WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) questioned former Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Labor, during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. During the conversation, Sen. Tuberville emphasized the importance of Alabama’s position as a Right-to-Work state.
Read Sen. Tuberville’s remarks below or on YouTube or Rumble.
ON RIGHT TO WORK:
TUBERVILLE: “Let’s beat a dead horse here. [We’re a] Right-to-Work state—Alabama—my constituents at home wanna know, are you gonna try to change our status as Right-to-Work?”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “I respect the fact that you are from a Right-to-Work state, and I respect the fact that you can continue to be a Right-to-Work state.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you.
Back when we had the PRO Act [committee markup], I offered an amendment that would require authorization from employees in order for any kind of dues, fees, or assessments to be used towards a political campaign by the union bosses. It failed.
Are you for that? […] How would you handle that?
Dues going to from a union, paid in a political contribution from employees that are not asked, ‘Can we use your money?'”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “So you’re saying they pay their dues. It’s used for a political contribution without their knowledge?”
TUBERVILLE: “Right.”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “Yeah. Well, again, […] I think they should be aware of where their dues are going.”
TUBERVILLE: “Yeah. Okay. Just asking. You voted for the PRO Act. I was just asking.”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “Senator, if I could correct the record, I did not vote for the PRO Act. I put my name on this. We did not have a vote on the PRO Act. So, I just wanted to correct the record on that.”
ON PRO-LIFE STANCE:
TUBERVILLE: “Alright. We had this conversation a couple weeks ago. My constituents wanna know.
You worked at Planned Parenthood years and years ago. [Are] you pro-life or pro-choice?”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “I am supportive of the President’s agenda. I have a 100% pro-life voting record in Congress, and I will continue to support the America First agenda, which we know includes life.”
TUBERVILLE: “Good answer. Alright.”
ON THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE:
TUBERVILLE: “Talk to me about legal immigration. […] We have the most engineers in the country in the state of Alabama because of NASA and defense contractors and all those things. We’re running short on a lot of engineers, high tech people that are well trained in our country. For some reason, we’re running short because Big Tech is growing.
Where do you stand on legal immigration? Your thoughts?”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “Well, I’m supportive of legal immigration only. I mean, I don’t see another way around it. […] Are you referring to the H-1B Visa program?”
TUBERVILLE: “Yeah. Anything to do with high-tech. Anything to do with engineers that eventually, we’re going to have to allow more people to come [into the country]. But not to tear down the structure of young men and women having a chance to make a better living because they spent four or five years at a university and have to pay their bills.”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “I appreciate that so much that you brought this up. You know, certainly we never want to replace the American worker. We want to make sure that we’re investing in the American worker, and they have the skills needed for the high-tech industry as we see moving forward through a lot of our respective states. On the visitor’s Visa, on the H-1B, there’s been conversation about in the immediacy, I’ve heard that from many of the senators—it’s about today. What happens today and tomorrow? I commit to you to working, again, with testing the market. That’s the Department of Labor’s remit. It’s to test the market and see in where we need the guest worker program. Once we’ve exhausted all other programs and making sure that we’re out there, then work with the Department of Homeland [Security] and certainly the Department of State and if we have to administer more. […] Congress will determine it, and then I’ll work with those inner agencies as well. And I would love to work with your office on that, specifically.”
ON NIL:
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. I’m not gonna put you under the gun on this question. You probably don’t know a lot about it. A lot of people in this room know a lot about it.
NIL—Name, Image, and Likeness. It is a disaster. And we’re gonna have to do something in your tenure to help young men and women understand, you know, the situation that we’re in because we’re gonna start losing Title IX. We’ve got a young man that just signed an eight-million-dollar contract, and he’s 20 years old. And it’s out of control. So, the next time you come, hopefully, we can have a hearing on what we call Name, Image, and Likeness. I’m all for kids making money, but it is a workforce. It needs to be changed. It needs to be regulated to a point where, you know, all men and women, young men and women can have a chance to make money. So just to bring that to light, but that will be under your purview in the very near future.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: “Thank you, Senator.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP, and Aging Committees.
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