department of labor's office of the inspector general to conduct an audit of the georgia department of labor, and they recently replied. what they found was they couldn't figure out what was going on because georgia couldn't even supply basic data on a number of key issues, including the timeliness of benefit distribution and the number of georgians who requested the federally funded unemployment insurance supplement. there are two other states which were unable to provide data on the timeliness of claims through all three federally enhanced insurance programs. there are four other states that did not report the volume data. georgia was the only state that was unable to provide data on either. in other words, the georgia department of labor stands out as uniquely unable by either choice or competence to report on the administration of enhanced unemployment benefits. while factors such as initial understaffing and limited technology may have prevented the georgia department of labor from processing claims, after over a year and after over 67 million in federal dollars to help the state,

that this 1st time the salvation army was accused of exploiting labor over 30 years ago . the department of labor was set to investigate the salvation army after workers complained about the exact labor violations outlined in the recent lossy. but when the salvation army sued the labor department in retaliation and galvanized support from members of congress. not only did the department of labor turn tail and run it qualified their non action in a labor department, employee field handbook, which says the salvation army physician is that individuals in its rehabilitation program called beneficiaries are not employees. although the labor department, ways in our division may not agree with this position, do not initiate compliance actions until receiving clear it. in other words, don't do. plus most of us associate the term beneficiary with the person who gets all your crap when you die. and considering i outfit, most of my apartment will stop from us elevation, army thrift store my pamela's not exactly received but as reveal the center for investigative reporting points out the salvation a

these orders zero to 50, not 02100 yet but definitely accelerating dramatically and i think the department of labora good anchor to show the scale of the problem and how much more needs to be done. >> very good, my time has expired. thank you, monitor. >> thank you. i know seven minutes over, questions ranking member lankford. >> i'd like to thank you for your testimonies today and what you are bringing to the conversation as well as your testimony. what are major barriers we have highly personal? >> thank you. i have to unmute myself. i think probably one of the main barriers, i've said for years and here's, this even goes beyond, cbp employees should be the best recruiters for the agency and unfortunately the morale for many years has been very low. some of it relates to what you've heard me talk about in my opening payment, written statement about staffing. there are so few staff, so much fewer than needed and as a result, many employees cap to work with a great deal of overtime and it impacts their personal well-being, it impacts their families and create hardships on the and as a result, moral

and today ranking member scott and i are also sending a letter to the department of labor calling on the department to specifically address the needs of older workers as our nation recovers from the pandemic. as we build a better economy, we must work together to ensure that older workers are included and prioritized every step of the way. i look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about these policies and others that will help guarantee that older workers help us lead the way to a stronger economic future. before we begin i want to remind committee members and witnesses to please keep remarks and questions to five minutes. the downdown timer can be viewed -- the count down reminder can be viewed along with other participants windows on webex. questions will be asked based on seniority. i ask that members have their cameras turned on a few minutes prior to their question. ranking member scott i am pleased to turn it over to you for your opening remarks. >> thank you chairman casey for a holding this important hearing. thank you to all witnesses for joining us today. it is a ve

and i think the department of labor is a good anchor to show the scale of the problem and how much more needs to be done. >> very good. my time has expired. thank you very much, thank you, madam chair. >> thank you, senator hawley. i now turn seven minutes over to confession for ranking member lankford. thanks. >> thank you, i thank all four of you for the testimony today and what you're bringing to the conversation as well as your written testimony. mr. reardon, what are the major barriers we have to hiring additional cbp personnel? >> thank you, senator. i forgot to unmute myself. you know, i think probably the -- one of the main barriers is that -- i've said for years and years that the current cbp officers, and this actually even goes beyond just the officers, to other employees, i think cbp employees should be the best recruiters for the agency. and unfortunately, the morale for many years has been very low. and some of that relates back to what you've heard me talking about in my opening statements and my written statement about staffing. there are so few staffs, so much fewer tha

i think the department of labor is a good anchor to show the scale of the problem and how much more needs to be done. >> very good. >> my time is expired, thank you very much, thank you, madam chair.yo >> think you senator hawley i now turned seven minutes over to questions from ranking member langford. >> thank you, i thank you for the testimony today and what you bring into the conversation and your written testimony. what is major barriers that we have to hiring additional cbp personnel? >> thank you, senator i forgot to unmute myself. i think probably one of the main barriers as i've said for years and years that the current cbp officers and it goes beyond the officers, other employees i think cbp employees should be the best recruiters for the agency and unfortunately the morale for many years has been very low and some of that relates back to what you heard me talking about my opening statement in my written statement about staffing there are so few staff, so much fewer than needed and as a result many employees have to work a great deal of overtime and impacts their personal well-b

