Senator Elizabeth Warren Questions Labor Secretary Nominee Acosta

Thank You mr. chairman mr. Acosta you're the president's second choice for Secretary of Labor and I'll be honest I'm glad it's not his first choice Andrew Posner who's sitting here today it is hard to imagine a candidate who would be worse that a man who made his fortune by squeezing workers on wages and benefits a man who repeatedly broke the laws that he would be charged with enforcing a man who bragged about replacing his workers with robots who would never sue him for race or sex discrimination but that said the test for Secretary of Labor is not are you better than Andrew puzzler the test is will you stand up for a hundred and fifty million American workers and that starts by making sure that workers are safe on their jobs Department of Labor rule to protect 2.3 million American workers from exposure to lethal cancer-causing silica went into effect last summer so I just want to know mr. Acosta will you promise not to weaken the silica rule in any way and not to delay future compliance by even a single day senator as you mentioned the silica rule went into effect I should however made clear that the president through an executive action has directed all cabinet secretaries to to put together a group to review all rules within each cabinet agency I and I'm aware of them and to examine and so I this is a rule that has gone into effect yet yes senator but I just want to make sure you're not going to delay this rule any further senator I I understand the point that I'm trying to make is that the president has directed each cabinet officer to review all rules and to make determinations if any rules should be revised and so based on that executive action I cannot make a commitment without you know because the Department of Labor has been ordered to review all rules well I want to understand what that means when you say Department of Labor has been ordered to review all rules you know you're about to be named as Secretary of Labor and your name goes on the bottom line for enforcing the law either you're gonna stand up for 150 million American workers including people who are being poisoned by silica or you're not and I think that's a fair question for us to ask are you gonna stand up for the people finally we have a rule in place so that people will not be poisoned by silica um senator and you're saying that's just open and you don't want to give an answer one way or the other on how you look at that senator what what I am saying is that the rule is in effect but there is an order the rule that the final rule went into was promulgated but there is an order an executive action asking all can't give us your own sense of whether or not the silica rule is something that ought to be enforced you're gonna do this review and you're telling me you can't tell whether or not we ought to just take out rules that will cause people to die senator I I am not advocating taking out rules I'm making the pin as you will enforce that rule senator I it is all cabinet officers have been asked to review I've you've said that and I've heard it I'm trying to ask for your opinion and you're telling me evidently that you want to be Secretary of Labor but you have no opinion on whether or not high on your list of priorities would be to protect a rule that keeps people from being poisoned senator I unlisted priorities will be to protect the safety of workers with appropriate rules and you will decide what appropriate rules are but you don't want to give a hint right now senator there is an entire staff at the Department of Labor yes there is and they've already looked at this rule and they already have comments on this rule and they have already received comments from the public about this rule and they strongly support this rule and I raised this rule with you when we talked about it two weeks ago so there should be no surprise that I'm asking you about this and I gave the same answer and I look forward to hearing from that staff if confirmed the their views on this and following their advice if that advice is appropriate yes and you will decide if it's appropriate I think we've got how this dance works um let me ask you another question another huge responsibility of the secretary is to make sure that workers are paid fairly and last December a new Labor Department rule requiring employers to pay their workers overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week was set to go into effect that would mean a raise for 4.2 million people lots of employers were preparing to comply but just days before the deadline a Texas judge blocked the rule siding with giant companies over American workers will you commit to appealing the judge's ruling to protect these workers senator as I previously mentioned I will commit to examining both the rule and the legal basis of the judge's decision let me stop you there I appreciate that because that's exactly what you said to me two weeks ago you've had time to take a look at it and it's not a long ruling to read the ruling and to look at the comments to look what went behind is I think it's time now for an answer are you going to appeal it or not senator again the Department of Labor has staff that's spent a long time working on this rule it is also in litigation I think would be important to consult with the legal officers at DOL regarding the position that they're taking in litigation mister we're a minute over senator all right I'll quit there but I'll say mr. Costa the department advisors have already made clear their position I just want to know if you're going to follow through on it they have prepared an appeal that evidently at least by measuring their actions is their advice I just want to know that you're going to be part of that we'll have time for a second round of questions Thank You mr. chairman Thank You mr. chairman so mr. Costas so far you've refused to answer