During Thursday’s House Education And The Workforce Committee hearing, Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) questioned Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about child labor in the U.S.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I recognize the gentlelady from North Carolina, Ms. Adams.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Madam Secretary, for being here.
00:09I've seen an increase of about 88% in illegal employment of children since 2019.
00:17Child labor rules are enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, which is already understaffed.
00:22There is one investigator for every 278,000 workers.
00:28And this is a crisis that would make it much, much worse under this proposed budget.
00:38And so the chart on page 24 of the budget shows 1,160 full-time employees, a cut of 153 staff,
00:48and on page 25, it proposes 906 full-time employees or a cut of 407 staff.
00:59So which is it?
01:01Is it 1,160 or is it 906?
01:05There are disparities or differences on each of those pages.
01:10Thank you, Congresswoman.
01:11I would have to take a look.
01:12I see it here in front of me, but in order for me to answer it correctly, I'll look to my team and make sure that we have those eyes.
01:19Fiscal year 2026 is showing 906 FTEs, reflects the program decrease, 25 million from fiscal year 2025 is what I am seeing in front of me.
01:30But I will clarify that for the record to make sure that you have it.
01:32I appreciate it.
01:33So in terms of these staff cuts, will they reduce the number of investigations of child labor?
01:39Thank you again.
01:41The goal of the Department of Labor in the Wage and Hour Division is to compliance and enforcement.
01:48Absolutely, we want to streamline and modernize and save.
01:52And again, as I mentioned on the outset, and I think the ranking member said it best, is not more dollars necessarily completes the job.
02:00I will work with my agency heads to make sure that we are protecting all divisions of the Wage and Hour and complying with the law set forth.
02:08And we will be able to do that once the budget is finalized.
02:12Okay.
02:13In a yes or no, will these staff cuts result in fewer child labor investigations?
02:20Again, Congresswoman, determining a hypothetical, we will enforce the law and we will never allow in this department to, I'm sorry, Congressman,
02:29I was not trying to look over you, I was just trying to address, we want to make sure that we are combating all child labor violations.
02:36It is not acceptable in this country that we would ever allow for that.
02:40And I will do everything in my effort to protect against child labor.
02:44Okay, so I agree that the Department of Labor needs to focus on child labor, but we can also protect adults from wage theft and we can protect children from illegal exploitation.
02:57And this budget request, and you said you can go back and take a look, it doesn't really do either of those things.
03:03Let me ask you if there's any research that you have regarding the prevalence of child labor violations that will guide the enforcement strategies that you're going to use.
03:15Oh, absolutely.
03:16I'm sure I will be working diligently with the professionals at the Department of Labor to make sure that we have all the information needed to enforce the laws that are in place and protect against child labor.
03:27So, we're looking at a cut in this agency by $25 million, which is a significant number of staff.
03:36And I just don't believe that neither of those things are really going to offer compliance assistance.
03:43Either that we're going to remain, these folks are going to remain inspectors into compliance assistance specialists, or they're not going to be doing investigations.
03:53And so, I have a real concern about that.
03:57Would that be the case, you think?
03:58Well, I look forward to working with Congress through the appropriations process in order to determine the funding source in order for me to comply with the law.
04:07The Department of Labor will continue to always enforce the laws on the books and protect the American worker and against child labor.
04:14All right.
04:14Well, let me move on.
04:15I want to abide by what the chairman has asked us to do.
04:18So, in January, the Department of Labor released a training and employment notice to eliminate federal funding for workforce development programs thought to include diversity, equity, and inclusion.
04:29And because of that notice, Rutgers Center for Minority-Serving Institutions canceled its HBCU and registered apprenticeship mini-conference.
04:38And while this notice was rescinded in February, no replacement has been issued, and I'm not really optimistic about how future notices might affect HBCUs.
04:49And I do worry that the chaos in the Department of Labor created in January might have a negative effect on future investments and workforce development at HBCUs.
05:00Can you comment on that?
05:01Well, I don't know if I have a specific comment on specifically that, but what I can assure you is that the Department of Labor on workforce investments is a number one goal to educate and train the workforce in this country.
05:12And I will continue to work with your office and many others to address the issues that you are concerned about.
05:17I will report out to this committee often, when asked, chairman, in order to update you on the specifics once we move through this next decision.
05:25Thank you very much, and I hope that the future training employment notices will not adversely affect them, Mr. Chairman.
05:32I'm out of time.
05:34I'll send my other questions to you, Madam Secretary.
05:37I yield back.
05:38I thank the gentlelady.
05:38I recognize now...
05:40I recognize the...