During a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked President Trump's nominee to be National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Crystal Carey over her former employer's work representing Amazon in a lawsuit which questions the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
00:00Senator Sanders. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I have questions for all three, so if you guys could be brief, I would much appreciate it.
00:07Let me start off with Ms. Carey. Ms. Carey, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, and Amazon, owned by Jeff Bezos, have filed lawsuits arguing that the NLRB is unconstitutional.
00:20The agency you hope to work for is unconstitutional. You are a partner at Morgan Lewis, a management-side law firm that is representing Amazon in that lawsuit.
00:31Simple question. Do you believe that the NLRB is unconstitutional? Microphone, please.
00:39Senator Sanders, thank you for the question. I did not participate in any of those cases, and I believe that the answer will come from the courts, and I hope that it comes swiftly.
00:48I am aware that you haven't participated in the case, but I'm just asking you as a citizen, simple question. In your judgment, is the NLRB an unconstitutional agency?
00:59Thank you, Senator. I understood the question. I'm sitting here as the nominee for the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, and my position is that that case will be decided in the courts, and once there is an answer, we will move forward.
01:11You have no answer as to whether or not the agency you hope to work for is constitutional.
01:22In his second week in office, President Trump fired Wynne Wilcox, a member of the NLRB, leaving the NLRB without a quorum, making it much harder for workers to exercise their right to form a union and improve their standard of living.
01:36Do you believe that the firing of Ms. Wilcox was illegal?
01:40The courts will give us a decision on the constitutionality of that decision, and we will move forward from that.
01:47But like you said in your opening earlier, I, too, hope for a swift decision so that the board can be fully functioning, including with a fully confirmed board and a confirmed general counsel.
01:57Thank you very much. Dr. Christine, I agreed with about three-quarters of what you said.
02:03The American health care system is, in fact, broken.
02:06Would you agree with me that there is something wrong where we, the wealthiest nation on earth, are the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right?
02:17Senator Sanders, number one, thank you so much for being here today.
02:21I'm sorry that we didn't have a chance to meet before this meeting, but I do appreciate your time today.
02:25Senator Sanders, Secretary Kennedy believes, and I agree, that every American deserves to be healthy, and that is the crux of the Maha agenda.
02:35I don't mean to be rude. I don't have a lot of time. Simple question.
02:40Every other major country guarantees health care to all people.
02:45Do you think the United States should do the same?
02:47I think that we must make it clear that every American has the opportunity to be healthy, that they have access to...
02:53You're not answering the question, in all due respect.
02:57Let me ask you this.
03:00Recently, the Senate, against my vote, voted for the reconciliation package, which, according to the CBO, will throw 17 million people off of the health care that they currently have through massive cuts in Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
03:15Do you think we're making America healthy by throwing 17 million people off the health care they have?
03:20Senator Sanders, again, I thank you for the question.
03:23No one, and President Trump has been clear about this, no one wants to remove Medicaid benefits from truly deserving beneficiaries.
03:31However, we do know that there are inefficiencies in the system.
03:35We know there are costs that...
03:3617 million people are going to be thrown off the health care they have.
03:39Is that making America healthy?
03:40Truly, the individuals who are most deserving and truly deserve Medicaid will continue to be covered.
03:46Dr. Christine, in terms of making America healthy, do you think that vaccines are safe and effective?
03:55If confirmed, will you use your position to educate Americans about the importance of getting vaccinated?
04:02Senator Sanders, again, once again, thank you for your time and thank you for your question today.
04:06Let me be clear to this committee.
04:09I believe, as does Secretary Kennedy, that vaccines save lives.
04:13I believe that vaccines are an important part of the armamentarium that we have to help prevent disease in this country.
04:21I support vaccinations, just as Secretary Kennedy does.
04:24And what we also support is the right of every individual to make informed consent decisions about what's right for them or for their children.
04:33With all due respect, I don't know that that is Secretary Kennedy's position.
04:37He has spent years trying to undermine the belief and the faith in vaccines in this country.
04:43Last question for Ms. Panuccio.
04:47Panuccio.
04:48All right.
04:50Simple question.
04:51And was it appropriate for the EEOC to target law firms that filed lawsuits against President Trump?
04:59Senator, thank you for your question.
05:01As a current Department of Justice employee, I'm unable to comment on matters related to pending litigation.
