House panel subpoenas Labor secretary over department's return-to-work plan

A House committee issued a subpoena for acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, after she failed to produce the department's return to work plan, despite multiple requests for the documents.

The White House ordered all federal agencies to submit its "return-to-work" plan after the COVID-19 pandemic, to help transition the federal government back in-person. But a report from the Government Accountability Office in September found that the Department of Labor, along with five other government agencies, only uses approximately 23% of its headquarters space. 

House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx said that the percentage was unacceptable and requested information on the department's plan to get more of its workers back in the offices. The committee previously sent a letter to Su about the documents in March, and Foxx threatened the subpoena on May 1.

“Under Acting Secretary Su, the DOL has adopted a posture of blatant negligence in complying with the Committee’s oversight requests — vague answers and routine failures to provide requested materials have become the norm,” Foxx said in a statement, per The Hill. “The Committee’s March 6th letter to DOL requesting information on its return-to-work action plan remains unanswered — this is entirely unacceptable ... Acting Secretary Su has also now ignored a request during her May 1 appearance before the full Committee that she provide a copy of DOL’s return-to-office plan, which the White House instructed each agency to prepare and submit.”

The department did hand over some documents in April, after the first request, but Foxx claimed those documents were "insufficient." 

Su was selected by President Joe Biden to replace former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh last year, but has not been confirmed by the Senate. However, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced the nomination in February.