GOP committee leader tells Walsh to retain records for oversight requests

The top Republican on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce wrote to outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh on Thursday urging him to keep records relevant to the panel’s oversight of his and the department’s activities.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), in a letter first obtained by The Hill, asked that Walsh “retain such materials in a manner that can be easily accessed by DOL staff and future Secretaries of Labor so that they can respond to Committee inquiries.”

Foxx’s committee is seeking a response to requests for more information about Walsh’s visit with striking Kellogg workers in Pennsylvania in October 2021, his search for employment outside of the federal government, and his involvement as vice-chairman of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment.

The congresswoman wrote to Walsh on Jan. 12 seeking communications and documents related to the committee’s oversight activities, seeking information about how the Labor Department planned to respond within two weeks.

Foxx followed up with Walsh on Feb. 16 to “express my deep dissatisfaction with what I can only interpret as your agency’s attempt to frustrate the Committee on Education and the Workforce’s authority to conduct oversight on the Department of Labor (DOL) and demand accountability.”

Her letter comes as Republicans in the House ramp up their investigations into the Biden administration after retaking the majority in last November’s midterm elections.

On Feb. 16, The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) officially announced Walsh would take over as head of the players’ union next month, days after it was reported Walsh would depart the administration.

The NHLPA confirmed that Walsh would serve as the union’s next executive director beginning in mid-March. President Biden confirmed his departure from the cabinet a short time later — and no replacement has been announced thus far.

Before joining the Biden administration, Walsh was the mayor of Boston from 2014 until 2021, and prior to that he had been a member of the Massachusetts State House since 1997.

He has had various union roles throughout his career, including a stint as leader of the Building and Construction Trades Council in Boston.