Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta Testifies, and He's Not Terrible.
Full disclosure: I have run into Alexander Acosta. I don't have a beef with him. He might be the best of the lot (of departmental secretaries).
I've also run into Jordan Barab. Again, no beef. We're not big pals or anything like that. But I have to get that out of the way.
Acosta Testifies and He’s Not Terrible
November 20, 2017
Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta testified last Thursday at a hearing before the full House Education and Workforce Committee, and although I take great pleasure in (deservedly) criticizing Trump administration appointees, he wasn’t terrible — as Trump appointees go.
Now let me qualify a bit. I’m focusing only on workplace safety issues, not on any wage and hour, apprenticeship or other labor issues that were addressed during the hearing. Second, his performance varied from fairly decent (regarding enforcement issues) to pretty bad (regarding standard setting and staffing.) And, of course, we’re grading on the Trump-Republican grading curve (which includes Cabinet heads like Scott Pruitt, Rex Tillerson, Betsy DeVos, Ben Carson, Jeff Sessions, Steve Mnuchin and Rick Perry.) We’d grade on a different curve if it was a Democratic administration, or even if it was a more, umm, competent Republican cabinet.
Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) warned in his opening statement that
....
Conclusion
Again, all in all, not a bad performance by a Trump administration Cabinet head — at least as far as health and safety issues go. But that was the Secretary speaking. We still don’t have a permanent Assistant Secretary {running OSHA}, and it’s unlikely that Trump’s nominee, Scott Mugno, will be confirmed until Spring. Right now, the agency {OSHA} is being managed — or more accurately, not managed — by Deputy Assistant Secretary Loren Sweatt. Mostly, the career staff are running the place, which is not a bad thing. We’ll know more about the direction the agency is heading when Mugno appears at his as-yet-unscheduled confirmation hearing.
November 20, 2017
Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta testified last Thursday at a hearing before the full House Education and Workforce Committee, and although I take great pleasure in (deservedly) criticizing Trump administration appointees, he wasn’t terrible — as Trump appointees go.
Now let me qualify a bit. I’m focusing only on workplace safety issues, not on any wage and hour, apprenticeship or other labor issues that were addressed during the hearing. Second, his performance varied from fairly decent (regarding enforcement issues) to pretty bad (regarding standard setting and staffing.) And, of course, we’re grading on the Trump-Republican grading curve (which includes Cabinet heads like Scott Pruitt, Rex Tillerson, Betsy DeVos, Ben Carson, Jeff Sessions, Steve Mnuchin and Rick Perry.) We’d grade on a different curve if it was a Democratic administration, or even if it was a more, umm, competent Republican cabinet.
Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) warned in his opening statement that
worker safety protections are under attack. While the previous Administration issued rules to help end the scourge of black lung disease and to prevent deaths from silica-related diseases, the current DOL has proposed a rollback of protections for construction and shipyard workers who are exposed to ultra-toxic beryllium, and has jettisoned work on standards for toxic chemicals and combustible dust. It is also unclear whether DOL will finalize a December 1 deadline for employers in higher hazard industries to submit summaries of their injury and illnesses logs. Mr. Secretary, without this data, there are questions about how OSHA will secure the information needed to target inspections at those worksites where workers are at greatest risk.
....
Conclusion
Again, all in all, not a bad performance by a Trump administration Cabinet head — at least as far as health and safety issues go. But that was the Secretary speaking. We still don’t have a permanent Assistant Secretary {running OSHA}, and it’s unlikely that Trump’s nominee, Scott Mugno, will be confirmed until Spring. Right now, the agency {OSHA} is being managed — or more accurately, not managed — by Deputy Assistant Secretary Loren Sweatt. Mostly, the career staff are running the place, which is not a bad thing. We’ll know more about the direction the agency is heading when Mugno appears at his as-yet-unscheduled confirmation hearing.
