During a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA) questioned Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about independent contractors.
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00:00From Georgia, Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I'm amazed, you know, thank
00:07God we got people from the business world in this government now, because if
00:11you're not innovating and you're not automating, you're out of business. And
00:15it's this government for too long has ignored the amazing technology that is
00:23available today to do the very things that we're talking about doing and
00:27actually do a much better job. I've seen it in the business world and it's time
00:31for the government to wake up and the taxpayers would appreciate it too. This
00:35Congress, I'm honored to chair, that Chair Wahlberg asked me to serve as
00:40chairman of the HELP Committee, Health Employment Labor and Pension Subcommittee.
00:46And there's a lot of work needs to be done. With that being said, Madam Secretary,
00:51again, thank you for your efforts in modernizing the Department of Labor. But
00:55in recent years, we've seen concern, a concerning rise in the number of working
00:59Americans relying on government health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
01:04One of my top priorities, and Chairman Wahlberg had brought this up as well, is
01:09expand accessible, access to affordable private health coverage for small
01:14business, self-employed individuals. And that's why I am proud to co-sponsor
01:19chairman Wahlberg's association health plan bill. I have met with Fortune 50
01:27companies, Fortune 500 companies. They self-insure and have reinsurance. And they
01:33are reducing cost of health care and providing amazing health care to their
01:37employees. I also believe that extending the same ERISA waivers currently
01:41available to union and faith-based health plans to association health plans could
01:46empower these groups with greater bargaining power, ultimately driving down
01:49insurance costs for their members. Would your department be open to
01:54exploring ways to allow association health plans similar flexibility and
01:58waivers currently afforded to union and faith-based plans under ERISA?
02:02Yeah, thank you again for the question and the conversation about this. And I'll look to
02:07Congress. Again, from the Department of Labor's perspective, it is it is my
02:11responsibility and my job to work with Congress on these technical issues and
02:15assist you in understanding that. But it is the goal of this administration to
02:19lower health care costs to understand that we want to offer the best programs
02:22and the best plans for our American workers. So yes, I'm committed to working
02:27with you and your office on this piece of legislation.
02:29Thank you. One of the biggest priorities is subcommittee chair is ensuring
02:35that Americans hard-earned retirement savings should never be jeopardized by
02:39politically motivated mismanagement. The Biden-Harris administration revoked the
02:43protective Trump administration rules that prohibited investing retirement plan
02:47assets and voting proxies held by plans for the purpose of impacting and
02:52advancing woke policies at the expense of participant retirement savings. The
02:57Biden-Harris administration also issued replacement rules that allow and even
03:01encourage fiduciaries to use other people's retirement savings for woke
03:05agendas. Can you explain the importance of ensuring investment
03:09fiduciaries invest exclusively for the purpose of providing benefits and
03:13defraying reasonable expenses under retirement plans?
03:16Yeah, thank you. I think you're referring to ESG and that has been under this
03:22administration where we want to make sure that the fiduciaries are working with
03:26their investors for the best outcome and the risk mitigated investments. And so the
03:33Department of Labor will remain neutral on this and we just issued as well that we
03:40want fiduciaries to work with their investors and not weigh in on any woke
03:44policies for certainly and follow that executive order. And I recently
03:48introduced the Protecting Prudent Investment and Retirement Savings Act. This
03:52legislation seeks to codify that those who manage Americans' retirement savings under the
03:57Employment Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, must prioritize maximizing
04:02returns for secure retirement rather than political or social impact using risky ESG
04:08investors, as you mentioned. The Biden-Harris administration, congressional Democrats in
04:13states, including California, have consistently demonstrated their hostility to
04:17independent contractors who choose to earn income through apps like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash.
04:23What kinds of policies do you support to assist workers who want to earn a living or
04:27some extra money by working as independent contractors?
04:30Yeah, thank you. It is one of the industries that has expanded very rapidly, the gig economy,
04:38the platform economy. This administration recognizes how important it is for workers to
04:43have that flexibility to build the businesses for themselves. The rule that you
04:48referenced under the Biden administration is currently under litigation, so I am limited in what I can say,
04:52but publicly what I can say is that it's consistent that we will offer the guidance that's necessary
04:58in clarifying that 2024 rule. And we're also offering the opinion letter program that I mentioned
05:05on the onset in order to guide oftentimes private sector businesses in how the Department of Labor is
05:11looking at that.
05:11Good, good. Great. I'm out of time, but thank you for your common-sense approach to solving these issues,
05:16and I yield back, Mr. Cameron. I thank the gentlemen, and now I...
05:18I thank the gentlemen, and now I...
05:18I thank the gentlemen, and now I...