Biden officially announces Julie Su as his Labor Secretary pick

President Joe Biden made his nomination of Julie Su to lead the Labor Department official on Wednesday by hosting an upbeat ceremony in the East Room. 

There, he put on a Boston accent to thank the outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh - pronounced 'Motty' by Biden - who accepted the position of executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association. 

'I asked him to take me with him, but he wouldn't,' Biden joked, adding that another pal had told the president that he'd 'be the hockey puck.'

With the nomination of Su, which needs Senate approval, Biden has finally named an Asian-American to serve at the secretary-level. 

Despite the president boasting that he has the most diverse administration in history, there's been no Asian-Americans leading his major departments. 

President Joe Biden (left) made his nomination of Julie Su (right) to lead the Labor Department official on Wednesday by hosting an upbeat ceremony in the East Room

Biden (right) put on a Boston accent to thank the outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (left) and joked that he wanted to come with him to work with the National Hockey League 

Prior to his announcement, Biden was getting pressure from prominent Asian-American and Pacific Islander groups to elevate Su, who had been serving as Walsh's deputy. 

'If in fact, you were not picked to be the next Secretary of Labor, I would be run out of town,' Biden joked at the top of Wednesday's East Room event. 

During his remarks, Biden pointed out that Su was the fourth Asian-American woman to serve in his Cabinet, though the others are not secretaries.

They include Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Arati Prabhakar, who leads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which Biden elevated to a Cabinet-level agency.

'Born in Wisconsin, she's the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her mom was a union worker and her dad was a small business owner,' Biden said of Su.

The president pointed out how Su went to law school and eventually became labor secretary 'in a state that was about as big as the rest of America,' California. 

'Julie is the American dream. More important, she's committed to making sure that dream is in the reach of every American,' the president said. 

Su (right) brought up her mother's immigration story when she was given the podium to speak by Biden (left) 

Su brought up her mother's immigration story when she was given the podium.

'Sixty years ago my mom came to the United States on a cargo ship because she couldn't afford a passenger ticket,' Su said. 'Recently she got a call from the President of the United States telling her that her daughter was going to be nominated to be U.S. Labor Secretary.'

'So I believe in the transformative power of America. And I know the transformative power of a good job,' Su said. 'I know because it was the kind of job that my mom got that had predictable hours, paid sick leave, health benefits, a secure income and a pension when she retired - a union job that gave my parents a path to the middle class and gave our family the kind of breathing room that the president talks about.' 

Su vowed to fight for the forgotten worker as Labor Secretary.

'When the president talks about those who've been forgotten or invisible, I know what he means because I've spent my career fighting for them to be seen,' she said. 'So to all workers who are toiling in the shadows, to workers who are organizing for power and respect in the workplace, know that we see you, we stand with you and we fight for you.' 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee, which Su's nomination will have to go through, praised Biden's pick in a tweet Tuesday.

'I'm confident Julie Su will be an excellent Secretary of Labor,' he wrote. 'I look forward to working with her to protect workers' rights and build the trade union movement in this country.'

But Democrats are down one vote with the absence of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who is being treated for severe depression at Walter Reed. However, Harris can still break a tie if the vote for Lu is along entirely partisan lines.

One issue that might trip her nomination up is the massive unemployment fraud in California that happened under her watch during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The White House defended her performance Tuesday after Biden announced Su as his pick. 

'Look, when the pandemic hit, red and blue states were dealing with fragile, outdated technology. And under Julie's leadership, California took important steps to process a historic number of claims - one in five in the entire nation,' said principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton to reporters on board Air Force One.