Washington GOP Reps. concerned about former ESD Commissioner’s nomination to Biden cabinet

WASHINGTON D.C. — Three Washington House Republicans have sent a letter to President Joe Biden expressing their concern with his appointment for Interim Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration.

In their letter, Representatives Dan Newhouse, Jamie Herrera Beutler and Cathy McMorris Rodgers called on Biden to reconsider Suzi LeVine as his nomation for the position.

LeVine has most recently served as Washington state’s Employment Security Department Commissioner and has been under fire for delays in unemployment benefit payments, as well as the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to fraud during the pandemic.

“Ms. LeVine’s dismal track record at the helm of the Washington State Employment Security Department and gross mismanagement of state taxpayer dollars in extremely concerning considering this new position puts her in charge of over $9 billion of taxpayer funds,” the letter states.

Levine’s departure from the ESD was effective Monday and Deputy Commissioner Cami Feek will serve as acting commissioner until Jay Inslee appoints a permanent replacement.

Inslee appointed LeVine, who worked for the Obama administration, in 2018. In a written statement, Inslee said that she led the agency “through an extremely challenging time and I never doubted that she had the best interests of working Washingtonians at the heart of all her endeavors.”

The letter from Newhouse, Herrera Beutler and McMorris Rodgers can be read in full below:

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