[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 72 (Friday, April 28, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2108-H2112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      JULIE SU'S RECORD OF FAILURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, with the departure of Marty Walsh from the 
Labor Department, President Biden has nominated Deputy Secretary Julie 
Su to succeed him.
  For those of us in California, this decision was very hard to 
understand. Ms. Su's record as our State's labor secretary under 
Governor Gavin Newsom is well known because it had such negative 
consequences for so many people.
  Having seen my constituents suffer at the hands of Ms. Su's 
mismanagement and antiworker agenda, I have felt compelled to make sure 
the facts come to light in the confirmation process.
  As chair of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, I held a 
hearing last week highlighting the countless livelihoods she destroyed 
as secretary of labor in California.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't want the rest of the country to suffer the way 
California has. Our State had the highest unemployment rate for much of 
the

[[Page H2109]]

COVID era. We had the Nation's highest poverty rate. In recent years, 
we have been last in the country in income growth and first in the 
country in U-Haul rentals.
  I am joined today by several colleagues who don't want this for their 
States or for the rest of the country. They have joined us here for 
this Special Order to discuss what a Julie Su-led Labor Department 
would mean for their constituents and to urge President Biden to 
withdraw this nomination.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California (Mr. Kiley) 
for gathering us here today for something very important: to speak out 
against President Biden's nomination of Julie Su to be the next United 
States Secretary of Labor.
  As a former Republican member of the California Legislature, Mr. 
Kiley knows all too well why this should not happen, and the rest of 
the country should take notice.
  As a former small business owner, I also understand why this should 
not happen because I understand both the needs of the employer and the 
employee. I have seen firsthand how empowering your employees, Mr. 
Speaker, is a leading factor in the overall success of a business and 
how managing with wise and prudent decisionmaking is the right way to 
go. That is something that Julie Su has not done and has proven that 
during her time in California and here in Washington, D.C.
  During her time as the secretary of the California Labor and 
Workforce Development Agency, she repeatedly put big businesses and 
their wants ahead of the needs and concerns of the workers. In fact, 
she put unions ahead of the rights and needs of workers.
  During this time, she championed California Assembly Bill 5, which 
reclassified independent contractors, harming them by considering them 
employees and, in fact, taking that ability to be independent 
contractors away from many categories of workers who were intending to 
build their businesses and build their lives. In doing so, it forced 
them into these formal employment relationships intended for no other 
purpose--and I want to pause here--for no other purpose than to drive 
up union enrollment. She is simply doing the bidding of big unions.
  On top of this, during the pandemic, Ms. Su's office facilitated the 
distribution of more than $30 billion in fraudulent claims, the largest 
exhibition of fraud in California State history.
  When we look at what we want out of a Labor Secretary, we certainly 
want wisdom, and we want the ability to manage the Department. Neither 
of those is present as characteristics in Ms. Su.
  I am deeply concerned about the fate of hardworking Americans under 
the direction of Julie Su as Secretary of Labor. She does not 
understand the needs of workers and the responsibilities of employers, 
and she has repeatedly demonstrated, as I mentioned, poor judgment in 
her official capacity. To try to dissolve the ability for workers to 
have that independent contractor relationship is simply misguided.
  Unfortunately, Julie Su is just another example of the Biden 
administration nominating someone who is neither qualified nor 
possessive of the right judgment to lead the Department.
  Rather than work toward enacting meaningful policy that will benefit 
all Americans, the Biden administration continues to nominate 
individuals like Ms. Su who are sure to enact the President's liberal 
agenda and proposed policies, allowing him and his administration to 
bypass Congress and the American people.
  The misguided policies executed in California under Ms. Su when she 
was secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency there do 
not reflect the needs and wishes of the east Texans that I represent 
nor Americans as a whole.

