Kennedy on Recess Appointment of Paul DeCamp to Department of Labor

Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy released the following statement on President Bush’s recess appointment of Paul DeCamp to be the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the Department of Labor. DeCamp’s nomination is currently pending before the Senate’s HELP Committee, which held a hearing on the nomination on August 1, 2006. De Camp had been serving as an advisor to the Secretary of Labor since July 2005 and has been intensely involved in the Department’s post-Katrina efforts. Below is Senator Kennedy’s statement:

“I’m deeply concerned by President Bush’s decision to bypass the Senate and give a recess appointment to Paul DeCamp. It’s an insult to America’s workers for the President to give this job to someone with a clear record of hostility to protecting overtime and wages. Particularly troubling is his role in the Administration’s abysmal failure to protect the rights of the hardworking men and women rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Appointing DeCamp to enforce laws he doesn’t believe in and protections he doesn’t support is another example of the low priority that the Administration gives to the rights and wellbeing of America’s workers.”

–Tristan Takos