Lawmakers concerned over appointment to National Employment Post

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Washington state representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse and Jaime Herrera Beutler voiced concerns over President Biden’s appointment of Suzi Levine as Interim Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration within the U.S. Department of Labor last week.

Levine was serving as the head of the Washington State Employment Security Department when it was defrauded of more than $600 million of taxpayer dollars last year.

In a Feb. 2 letter to Biden, the representatives said Levine’s “dismal track record” while serving as head of the Washington State Employment Security Department, and gross mismanagement of state taxpayer dollars, left them extremely concerned about her appointment to a position which puts her in charge of over $9 billion of taxpayer funds.

The lawmakers state in the letter that when millions of Washingtonians lost their jobs during state-wide shutdowns last March, the employment security department’s unemployment claim process, under Levine’s leadership, underwent numerous updates. The updates eliminated safeguards to verify to whom dollars were being distributed.

“With thousands of our constituents affected by the ineffectiveness of Ms. Levine’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are deeply concerned that her appointment will have a negative impact on the millions of people who rely on the services of the Employment and Training Administration,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to reconsider this appointment.”