  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject the 
nomination of Julie Su for Labor Secretary.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Moran for his comments.
  He really hit the nail on the head, that if this nomination goes 
through, it is hardworking Americans--millions of American workers--who 
will pay the price.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).
  Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Kiley for 
hosting this Special Order.
  Mr. Speaker, Julie Su has already auditioned for the job as Secretary 
of Labor, failing miserably and proving beyond a reasonable doubt that 
she is unfit for the position.
  For 2 years now, Ms. Su has been second in command at the Department 
of Labor, and all we need to do is look at the rules and regulations 
that have been issued under her watch.
  Her department of labor has incentivized and pressured retirement 
plans to focus on woke ESG guidelines instead of making investment 
decisions based on return on investment.
  Her department of labor has undermined the right of religious 
organizations to hire according to their beliefs if they want to 
participate in Federal contracts, discriminating against them and 
essentially violating their civil rights.
  Her department of labor has redefined the definition of ``joint 
employers'' to harm the independence of franchisees.
  Her department of labor has undercut independent contractors to make 
the Federal Government more like California. Yes, that is what we want 
to do. That is the example we want to follow, and then maybe people 
will start fleeing the United States the way they are fleeing 
California today.
  Her department of labor has raised the minimum wage for employers on 
Federal contracts to $15 an hour.
  While she was the secretary of labor in California, she ignored the 
warnings from the United States Department of Labor to improve fraud 
protection against the jobless benefit payments she was issuing. This 
is coming from the Biden administration that wants to give as many 
benefits to as many individuals as possible with essentially no 
verification of qualifications.
  Of course, in this administration of failing forward, instead of 
being reprimanded, she is being considered for a promotion to the 
Nation's top labor job.
  We all know who Julie Su is. We know that she will take her orders 
from anti-American Big Labor and further assault right-to-work.
  All Senators who value small businesses and workers' rights should 
oppose her nomination.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Good for his remarks. His point 
about making the rest of the country like California is explicitly what 
they are trying to do here.
  President Biden has cited the labor law that Julie Su was in charge 
of enforcing in California as his model for labor relations nationwide. 
In fact, the Labor Department is now trying to emulate it in order to 
cause the same harm to all American workers that California workers 
have already suffered.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller).
  Mrs. MILLER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Kiley for 
hosting this Special Order to oppose Deputy Secretary Su as the next 
Secretary of Labor.
  The Biden administration's radical Department of Labor attempted to 
unconstitutionally fire 84 million Americans unless they took the COVID 
vaccine and handed over their personal medical files to prove it.
  Under Joe Biden's leadership, the Federal Government has been 
weaponized to go after American workers, causing permanent damage to 
small businesses and the lives of working Americans.
  As vice chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, 
I support a full oversight investigation to hold the Biden 
administration and Deputy Secretary Su accountable over OSHA's 
unconstitutional and illegal COVID vaccine mandate.
  My constituents miss having a booming economy full of good jobs and a 
President who supports working families. In Congress, I will always 
defend hardworking Americans from leftists who want to strip away our 
freedoms and our ability to provide for our families.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Miller for her 
remarks. She brings up a very important

[[Page H2110]]

point. With everything that has been going on with the economy and 
everything that happened during COVID, it really is stunning that we 
had people in positions of power like Julie Su who are looking for 
reasons to deny people the opportunity to work.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens), who is 
also part of the Education and the Workforce Committee.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the nomination of Julie Su 
for U.S. Labor Secretary.
  I have always been told that you can get some idea of a person's 
future judgment and skill based on their past judgments and skill.
  Ms. Su has a history that is very instructive. It was her tenure as 
the secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency of 
California that put the Golden State on a fast track to bankruptcy and 
economic collapse.
  Because of Julie Su's leadership, hundreds of business headquarters 
have fled the State. Between 2020 and 2022, over one-half million 
Californians left the State for greener pastures.
  Mr. Speaker, as a California executive, the primary responsibility in 
representing your State should be growing it, not expelling your 
citizens.

