can get into an association plan. Everybody else however when you take healthy Young Healthy people out of the pool. Everybody else is costs go up. Is that your understanding about the effect of association plans . Congressman, what is called an in essence cherry picking or anticherry picking provisions are an important part of Association Health plans. That is an issue were aware of. And our proposals will be considering that issue. And have preventive measures for that issue. The fact of the matter is if you get a group even a random group the cost to lower the Association Everybody will join. The cost are higher everybody will bail and get back into the pool. So they always they always work for those in the pool. And so i think we have to look at effect on everyone else. And if thats ignored then you have missed most of the impact. My time on questions is expired. But i would want to add, pose two questions if you could provide us with answers. We have heard about the joint employer. There are situations that we have been made aware of. Where a person can be found to have been have their over time benefits violated. Over time when they look up none of the employers qualify as an employer responsible under the fair standard labor act. What happens when no one qualifies under that restricted definition of the legislation . You could provide that for the record. And also your testimony suggests that jobs will be created by tax reform. If you could give us a research on the job creation impact on upper end income tax cuts. Tax cuts to low and moderate income individuals. And the comparable spending of the same amount on infrastructure like roads and bridges or spendsing on education and job training. Jobs created to provide education. But the economic of the better educated better trained work force. If you could give us the research you have on that to justify the idea the tax bill will create jobs that would be helpful. We have jurisdiction over the department of agriculture for a few programs. Youre the first. We look forward to other cabinet secretaries appearing before us. Thank you, mr. Scott. I appreciate all my colleagues today for being so coop rative. And it looks as though mr. Secretary will be able to hon nor your request to be out of here by noon. I have a couple closing comments. I want to say thank you again. I think you have provided very valuable information to both sides of the aisle here. I particularly appreciate the emphasis you have given on out comes and accountability. I believe the members appreciate that also. I appreciate the fact that you have talked about skills and education. And the fact that theres no right path. That leads to a good job or career. And i particularly appreciate the fact that you talk about careers. I think were hearing more and more about that in the conversation about helping people make the right kinds of decisions. And helping them understand that the first jobs not fwoing to be their last job. And we want people to have a Broader Vision of where theyre going. Again, in very encouraged by your talk about Performance Measures. And i think everybody appreciates your commitment to safety. And to creating positive workplaces for workers. Nobody wants any worker to be in an unsafe condition. And i think you are you have said the right things in that respect. And i believe that you and the department will do the right thing. And lastly i would say that we want to encourage people to think about all education being career education. And the fact that you have pointed out the over lap between the department of education and the department of labor indicates that we need to be focussed more on that, those issues. That all education people go to a bachelor degree institution, their aim is get a job. People are participating in a apprenticeships because they want to get a good job. Theyre participating in Community College because they want to get a job. And so were all about at all levels were focusing on the same thing. And i think its useful that we talk about that in the same way. And that we dont set up distinctions among the various ways to get the skills to be able to have a successful career. So i appreciate your comments today. And your excellent answers. And all my colleagues who are gone. But mr. Scott for playing their roles here today. Madame chair. An article on Delaware Company finding value in the workers and memorandum to the American People from the department of labor from the past administration. Without objection. No further business, this committee stands adjourned. [ inaudible conversations ] woel be back on capitol hill in the morning. As the Senate FinanceCommittee Kicks off day four of the review of the Senate Republican proposal to over haul the tax code. Well have live coverage right here on cspan 3. This weekend on American History tv. On cspan 3. Saturday at noon eastern, the 70th anniversary of the hollywood ten hearings. Before the house on american activity committee. Family members of blacklisted art itself read from congressional hearing transcripts. What was your last employment. My last employment just finished a picture called the tall target. Did you finish references to the studio in connection with with your employment . I have been in theater for 25 years. Im well enough known to all of them from the roles i have played. Were yo a member of the communist party in 1942 . I stand on the ground of the fifth amendment. Well. It might. At six on the civil wear. A discussion on civil war monuments. It was about victory. The victory in many ways celebrated in so many confederate monuments was the victory over reconstruction. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. On real america. The 1944 world war ii propaganda film on the north africa campaign. And at eight. On the presidency. Talks about her book 26 seconds. A personal history of the film. Gradually, starting in the 60s, versions of the film began to leak out. And people began to see it. And when they saw it, because of the bay that the film looks, it didnt look like what the commission concluded. American history tv. All weekend every weekend. Only on cspan 3. Next well take you to the wall street journal annual gathering of corporate executives. They heard from democratic senators. Education secretary betty devosz. Chair of the white House Counsel of economic advisors. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and Vice President mike pence. We start with the director with gary gary cone. Taxes is our always at the top of the councils agenda. You are very keen on understanding whats happening