A Republican congressman grilled the Biden administration’s Secretary of Labor Julie Su over a proposed rule that would force companies involved in the Department of Labor’s apprenticeship program to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) measures.
If enacted, the proposed rule would seek to “diversify the National Apprenticeship System by enhancing worker protections and equity,” embedding DEI practices in the nationwide program to connect employers with workers looking for skilled labor opportunities.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) highlighted for Su during a hearing on the rule an agency document claiming that many apprenticeship programs involved in the DOL initiative are “actively hostile” to the idea of hiring women or racial minorities.
“Can you explain what that means?” Banks asked, referencing the claim that many employers involved in the apprenticeship program are hostile to those who are not white men. “Do you agree that some registered apprenticeship programs are managed by racists? And if so, who are they?”
Su explained that she wasn’t familiar with the document referenced by Banks before adding, “I think that there is no reason why we should not be able to tap into the full talent and ability and promise of every single American in every single community.”
Banks challenged Su again on the DOL document. “The recommendations also — say that registered apprenticeships have been ‘the domain of white able-bodied men.’ That’s a direct quote from the recommendation from the committee in your department,” Banks noted before asking “Do you agree with that comment?”
“Is having fewer white men in apprenticeships the goal of all of the DEI provisions in the proposed rule?” Banks went on to press, with Su responding, “Absolutely not.”
The Congressman from Indiana turned his attention to a portion of the rule that would demand that states submit reports outlining their efforts to diversify apprenticeship programs. Banks noted that the rule “would require states to submit a strategic plan for increasing participation from underserved communities that include the current participation by each race and demographic group and set specific targets for increasing participation by each race.”
“Will the Department punish states that do not meet the proposed rules’ racial quotas?” Banks asked. Su dodged the question again, saying, “We have never gone wrong in this country when we have expanded opportunities,” adding, “I don’t even know what punitive scheme you are talking about.”
One government document advocating for the use of DEI criteria in apprenticeship programs relies on a debunked study from consulting firm McKinsey and Company to incorrectly assert that greater diversity led to increased profitability for corporations. McKinsey’s flawed studies were also used by the Biden administration’s Pentagon to justify the implementation of the DEI agenda.
The Biden administration has directed the entirety of the federal bureaucracy and the military to implement DEI practices, leveraging the might of the administrative state to codify leftist ideology as a matter of official government policy.
Former President Trump and his allies have committed to firing bureaucrats who’ve pushed the leftwing agenda and who may otherwise undermine his policy efforts. “We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States,” Trump pledged at a rally. “The deep state must be brought to heel.”
Others are preparing for the potential outflow of bureaucrats, with Trump’s allies assembling a personnel database of those who might serve in the next administration through the Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, an initiative from the Heritage Foundation that seeks to “pave the way for an effective conservative Administration.”