  Ms. Su's reign has shown a failure in both judgment and skills. Under 
her watch, over $31 billion of California COVID funds were delivered to 
the bank accounts of fraudsters. At the same time, delays and red tape 
plagued legitimate COVID relief claims for those who desperately needed 
it.
  Caving to the demands of union bosses, Ms. Su has been and will 
continue to be totally tone-deaf to businessowners. She will never 
understand Americans who build our Nation's tax base; who power our 
middle class; who pay her salary; and who, through robust employment, 
are the source for union dues. She literally turned her back on the 
goose that laid the golden egg--California's risk-taking 
businessowners.
  At the behest of the union bosses, she instead launched an all-out 
assault on independent contractors critical to the success of the gig 
economy.
  At every government post Ms. Su has been appointed to, she has 
prioritized non-revenue producers: the union bosses and unelected 
bureaucrats. Her priority has always been those who empty the 
government coffers instead of the small business owners who, through 
work, risk, expansion, and paying taxes, replenish them.
  After forcing Californians who can afford to leave to move out, the 
Democratic-controlled legislature then figured a way to tax departing 
citizens several years after the taxpayer's departure. It is sad that 
wisdom and creativity weren't used at the front end to keep them from 
leaving the State.
  Unsurprisingly, the Biden administration plans to continue its 
disastrous antigrowth and antibusiness policies under the leadership of 
Ms. Su.
  American families and the workforce are hurting from 40-year record 
inflation, supply chain disruptions, and high energy prices. Ms. Su is 
not the right person to tackle America's pressing economic challenges.
  Mr. Speaker, I call on the White House to withdraw Julie Su from the 
confirmation process for Secretary of Labor and prioritize American 
families, the workforce, and economic growth.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Owens for those very 
on-point remarks. He said it very well, that this nominee is 
antibusiness, antigrowth, and antiworker, as well.
  I think it is important for us to have a sense of perspective here 
that this is such a vital moment and a moment of vital importance for 
the American workforce. We are coming out of an era of unprecedented 
upheaval, and we are heading toward an era of, in many ways, 
unpredictable transformation.
  For the top labor position in America, we need a Secretary who is 
competent and qualified, who is proworker and pro-small businesses, who 
will work with Democrats and Republicans alike, who is fair, and who 
understands what has made the American workforce the greatest engine 
for human progress the world has ever known.
  Simply put, Julie Su is not that person. Her record in California 
makes that all too clear. Indeed, during the pandemic, Julie Su and her 
Employment Development Department, known as the EDD, became the 
national poster child for government failure.

                              {time}  1145

  I saw this firsthand as a State representative. Millions of 
Californians had their legitimate unemployment claims wrongfully 
withheld for weeks, months, or sometimes indefinitely under Su's 
mismanagement.
  You don't need to take my word for that. In July of 2020, 61 of the 
80 members of the California Assembly, mostly Democrats, wrote the 
following:
  ``In our fifth month of the pandemic, with so many constituents yet 
to receive a single unemployment payment, it's clear that EDD is 
failing California:
  ``Millions of our constituents have had no income for months. As 
Californians wait for answers from EDD, they have depleted their life 
savings, have gone into extreme debt, and are in deep panic as they 
figure out how to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.''
  The lawmakers went on to explain how the EDD, under Su's management 
time and again, failed to take responsibility and failed to correct its 
mistakes. They wrote that they had been met with long-winded excuses, 
fumbling answers, or unclear and inconsistent data, along with a lack 
of transparency and accountability, obfuscation and dishonesty in their 
dealings with Su's agency.
  We have exhausted all avenues at our disposal, they said, as the 
agency has addressed only a few of the many issues we have highlighted 
for months and was only scratching the surface of the disaster that is 
EDD.
  ``The disaster'' is how the California Democrat supermajority 
characterized Julie Su's agency.
  The frustrated legislators lamented how little has improved at EDD 
over the course of the pandemic. Independent reports confirmed the 
extent of mismanagement and deception from Su's agency. While the EDD 
had said in July of 2020 that its claims backlog would be cleared by 
September, a report found 1.5 million claims remained unresolved and 
the backlog was increasing by 10,000 each week.
  The Independent Legislative Analyst office likewise found the EDD 
mischaracterized the crisis. Even allies of the Governor and Secretary 
Su concluded that she was responsible for this. Democrat Assemblymember 
Cottie Petrie-Norris, who is the chairwoman of the Assembly 
Accountability and Administrative Review Committee responsible for 
overseeing the EDD said that Su `` . . . has not done a good job at 
running the Employment Development Department,'' saying Su's 
mismanagement ``caused heartache for millions of Californians.''
  That is the top Democrat on the committee that oversaw her work in 
California, saying she did not do a good job at running the Employment 
Development Department.
  What reason is there to think she is going to do a good job then 
running the U.S. Labor Department?
  It gets much worse. As so many hardworking citizens waited in vain 
for their checks in California after they were told they weren't 
allowed to work during the COVID shutdowns, as these folks who were 
entitled to their checks waited for them, one group seemed to have no 
trouble at all getting benefits and those were people who were not 
entitled to them, those who perpetrated a massive fraud against the 
State government of California.
  In fact, it was the largest fraud of taxpayer dollars in history. An 
estimated $32 billion was wrongfully paid out from the EDD to State 
prison inmates, international crime syndicates, and other criminals. 
Payments were made to murderers, rapists, child molesters. 133 death 
row inmates received over $400,000 alone. These hardened criminals 
didn't have to try hard. They used names like Dianne Feinstein and John 
Doe.
  The district attorney of Sacramento County called the scheme 
``relatively easy.'' The individual most responsible, once again, was 
Secretary Julie Su. She made the inexplicable decision to forego a 
basic fraud prevention system. She ignored the Federal Government's 
guidance that claims are to be cross-checked against the prison rolls, 
which was standard practice in other States.
  The agency sent hundreds of benefit cards to the same address, sent 
cards

