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President Joe Biden made his nomination of Julie Su to lead the Labor Department official Wednesday by hosting an upbeat ceremony in the East Room.
There, he put on a Boston accent to thank outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh—pronounced “Motty” by Biden—who accepted the position as executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association.
“I asked him to take me with him, but he didn’t,” Biden joked, adding that another friend had told the president that he would be “the hockey puck.”
With Su’s nomination, which needs Senate approval, Biden finally named an Asian-American to serve as secretary.
Despite the president boasting the most diverse administration in history, there have been no Asian-Americans leading his top departments.
President Joe Biden (left) made his nomination for Julie Su (right) to lead the Labor Department official Wednesday by hosting an upbeat ceremony in the East Room.
Biden (right) put on a Boston accent to thank outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (left) and joked that he wanted to go with him to work with the National Hockey League.
Prior to his announcement, Biden was coming under pressure from prominent Asian American and Pacific Islander groups to elevate Su, who had served as Walsh’s deputy.
“If, in fact, I wasn’t picked to be the next Secretary of Labor, I’d be kicked out of town,” Biden quipped at the top of Wednesday’s event in the East Room.
During his statements, Biden noted that Su was the fourth Asian-American woman to serve in his Cabinet, although the others are not secretaries.
include Vice President Kamala Harris, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Arati Prabhakar, who heads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which Biden elevated to a cabinet-level agency.
‘Born in Wisconsin, she is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her mother was a union worker and her father was a small business owner,” Biden said of hers.
The president noted how Su attended law school and eventually became labor secretary “in a state that was almost as big as the rest of the United States,” California.
‘Julie is the American dream. More importantly, she is committed to making sure that dream is within reach for all Americans,” the president said.
Her (right) brought up her mother’s immigration story when Biden gave her the podium to speak (left)
Su mentioned her mother’s immigration story when she was given the podium.
“Sixty years ago, my mom came to the United States on a cargo ship because she couldn’t afford a passenger ticket,” Su said. ‘She recently received a call from the President of the United States telling her that her daughter was going to be nominated to be Secretary of Labor of the United States.’
‘So I believe in the transformative power of America. And I know the transformative power of a good job,’ said Su. “I know because it was the kind of job my mother got, with predictable hours, paid sick leave, health benefits, a secure income and a pension when she retired, a union job that gave my parents a path to life.” middle class and gave our family the kind of respite the president talks about.’
His promised to fight for the forgotten worker as Secretary of Labor.
“When the president talks about those who have been forgotten or invisible, I know what he means because I have spent my career fighting to be seen,” he said. “So to all the workers working in the shadows, to the workers organizing for power and respect in the workplace, know that we see you, we stand with you, and we fight for you.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee, through which Su’s nomination will have to go through, praised Biden’s choice in a tweet on Tuesday.
“I’m sure Julie Su will make an excellent Labor Secretary,” he wrote. “I look forward to working with her to protect workers’ rights and build the union movement in this country.”
But Democrats are down one vote with the absence of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who is being treated for severe depression at Walter Reed. However, Harris can still break the tie if the vote for Lu is entirely partisan.
One issue that could trip his nomination is the massive unemployment fraud in California that occurred on his watch during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The White House defended his performance Tuesday after Biden announced Su as his pick.
‘Look, when the pandemic hit, the red and blue states were dealing with fragile and outdated technology. And under Julie’s leadership, California took significant steps to process a record number of claims – one in five nationwide,” Senior Assistant Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One.