WASHINGTON D.C. – During a committee hearing today, Senator Andy Kim confronted President Trump’s nominee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) about upholding the agency’s independence and her commitment to fairly protect all workers: 

Watch the video of Senator Kim here

Key quotes from Senator Kim’s full question line: 

“There comes a problem though if your agency does not have credibility as being one derived from a sense of fairness, and instead can come at the whim of potential coercive influence or political whim.” 

“The fact that you are saying that the President is your boss, that you take direction from the President, and if the President tells you to dismiss a case or to go after a particular employer, or to rule in a particular way, I just find that to be a dangerous place for us and our government and our democracy.” 

“I just want to remind you that your boss is not the President, your boss is the American people. And that we swear an oath to the Constitution, not to a particular President.” 

Watch Senator Kim’s full question line here. 

During the hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Kim addressed Andrea Lucas, President Trump’s pick to renew her role as commissioner at the EEOC. In the role, Lucas has dropped seven lawsuits related to discrimination against transgender workers. The EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace and upholding workers’ rights. 

Before being elected to the U.S. Senate, Kim represented New Jersey’s Third Congressional District in the U.S. House and was a career public servant working in national security and diplomacy at the White House, State Department, and Pentagon. Learn more about Senator Kim’s service on behalf of New Jersey here.  

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