[[Page H2111]]

directly to correctional facilities, issued benefits to infants and 
centenarians. A January 2021 report from the California State auditor 
notes that the EDD fraud occurred for three main reasons: First, EDD 
waited about 4 months to automate a key antifraud measure; second, EDD 
allowed claimants to collect benefits, even though they were using 
suspicious addresses; and third, EDD removed a key safeguard against 
improper payments without fully understanding the significance of the 
safeguard.
  Yet, perhaps worst of all is that Julie Su has refused to accept 
responsibility.
  Just last week at her Senate confirmation hearing, she said, ``As 
soon as we saw that there was fraud happening, I shut the front door to 
that fraud.'' That is her testimony just last week. ``As soon as we saw 
that there was fraud happening, I shut the front door to that fraud.''
  However, California's independent State auditor has found that 
``despite repeated warnings, EDD did not bolster its fraud detection 
efforts until months into the pandemic.''
  There is no predicting what will happen to our country, to our 
workforce if that level of mismanagement is brought to the U.S. 
Department of Labor.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss one more facet of Ms. Su's 
tenure in California, but before doing so, I yield to the gentleman 
from Georgia (Mr. McCormick).
  Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I too have major concerns about this 
nomination.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition of President Biden's nominee 
for Secretary of Labor, Julie Su. America's labor secretary should 
defend both American workers and understand the economy which provides 
jobs, feeds families, and keeps our communities strong.
  Unfortunately, Ms. Su oversaw and distributed about $32.6 billion in 
fraudulent unemployment claims paid out to death row inmates, 
international criminal syndicates, and other fraudsters. She has tried 
and failed to obscure this fact in front of the Senate Committee.
  While she was doing this, Su also denied or delayed over 5 million 
legitimate unemployment insurance claims. She was also an architect and 
key enforcer in California law that effectively outlaws freelance work 
in California, destroying the livelihoods of thousands of families.
  Our Nation's 1099 employees are just as important to this country as 
the liberal elite donors that are so set on destroying the American 
working class.
  The facts are clear, President Biden should pick someone else to be 
his Labor Secretary.
  I urge my colleagues in the United States Senate to stand with 
America's workers, to stand for American prosperity, and stand for a 
better nominee for the Department of Labor.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. McCormick for his words. Indeed, 
the President should pick someone else. Almost anyone else.
  What is so really puzzling, mind-boggling about this nomination is 
that the President has chosen to elevate the one person in the country 
who presided over a fraud on this scale, the single worst performing 
Secretary of Labor of any State in the country.
  Why would he do that?
  That brings us to the final facet of Ms. Su's tenure that I wish to 
discuss and that Mr. McCormick touched upon as well, which is her 
ruthless enforcement of the labor law known as AB 5, which President 
Biden has cited as his model for the Nation.
  Su's historic failure to deliver unemployment checks to millions of 
Californians along with her allowance of this massive fraud is 
disqualifying in its own right, but I actually think it is her 
mistreatment of California workers that is most concerning of all.
  AB 5 was a law passed in California in 2019. It rendered countless 
independent professionals unable to earn a living in our State. 
Writers, interpreters, court reporters, musicians, language 
pathologists, photographers, forensic nurses, people in literally 
hundreds of other professions were told they were no longer allowed to 
practice their profession and serve their clients as they had been 
doing their whole careers.
  Instead, their only option was to find a single hiring entity to 
monopolize their services and make them a W-2 employee. For many, that 
simply was not possible, and so they lost everything.
  Take, for example, a woman named Jodie, who said: I worked years to 
gain my skills as an American Sign Language interpreter. It was my goal 
since I was 9 years old. After AB 5, I lost all three of my agencies. 
The dream I worked for is lost. I can't provide for my family, and 
thousands of California deaf won't be serviced.
  Andy said: I work with underserved artists of color. None of my 
career as an artist, technician, designer, and producer would have been 
possible under AB 5. Artists of color will be less able to create their 
own work in a field that doesn't favor them.
  Jared said: AB 5 forced me to shut down my business. I went from 
making $80,000 a year in home services to a minimum wage employee. My 
family trade is gone. I have gone from working 4 days a week to spend 
time with my kids to not knowing if I can make ends meet working 7 
days.
  Kathy said: I am a 71-year-old transcriber. I raised six kids and 
went to work in my 40s, but I had to retire at 62 due to health issues. 
I depend on my at-home transcription pay to survive and pay my bills. 
For 8 years, I did okay, until AB 5.
  Julie Su has been called an architect of this law, and she is 
supporting a Federal version that is estimated to cost millions of 
American workers their livelihoods. After her enactment in California--
and this is the important thing, given that this is now percolating up 
into Federal law--she used her position as labor secretary to broaden 
the destructive impact of the law by enforcing it as aggressively as 
possible.
  In fact--and I think this is maybe the most concerning thing--she 
exploited the COVID-19 shutdowns to hammer the law in even more. She 
continued with harassing audits, trying to find businesses to hit with 
fines and penalties. I personally asked the EDD to stop doing this 
during the COVID shutdowns, and they refused to do so, continuing to 
target small businesses.
  She even defied the will of Congress in the process. Congress had 
provided benefits to independent contractors through the CARES Act, but 
put States in charge of distributing those benefits. Under Julie Su, 
the EDD wrongfully withheld those benefits, as she aimed to exploit the 
sudden need that independent contractors had to interface with her 
department. She wanted them to go through the regular unemployment 
channel, which they weren't supposed to go through, so that she could 
get access to information that could be used then to conduct more 
audits and go after more small businesses and to put more people out of 
work.
  You don't need to take my word for this, either. California 
Congressman Adam Schiff wrote a letter to Secretary Su in April of 2020 
rebuking her for failing to release the benefits independent 
contractors were owed under the CARES Act and requesting urgently that 
she do so.
  Now, tellingly, with Julie Su's confirmation for Secretary of Labor 
now appearing to be in doubt, her backers are making a last-ditch 
attempt to save her nomination by absurdly trying to dissociate her 
from AB 5. None other than the author of AB 5 itself, a major Su backer 
who now leads the California Labor Federation, told the L.A. Times that 
Su ``was not involved with the bill at all.''
  Yet Su, in her own words, after the law was passed, described in 
detail her plans for enforcing AB 5 as California labor secretary: ``So 
we will be doing investigations and audits,'' she said, threatening 
fines and penalties, ``so that those who want to comply with the need 
to reclassify can do so and those who don't will understand that's not 
the kind of economy we want in California.''
  ``Not the kind of economy we want in California,'' those are her 
words. Julie Su didn't want an economy in California where you can 
pursue your own calling, support your family on your own terms, and 
thrive. She doesn't want that for America, either. That is why Joe 
Biden has selected her for Labor Secretary, to wage his war on 
independent contractors, and we simply cannot let that happen.

