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Senate confirms Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to lead Labor Department

22 March 2021
Dan Ackermann

The Senate voted 68-29 on Monday to confirm Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to lead the Department of Labor.

Why it matters: The Senate has now confirmed President Biden's nominees for all 15 executive departments. Walsh will be tasked with overseeing an unemployment crisis brought on by COVID-19 and helping regulators navigate the new realities of a pandemic-era workforce.

Background: Walsh has served as Boston mayor since 2014. He was expected to run for a third term until being appointed to the administration role. The incoming secretary is a former construction worker and a strong ally of trade unions.

  • Walsh beat out a number of floated names for the role, including California Labor Secretary Julie Su, Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) and former Deputy Labor Secretary Seth Harris.
  • Walsh faced a relatively smooth confirmation process. He was asked repeatedly about pay and employment disparities for women and people of color during his hearing, to which he testified: "We are dealing with a system of systemic racism that we have to continue to address," per the Washington Post.

The big picture: 21 of the 23 Cabinet or Cabinet-level nominees that require Senate approval have now been confirmed. The Senate still has to vote on Biden's nominee to lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Eric Lander, and his nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, who has not yet been named in the wake of Neera Tanden's withdrawal.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.