Secretary of Labor (and maybe VP?) Tom Perez

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2016

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tom Perez is President Obama's Secretary of Labor. He is also, according to the New York Times, on Hillary Clinton's shortlist for the vice presidency.I spoke with Perez about his path to the Labor Department, the powers of the Secretary of Labor, the push for a $15 minimum wage, the future of unions, a universal basic income, and much more. Perez sees his role as pushing a new contract between the government, employers, and workers, and in this episode, we delve deep into that vision.This is a policy-heavy conversation with arguably the most activist member of Obama's cabinet, and a leader who may be central to the next presidential administration, too. I think you'll enjoy it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The following podcast contains explicit language.
0:03.3	Hello and welcome to another episode of The Ezra Klein Show.
0:12.3	I have the honor today of being joined by Secretary of Labor Tom Perez.
0:17.1	He is a really, really fascinating guy.
0:19.6	He's considered one of the most activist and effective Secretary of Labor as we've had
0:23.8	in some time.
0:24.8	You often hear him talk about as a dark horse candidate for Hillary Clinton's Vice-Presidential
0:29.9	Pick, assuming she does win the nomination.
0:33.0	In this episode, we talk a lot about what the Secretary of Labor actually does because
0:38.4	I think a lot of people don't quite understand the powers and influence of the office.
0:42.6	We talk a lot about how politics works right now, how the regulatory process works right
0:47.1	now.
0:48.1	We talked about the minimum wage and the drivers of it, and at what point a minimum wage
0:52.0	might get too high.
0:53.1	We talk about inequality and how that's affecting American politics.
0:57.0	Very fun conversation.
0:58.0	He's a very fascinating guy.
0:59.2	I appreciated how forthcoming he was and how willing he was to mix it up.
1:03.4	I think all of you are going to enjoy it very much.
1:05.7	Before we get to the interview, as always, a couple asks for you if you are a fan of the
1:09.6	show.
1:10.4	The first is to share it.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.