[[Page H2112]]

  In closing, there are many, many organizations across the country who 
have expressed their opposition to the nomination and confirmation of 
Julie Su for Labor Secretary. I will just list some of them: there is 
the Air Conditioning Contractors of America; American Hotel and Lodging 
Association; American Trucking Associations; Americans for Tax Reform; 
Associated Builders and Contractors; Association of Bi-State Motor 
Carriers; Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise; Coalition of 
Franchisee Associations; Consumer Technology Association; Franchise 
Business Services; Flex Association; Heating, Air-Conditioning & 
Refrigeration Distributors International; Independent Bakers 
Association; Independent Electrical Contractors; Institute for the 
American Worker; International Franchise Association; International 
Warehouse Logistics Association; Association of Independent 
Professionals and the Self-Employed; Leading Builders of America; 
National Armored Car Association; National Association of Home 
Builders; National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors; National 
Council of Chain Restaurants; National Federation of Independent 
Business; National Franchisee Association; International Franchise 
Association; National Grocers Association; National Ready Mixed 
Concrete Association; National Restaurant Association; Owner-Operator 
Independent Drivers Association; DoorDash; Lyft; Competitive Enterprise 
Institute; TechNet; Fight for Freelancers; Freelancers Against AB5; 
California Business and Industrial Alliance; Workplace Policy 
Institute; Job Creators Network; Institute for the American Worker.