these payment delays involving georgia's department of labor were detailed in a report released byia the georgia polic institute in february of this year, and according to that report, a reliance on outdated technology at georgia's department of labor is one of the key factors contributing to ongoing delays, which is leaving georgians in hardship. will you please commit to l working with my staff and using theaf authorities and expertisef the gsa to assist state and local governments in improving these processes, including specifically supporting georgia'ste department of labor unemployment processing claims system so so many georgians will not left withoute vital suppor in the crisis? >> thank you for bringing that up. this is something that's happened across the country. georgia is notot alone in this. i know it feels like it sometimes, but every state has had similar issues because these unemployment systems were, frankly, not invested in for so many years and then were overwhelmed. but that's no excuse and now we have to think of this as an opportunity to rebuild better. what we k

i want to know what the plan is at the department of labor. sec. walsh: we are still working through it. this is my third jobs report, so we are working on how to continue to support american workers in different type of policies. i've spent a lot of time going around the country talking to business, to workers, and we will continue moving forward in those conversations. certainly we are working forward to make sure that everyone is treated fairly. tom: this is to a democratic congressman of oregon, when you go into a district where it is republicans and democrats right on top of each other, how do you speak to small business and how to speak to entrepreneurs trying to get business going even with the rising wages? sec. walsh: i have been talking about the american jobs planned. it is not a plan just for workers, it is a plan for america. they are benefits for everyone, main streets, back streets, it really is a plan about keeping america at the forefront of competition in the world. when a kid a chance to talk to people about the different -- when

fault of their own experience job us to the covid-19 pandemic with unemployment benefits for department of labornd those long delays of processing sending them into financial distress in the midst of the pandemic. with the department of labor were detailed in a report released by the judge it one - - georgia public policy institute and the reliance on outdated technology anymore those ongoing delays leaving them in hardships of you commit to working with my staff to use the authorities and expertise of the gsa to assist state and local governments including specifically supporting improvement of george's department of labor system so georgians are not left without vital support in a crisis quick. >> thank you for bringing that issue up. it is happening across the country. georgia is not alone it feels like it but every state has had similar issues because these unemployment systems frankly were not invested in for so many years and were overwhelmed. that is no excuse. now we have to think of this as an opportunity to rebuild better. what we know is the unemployment systems from one state to the

labor in shenzhen. that's where the chinese government has been accused of committing genocide against muslim uighurs and other minorities. the u.s. department of labor has also added a material used to build solar panels to its list of goods produced by child or forced labor. >> these actions emphasize our commitment to ensuring beijing plays by the rules of fair trade as part of the rules-based international order. >> meanwhile, china has criticized the been -- the van -- the ban. >> [speaking foreign language] the devices are currently in huge demand as the world seeks to transition to clean renewables in the fight against climate change. biden himself is hoping solar panels will replace fossil fuels and allow the u.s. to eliminate carbon emissions from power generation by 2035. >> the u.k. has updated travel guidance. six countries have been added to the so-called red list from which non-angel travel is blocked. malta and somepanish islands are deemed green or safe for english travelers. the government is facing pressure from the tourist ministry to relax its rules, specifically exempting those who have been fully vaccinated and quaranti

of office or multiple terms is not going to solve this problem. systemic problems require a systemic solution. that is why we need a department just like we have a department of laboro deal with labor issues, the defense department we need a department of reconciliation to help us reconcile so that we can be a greater country as i believe we are destined to be. host: kevin in michigan, independent line. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. i have been hearing rumors that with these children that have been coming in from the border, that we are flying and their parents at taxpayer expense. i do not have a problem with helping people out, but when is enough enough? we cannot take everybody in this world. there are a lot of places that people do not like to live. so are we going to take everybody in and then we do not have in america anymore. we have to be some kind of compromise. you were talking about reparations, there are a lot of people here who were never around during slavery. i am one of them. my family was never here. do i have to take taxpayer dollars and pay reparations that i had nothing to do about? guest: thank you very much. i did not mention re

