It is part of Congress’ duty to provide oversight of the executive branch; Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) takes this duty seriously. She has led efforts to hold the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accountable and to demand more transparency from Biden’s appointees.
In case you missed it via Bloomberg Law, Foxx is “the cop on the beat for monitoring labor agencies during the Biden administration.”
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh… spent more than half of his first eight months in office working from Boston, according to a review of the secretary’s schedules from March to October 2021.
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Republicans have slammed Walsh’s living arrangements and status in D.C. “American workers should always be the primary focus of the Secretary of Labor,” GOP Reps. Virginia Foxx (N.C.) and James Comer (Ky.) wrote in a December letter to Walsh. “We are concerned that your calendars suggest your focus is elsewhere.”
House Education and Labor Committee ranking member Foxx has stepped up to serve as the cop on the beat for monitoring labor agencies during the Biden administration.
Since the beginning of November, her signature has been on at least eight letters to the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Foxx, often working with other lawmakers, has inquired about topics ranging from Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh’s travel schedule to actions taken by NLRB member David Prouty.
At least four of the letters were penned in just the last two months, and more are on the way, according to Foxx.
“The words ‘oversight’ and ‘accountability’ have never been positively associated with federal labor agencies under this administration,” Foxx told Bloomberg Law by email. “From the firings of NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb and EEOC General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson to Labor Secretary Walsh’s inappropriate participation on the picket line to EEOC putting government union bosses ahead of workplace discrimination claimants, no matter where you turn, the stench of maladministration never goes away.”
All agencies have independent inspectors general to oversee agency actions, but calls from Capitol Hill can serve as another check. Democrats took similar actions during the Trump administration, as ranking members often do.
“We have a duty to hardworking taxpayers in this country not only to weed out this scourge of incompetence, but also to ensure that both accountability and oversight are not forsaken,” Foxx said. “It’s undeniable that these two fundamental principles beget good governance.”
The nine-term Republican just last week requested information about the EEOC’s return to office plans more than two years after its workers were asked to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“With no offices open for claimants to file their discrimination charges and no publicly available plans outlining EEOC’s return to regular operations, we are concerned the Commission is not meeting its obligations to workers,” Foxx said in the March 23 letter. “We therefore ask you to bring EEOC personnel back to in-person service and re-open all offices throughout the country immediately.”
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More oversight action is expected, Foxx said, as she continues to closely monitor the Democrats’ moves.
“If this administration believes that Republicans will pump the brakes on our inquiries soon, and that we’ll go quietly into the night, it is sorely mistaken,” she said. “We’re putting our foot down on the accelerator, and there is much more to come.”
Original source can be found here.