                              {time}  1200

  You have also had State-level associations weigh in in opposition: 
for example, in Arizona, the Builders Alliance; Construction Trades; 
Franchise Action Network; Lodging and Tourism Association; Restaurant 
Association; Small Business Association; Transportation Builders 
Association; Trucking Association; and the Independent Electrical 
Contractors.
  In West Virginia, you have the Associated Builders and Contractors; 
Independent Electrical Contractors Chesapeake; the Franchise Action 
Network; the Hospitality and Travel Association; the Manufacturers 
Association; Oil Marketers and Grocers Association; Retailers 
Association; and Trucking Association.
  I encourage Members of the United States Senate to join this broad 
coalition of small businesses and workers across the country who know 
that we deserve and need better than the Secretary of Labor.
  I urge Members of the United States Senate to reject this nomination, 
and I urge the President to appoint a Secretary of Labor who will be on 
the side of American workers.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Duncan).
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, that is what you call making it just in 
time. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding just a little 
time in this Special Order hour in order for me to recognize a very 
special group of students down in Clinton, South Carolina.
  Mr. Speaker, today I recognize the Clinton High School and Clinton 
Middle School Olympiad teams for both bringing home the State 
championship in Charleston this past month and qualifying for the 
National Science Olympiad tournament in Kansas this May.
  Now, the Science Olympiad was founded in 1984 as the premier team 
STEM competition in the Nation and provides standards-based challenges 
to 6,000 teams at 425 tournaments in all 50 States.
  Winning the State Olympiad is a tremendous accomplishment alone, but 
the fact that Clinton has a history of excellence in the Science 
Olympiad is even more impressive.
  Listen to this: Clinton has been involved in the Olympiad since 1986, 
and I am proud of Clinton's continued success in this competition.
  The Clinton Middle School, formerly Bell Street Middle School where 
my sons went to middle school, has won the State Olympiad title 19 
times in the last 21 years--19 times in the last 21 years--and Clinton 
High School has won the State title 12 of the last 15 years.
  I congratulate the coaches and members of the Clinton State 
Championship Science Olympiad team for their win this year and applaud 
them for their wins over the years.
  This year's middle school team included Jackie Alcudia, Liam Bell, 
Madison Boyter, Lauren Ficklin, Sam Hunt, Salaam Jenkins, Jacob King, 
Matthew King, Shayne Kiselak, Hank Lanford, Landen Lowman, Kelly 
Nelson, Sidney Nelson, Arohi Patel, Shrey Patel, Ada Tiller, Brian 
Phillips, Aubrie Watts, Ben Wiggins, and Marlee Williamson.
  This year's high school team included Kaelyn Bell, Jules Darden, 
Keegan Fortman, Julieta Garcia, Becca King, Anna Litzenberger, Addison 
Lowman, Shane Nelson, Junia Nolan, Wes Ray, Helen Sarah, Bailey Suarez, 
and Rachel Vondergeest.
  Now, of course, we have to remember the coaches because a team is 
only as good as the leadership, so you have head coach Terri O'Shields 
and David O'Shields, who is our superintendent in that district. They 
are both dear friends of mine.
  Kevin Cox, Michael Mack, Jason Smith, Ami Vaughn, Allison Lanford, 
Stan Walsh, Jimbo Langston, Scott Shiflet, Dianne Summer, Sharon Lone, 
David Bell, Katie Scarlett, Maggie O'Shields, and Asheton Wilbanks.
  Clinton High School defeated 14 other high school teams to win, and 
they brought home the gold medal in astronomy, bridge building, 
chemistry lab, dynamic planet, environmental chemistry, forestry, 
remote sensing, and the WiFi lab. What great categories for STEM 
education.
  Clinton Middle School defeated all of its competition in each event.
  Congratulations to the students of Clinton High School and Clinton 
Middle School for another Science Olympiad State championship.
  Their success is a testament not only to their talent and the hard 
work that they put in and the dedication, but it is a testament to the 
leaders and the teachers and the coaches that really helped them 
navigate this success.
  South Carolina is rooting for them as they compete in the National 
Science Olympiad tournament next month. They have bright futures, and 
they are the innovators of tomorrow. The sky is the limit.
  I thank them for what they do. I congratulate them on their win, and 
God bless them.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________