i'm just saying -- i'm talking about the department of labor what we're doing at the department of laborhat we're going to continue to have. >> okay. >> incertainly to talk about what the long term could be. >> sorry to step on you. a little bit of a delay here. final question for you. it was interesting to hear last week in cleveland the president seemed to really acknowledge the inflation risk. let me play for people what he said. >> there's going to be supply chain issues, price distortions on the way back to a stable and steady growth. and the coming weeks, my administration will take weeks to combat these. >> so he said we are going to take steps to combat this. can you shed some light on what those steps are? >> again, i think it's about getting the economy, getting people back to work in some places. i think one of the areas we saw in the jobs numbers that my area that i love is construction. we saw it down 20%. 20,000 jobs. and we're having the dialogue today about why that was the case. we didn't see it in small building homes. we saw it in larger construction projects. i simply

of the pandemic shutdowns. and so now the labor department's consumer price index report that was released today shows that there was another month of price increases been noticing a trip to the grocery store can come with serious sticker shock. i have noticed the prices have gone up, and it does dairy and other items are rising. even the vegetables i'm paying, you know $3 to buy a package a lettuce, so it's kind of difficult prices for corn and grains have hit a high not seen since 2012 and companies that make other consumer goods such as diapers, ti toilet paper are raising prices to offset raw material increases. in wood, pulp and plastics. on thursday, the u. s department of labor released data showing consumer prices increased 5% over one year ago. economists say the causes pent up demand as people emerge from pandemic restrictions and face supply shortages as companies tried to ramp back up after shutdowns. i've got off roading jeeps at the sigma auto group lot and conquered. they've seen a 35% increase in business prices and demand for used vehicles surged a record 10% last month as a shortage of semicond

we need an older adult, older workers bureau, housed at the department of labor that could lead a focused effort across federal agencies to maximize older adult workforce participation. that would be good for older adults, employers, society. i live life to the fullest as compared to just existing. >> the desire to reopen travel across the atlantic ocean but we have to follow the signs and the guidance of public health professionals. we are actively engaging with them to determine the timeframe. i will tell you we recognize the concern -- announcer: you can finish watching this recorded program at c-span.org. we take you look to the house appropriations subcommittee hearing from secretary of state tony blinken on the 2022 budget request. live coverage on c-span. >> secretary of state antony blinken, as the hearing is virtual we must address housekeeping matters first. for today's meeting the chair or staff designated by the chair may mute microphones were not under recognition for the purposes of eliminating background noise. members are responsible for muting and on muting themselves. if

likely that the regular chocolate bar you eat tastes of illegal child labor, but what if these accounts are fake? well, only recently the u. s. department of labor funded a report which found that the cocoa industry in west africa was exploiting $1600000.00 char laborers, e slaves without going into too many legalistic details. the nation's highest court pulled the brakes on the case pretty much because companies outside the us bear the responsibility for mass abuse. you might want to ask why not at least look into the case? well, that's how things are. that's how the law works. the big businesses will probably keep repeating things like or i'm 99 percent. sure they will. child labor is unacceptable. that is why we are working so hard to prevent it. cargoes work to keep child labor out of the cocoa supply chain isn't wavering. we do not tolerate the use of child labor in our operations or supply chains and we're working every day to prevent it expects even more emotional words from them, from the athlete. the activists and the president on june 13th. but those who have been following this particular case won't stand the hypocrisy we are

of different departments. as well as individuals from the labor organizations. i think it would provide an opportunity for some feedback and starting to learn some of the issues that might help in terms of morale. i think also it would help in terms of directing -- the chief human capital office -- governments, set us faction surveys. i think what's important here is to start having dialogue with an understanding of what's going on with employees. what are the touch points that are needed and to improve the morale? i want to underscore, because i think it's critically important to keep going back to the staffing. all tell you what is abundantly clear to me is at the center of all of the morale issues and really a lot of the major issues as far as frontline employees are concerned it's relating to staffing. >> thank you. i appreciate that. alaskan at a question to mr. michael in. as you mentioned on intrusive an inspection is a critical technology solution at reports of entry and it helps -- for further inspection, making our entire nation were secure. cbp is work

they're talking with the department of labor who's issued guidance on this.lid solution. just enabling the verification isn't stopping it. these are dollar meant to help people going into the hands of bad actors. >> kristen holmes, thank you very much. we know you'll stay on top of that. >>> coming up, two guests aboard a vaccinated cruise ship have tested positive for covid-19. >>> two passengers on the first cruise from north america since the pandemic shut down the industry have tested positive for covid-19. now, the passengers were rooming together on the celebrity millennium that left st. martin on saturday. >> the cruise line says they're asymptomatic and in isolation. it's not clear where they contracted the virus. a company statement said all guests had to show proof of vaccination and negative covid test before departure. great to see you, doctor. this is actually good news vaccine story because these two passengers had reportedly been vaccinated, so they have no symptoms, they're feeling fine, they wouldn't have known that they were carrying the vir

