U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) pressed the labor secretary nominee Thursday on unemployment fraud, artificial intelligence, retirement investments and the H-1B visa program.
Tuberville (R-Auburn) questioned acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The exchange centered first on fraud in unemployment insurance programs, including an estimated $135 billion stolen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“How are you collaborating with the states to get this done to stop this damn fraud?” Tuberville asked.
Sonderling said the Department of Labor is pushing states to verify applicants before issuing payments and threatening consequences for states that fail to install adequate safeguards.
He pointed to Alabama as a model.
“They have some of the lowest fraud and improper payment rates in the country because they’re verifying,” Sonderling said. “They’re going and making sure that person is alive, that person lives in Alabama, that person worked in Alabama.”
Sonderling said Alabama recovered 100% of its improper unemployment payments over the past two years and is helping the department develop a centralized system called unemployment.gov.
Tuberville said artificial intelligence will be necessary to detect fraud across a federal government spending trillions of dollars each year.
“I think AI is gonna be the key,” Tuberville said. “There’s no way humans can mentally keep up with $5 trillion a year.”
Tuberville also tied AI to his plans for Alabama if elected governor.
“We’re gonna start in elementary school teaching our kids AI,” he said. “We have to learn it at a young age, and we’re already preparing for that for young kids in elementary school all the way up to high school.”
The discussion later turned to Tuberville’s Financial Freedom Act, which would expand the types of investments available through 401(k) retirement plans to include private equity, cryptocurrency and other alternative assets.
Sonderling said individual retirement savers should have access to diversification opportunities similar to those available through union and state pension funds.
“We lay the mutual framework and let the employers decide under their fiduciary obligations which is the best for their employees,” he said.
Tuberville closed by criticizing the H-1B visa program and accusing major companies of replacing American workers with foreign labor.
“Our H-1B program sucks,” Tuberville said. “Microsoft is firing people and hiring foreign labor, and that’s wrong. We have to hire American workers.”
Sonderling currently serves as acting secretary and deputy secretary of the Department of Labor. Trump nominated him last month to lead the department permanently.
Sawyer Knowles is a state and political reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].