my questions hiding behind an executive order that President Trump issued asking agency heads to review pending regulations but I'm not asking how you will respond to president Trump's executive order I'm asking you about what your priorities will be if you're confirmed as Secretary of Labor you'll be called on for your judgement and hardworking Americans want to know what your values are what it is that you prioritize and so far you've said you can't commit to enforcing a rule to protect 2.3 million Americans from exposure to lethal cancer-causing silica and you won't commit to appeal an injunction to the Labor Department's overtime rule that would give 4.2 million Americans a 1.5 billion dollar raise in a single year so let me try a third one let's see if you'll protect workers saving for their retirements from financial advisers who would cheat them on April 10th the Labor Department rule is set to go into effect that will require advisors to recommend retirement products that are in the customers best interest instead of products that give advisers the highest Commission's or the fanciest prizes those conflicts of interest now cost Americans 17 billion dollars every year president Trump has said he is currently working on a 60-day delay of the April 10th implementation date so my question is if you are confirmed before this delay is finalized will you promise to stop it senator there is an executive action that addresses with specificity the fiduciary rule and it has asked the Department of Labor to look at the rule and to assess specific questions will the rule reduce the investment options available to investors I believe was one of them will the rule increased litigation will the rule financially impact retiree investors and the executive action as I recall directs the Secretary of Labor and the Department of Labor to repeal or revise the fiduciary rule if any of the criteria laid out in that executive order is found and so that criteria really regulates and determines the department of labor's approach to the fiduciary rule well so that's the question I'm asking you we know for example that a 60-day delay is estimated to cost Americans about 3.7 billion dollars that they're just going to get cheated out of by unscrupulous retired retirement counselors and that's money they'll never get back that's that is gone to them so that's the question I'm trying to ask about where your values lie how you see what this retirement rule does how committed you are to protecting the American investor here and retirees so they have a chance to retire with some dignity so senator I I don't have access to the specific numbers that that you have but if the question is do I think it's important to protect the American retiree absolutely and I understand that particularly with the with the demographic changes that we're seeing retirees are shifting from 401 k's to IRAs and that the the protections under IRAs let me stop you say you think it's important to protect because the Chairman right-wing will catch me for being over time you think it's important to protect retirees I think it's important to repair tected retirees we've got a rule here that will protect retirees documented to the terms of seventeen billion dollars a year so I just want to know generally do you support this rule you think this rule is a good idea senator with respect the rule goes far beyond simply addressing the standard of conduct that investor so beyond how does it go beyond addressing the standard of conduct of investment advisors I've read this rule this is about the standard of conduct and it says the standard of conduct is an investment advisor can no longer recommend products that are going to earn a whole lot money more money for the investment advisor at the cost of giving a worse product to the person the retiree the investor that's it that's all it's about that is what it's about is that conduct so that's the question I'm asking on behalf of millions of retirees around this country do you support this rule senator with respect there is an executive action that directs how the Department of Labor will approach this rule if I'm confirmed as Secretary of Labor I believe and and support my following executive orders of the president who would be my boss you know I have to say mr. Acosta this has really been frustrating you have dodged every one of my questions none of these were trick questions I asked you exactly these questions when you were in my office two weeks ago and you said in all three cases not that you would hide behind an executive order from Trump you said you would get me answers to these now I understand that you may not want to answer my questions but there are about a hundred and fifty million American workers who are pretty interested in the answers to these questions these are questions that determine whether or not they can go to work every day without worrying about getting lung cancer at their workplace whether they're going to be paid fairly for the work when they have it so they'll have enough money to put food on the table and send their kids to college and whether after a lifetime of back-breaking work they're gonna have a chance to retire with some dignity if you can't give me straight answers on your views on this not hide behind an executive order but your views on this and commit to stand up for workers on these obvious and very important issues then I don't have any confidence you're the right person for this job Thank You mr. chairman

Channel: Senator Elizabeth Warren

Views: 211,195

Rating: 4.7741756 out of 5

Keywords: elizabeth warren, senator warren, alex acosta, acosta, labor, dol, department of labor, senate, confirmation, hearing, help committee, labor committee, us senate, united states senate, unions, fiduciary rule, conflict of interest rule

Id: IWBASbuU-Dc

Length: 12min 58sec (778 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 22 2017