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AFL-CIO Director of Government Affairs, Bill Samuel, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the battle to raise the debt ceiling and his concern over the vote to make Julie Su the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary.
The battle to raise the debt ceiling has reached a new milestone, Samuel said. Recently, the House passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling, but it contained a 22 percent cut to programs throughout the government. Some of the cuts are to the Border Patrol, childcare programs and programs that serve senior citizens. He believes this legislation will not pass through the Senate, and the House will have to come up with a new debt ceiling bill.
Su’s nomination was approved by a Senate committee and will go before the entire Senate. Samuel is not sure Su has the required votes to be confirmed. With a slim lead 51-49 majority, he is concerned Senate Democrats are not all in on Su. He speculated that if any Democrats were absent for the vote or decide to not support her, Su would not be confirm.
He expects a vote on Su’s nomination to come in May, and explained that if she falls short of 51 votes, the whole process would start anew. This means President Joe Biden would need to nominate a new candidate who must then navigate through the same approval process Su is going through. Samuel believes that due to the timing, if Su is not confirmed, there would not be enough time for another candidate go through the process prior to the next Presidential election. It would be a major blow to the labor movement to not have a labor-friendly Secretary of Labor, he added.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
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