meanwhile there were some 9 million unfilled positions in the us in april according to th department of labor. >> no one making less than $700,000 speed -- $400,000 year should have one hand in taxes raise. >> out tax any family making less than $400,000 year. no federal tax. i promise you, no one making under $400,000 a year as going to pay a single additional penn in taxes. no one. >> republicans in capitol hill argued to pay for all the extra spending the biden white house and their democratic allies wil raise taxes and not just on the so-called bridge or those makin $40,000 a year. this as a report as the center found that 60% of americans -- under the proposal. that's a pretty big number, 60%. the president was busy talking infrastructure for the couple o key members of the democratic caucus in the senate meeting with joe mansion and they both have expressed reservations first shirt and types of infrastructure and the mena people to vote to move forward with that emma and that's worth keeping an eye on. >> pending an op add the neck going to win fans from within our own party. more on th

the trump administration was a new form of apprenticeship wasn't exclusively approved by the department of laborers suitable for that industry t was more successful in health care for example, where we have lots of needs. much more successful getting woman involved in the apprenticeship process. biden administration did a u-turn on i-wraps, apprenticeship programs. i think we ought to explore all the opportunities. charles: i agree. ivanka was big on that. we looked at the german model, why it was so successful. i want to talk to but the g7 working toward a global minimum tax. i tweeted out a pastry chefs agreeing to ban all diets. i'm not sure it makes a difference but if it does, you know, they got the highest tax rates in the world. of course they agreed on it. will this change anything? >> we shall see. i'm with you. it is one thing for seven people to hang out to say we all agree this is a pretty neat idea. it is another thing for seven national legislatures to pass the same tax law into binding force and this really has to be done at the, a, b, c, d, level that will require eu to have unan

was still a marxist and he says what changed his mind was working in the government, and the department of labor one summer. what he saw was that the government was not always a benevolent force and that it could be a quite harmful force particularly what thomas to low income minority groups. in his case it came after a study of minimum wage laws and what they were doing in terms of their affect on unemployment. >> host: you mentioned studying under miltonn friedman. did milton friedman have a big impact on him? >> guest: yes, in several ways. milton friedman, i think one of the big impacts milton friedman had on sowell was on his public intellectualism, when he's best knownn for today. what i mean by that is that after milton friedman left teaching in the '70s after he won his nobel prize left the university of chicago, he set about writing popular books that could be read and understood by general interest readers, people were not economists or intellectuals. he did a lot of speaking to such groups, college campuses and elsewhere. he felt bad, the role of the skull, , of any natural is not som

of the pandemic shutdowns. and so now the labor department's consumer price index report that was released today shows that thererice increases. shoppers say they've been notic

the clerk: nomination, department of labor. julie a.su of california to be dependency equity. -- deputy secretary. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to otodesk. officer the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 63, julie a.su of california to be dependency secretary of labor signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session, be p a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. m

. >> he was asked why the department of labor still has guidance and recommendation that workers should vaccinated. >> i think the answer should be let's let people go back to work and do it in normal fashion that the department's position that grave danger still exist to american workers. >> i think the answer to that is impossible for me too answer them fully i am not a scientist unfortunately. >> he was also asked about prices popping for groceries to gas and why consumers have to pay more and he really sidestepped the issue saying that he believes the president's plan is working and people making under $400,000 a year aren't paying more in taxes. ashley: very interesting, hillary vaughn thank you. i think he is wrong we spoke to a number of business owners who said i plan to hire people and they told me directly they are earning enough they could stay home i don't think is accurate on that point. higher wages for workers means higher prices the next time you had to aaa the original casual mexican food chain is saying many prices will be going up about 4% after announcing it would in

of economic adviser and chief economist in the department of labor. both join me now.negotiations are hard to read from for me from the purely political standpoint. what it seems is they don't have manchin's vote or cinema. and hiding behind as a shield. we wouldn't be doing this. does that read to you? >> you're exactly right. we're reaching the end of the line. given it the college try. at that point joe biden will have the 50 votes for the infrastructure package. your set up was important. the tax cuts got passed. we need to do the infrastructure package and other things. we're not in a point where it's a simple choice. save the filibuster or save democracy. it's not much of a choice. the they can say listen we want bipartisan. i was a democrat for a lot of years. they can say given what's happening in the states and the big lie. and republicans if they won back the house wouldn't certify a democratic winner in 2024. you have to have an exit ramp as people take strong positions. we're probably in matter of days. you have to call the question here. i think that is ri