Democrats challenge Sonderling on overtime rollbacks, education transfers at HELP hearing

Senate Panel Questions Sonderling on Labor Record

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions heard Democratic criticism Thursday of Keith Sonderling's record as acting Labor secretary, as the committee examined his nomination to lead the department permanently.

Ranking Member Patty Murray of Washington led the criticism. "You rescinded the overtime rule in May, slamming the door on time and a half pay for more than 4 million workers who already aren't making much to begin with," Murray said. She also warned that a pending rule could strip minimum wage and overtime protections from 3.7 million home care workers.

Sonderling disputed that framing. The current rule, he said, "has essentially created a secondary market where workers are not getting overtime, they're not getting protections, those who are, you know, receiving the services aren't going through companies to get the proper background checks. So this rule will allow third parties to come back in to properly manage the payroll, to properly manage their ability to do background checks and have more workers in continuity of care."

He also defended the education-transfer arrangement, saying career staff from the Department of Education had been detailed to the Department of Labor to handle administration and that interagency agreements covered administrative services rather than policy control.

Sen. Tim Kaine pressed Sonderling on whether he knew the foundational pillars of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Sonderling said he did not. "I do not. That's a Department of Education program. But I would, to the extent we have the administration duties to administer that to the states, it will let me rely on the career education staff," he said. Sen. Tammy Baldwin also raised concerns about the transfer of K-12 programs to a department she said lacked the expertise to run them.

The committee has not yet voted on his nomination.