May 8, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 76 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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Nomination of Janet Dhillon (Executive Calendar); Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 76
(Senate - May 08, 2019)
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[Pages S2721-S2722] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Nomination of Janet Dhillon Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I want to say a few words about the nomination of Janet Dhillon to be Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which we know by the shorthand EEOC. I will vote against her nomination. I have voted against it in the past in committee. But let me tell you about the EEOC. We need a little reminder of this once in a while. It is a bipartisan Commission that for decades has worked to protect American workers from discrimination in the workplace--all kinds of discrimination. Many lawyers know that if you bring an action in a State court or in a Federal court, the first step is that you have to go through all of your administrative remedies. So if you bring a Federal lawsuit or a civil action based upon discrimination, the first thing you have to do is to go to the EEOC. Before you can get to a Federal district court, you have to go through the EEOC. So it becomes the first court, in essence. It is not technically a court, but it becomes the first place you go to have your ``discrimination in the workplace'' claim considered. During that time, since the founding or the beginnings of the EEOC, people in both parties in the Senate have worked together to move forward nominees from both parties in tandem so the Commission could continue its essential work. Today this bipartisan process is being cast aside by the majority in the Senate because no Democratic nominee is being considered along with Janet Dhillon, who has been proposed by the administration. My colleagues in the majority have decided to abandon this bipartisan cooperation. We know that the EEOC plays a critical role in protecting workers from all forms--all forms--of workplace discrimination and in ensuring that all workers have equal access to employment opportunities. Another point that is important is that the EEOC is currently in the middle of collecting data on pay gaps faced by women in the workplace, and the EEOC's leadership is badly needed so that we can work to eliminate workplace sexual harassment--still a big problem where we have a long way to go. So instead of working with Democrats to make their sure that all-- all--EEOC positions are filled so the Commission can undertake this work, the majority is instead working only to advance the Republican nominees put forward by the White House. This is not how the Senate should work. It certainly is not how the Senate should work as it relates to the EEOC, and the most significant losers here are American workers. They will pay the price because of the EEOC not having more nominations that are bipartisan. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington. [[Page S2722]] Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 6 minutes on the Dhillon nomination. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor to oppose the nomination of Janet Dhillon to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. I have a number of concerns about her record, which I plan to lay out here today, but before I do, I want to talk about the process by which this nomination has come to the Senate floor. It has long been common practice in the Senate to confirm nominees to independent agencies as pairs--one Republican and one Democrat. We do this so agencies like the EEOC are balanced and are able to fully function no matter which party is in the White House. In the case of the EEOC, it ensures workers are being protected from discrimination in the workplace. Yet, at every opportunity, Republicans have broken norms and abandoned longstanding practices to jam through their nominees. First it was the National Labor Relations Board, when my colleagues across the aisle jammed through two Republican nominees without any Democrats and then refused to give a highly qualified nominee another term on the Board--all because that highly qualified nominee was fighting on the side of workers, not corporations. Then one lone Republican was allowed to object to the reconfirmation of a well-respected Commissioner to another term on the EEOC, even if that meant the EEOC would no longer have a quorum and be able to perform some of its most critical duties. I came down to the floor to urge our colleagues to end the partisan obstruction and pass a slate of nominees to the EEOC, but Republican leaders allowed one Republican Member's opposition to a noncontroversial nominee to hold more weight than the entire Senate minority. Now, here we are today, and Republicans want to jam through another nominee without their Democratic pair, and by doing this, my colleagues across the aisle have now abandoned longstanding norms of the Senate and are once again sending a message to the most vulnerable workers they believe the corporations that discriminate against them deserve more of a say. This is unacceptable and goes against the core of the EEOC. It is illegal to discriminate against someone in the workplace because of their race, religion, sex, disability, or because they are LGBTQ. It is the EEOC's responsibility to enforce those laws and to give every person the opportunity to earn a living without fear of discrimination or harassment. The EEOC protects LGBTQ rights in the workplace and is the primary agency addressing the gender pay gap. The EEOC is responsible for addressing harassment in the workplace, an issue our country has been grappling with but still has a long way to go. Over the past 2 years, as so many brave women and men have spoken out and shared their stories, we have seen a shift in this country toward acknowledging, finally, the epidemic of harassment and assault in workplaces, and finally we are beginning to address it on a large scale. In Hollywood, the media, even in the Halls of Congress--those who have used their position of power to prey on the less powerful are finally being held accountable. Workers in industries outside the spotlight, in hospitality or farm fields, and in offices around the country are waiting for the same kind of reckoning. For many of these workers, the EEOC is one of the few places they can turn. It is a resource for workers who want to file complaints and hold employers and businesses accountable for discrimination and harassment. This issue should matter to everyone-- Democrats and Republicans--and this critical civil rights agency should be able to stay out of the political fray too. We have to ensure that the EEOC is balanced and remains committed to its core mission. Unfortunately, Janet Dhillon's record proves she is not going to stand up for workers. Ms. Dhillon has spent her career working on the side of corporations, making it easier for them to violate workers' rights without consequence. She has fought against positions the EEOC has taken that help ensure workers have the protections they need. In her confirmation hearing, she refused to commit to maintaining the EEOC's current and critical position that LGBTQ workers are protected under the Civil Rights Act, which is something, by the way, that should not be up for debate. So what we are seeing today is another power grab by Republican leaders, another Republican step toward partisanship and away from balance, and if Ms. Dhillon is confirmed, another step backward under Republican leadership for workers who simply want to be treated fairly on the job, especially those workers who historically have not had the rights or resources to come forward. I urge the Senate leadership to postpone this vote and work with the White House to get our Democratic nominee ready for confirmation--she is waiting--so there is no other break in yet another Senate tradition. It is bad for workers. It is bad for our country. I yield the floor.
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