President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced that he will nominate Julie Su as the next Labor Secretary.
If confirmed, Ms. Su, currently deputy secretary at the Department of Labor, will replace Marty Walsh in leading the agency. Mr. Walsh announced earlier this month that he accepted a new job as executive director of the NHL Players' Association, which represents professional hockey players in Canada and the U.S., and will leave the department in mid-March.
"It is my honor to nominate Julie Su to be our country's next secretary of labor," Mr. Biden said in a statement. "Julie has spent her life fighting to make sure that everyone has a fair shot, that no community is overlooked, and that no worker is left behind. Over several decades, Julie has led the largest state labor department in the nation, cracked down on wage theft, fought to protect trafficked workers, increased the minimum wage, created good-paying, high-quality jobs, and established and enforced workplace safety standards."
Prior to joining the Labor Department, Ms. Su served as secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
She was confirmed as deputy secretary in July 2021 in a 50-47 vote. The Senate confirmation process for her will likely be tight once more, as Republicans have voiced steep opposition to several Labor Department rule initiatives, including its new rule permitting retirement plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when selecting investments.
On the same day Mr. Biden announced his intent to nominate Ms. Su, the House was slated to vote on a joint resolution to nullify the department's ESG rule.
