Enacted in 1931, the Davis-Bacon Act requires the payment of local prevailing wages to workers on federal construction projects. Determining local prevailing wage rates is a complicated process, one that involves the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division conducting surveys to collect wage and benefit information for various job classifications in a given geographic location. Unfortunately, ... Read more »
Based on an idea of self-regulation, accreditation was originally developed to assure and improve excellence in higher education programs. When the federal government began investing in higher education, accreditation took on another role by ensuring that the gate to federal funds is open only to high quality academic institutions. Today the federal government, states, and accrediting agencies – k... Read more »
As the title of the hearing suggests, today we will begin to review possible reforms to the nation’s multiemployer pension system. In 2014 provisions in the Pension Protection Act affecting multiemployer pensions are set to expire. For more than a year the committee has looked closely at the challenges facing this pension system, which is relied upon by more than 10 million individuals. Academics,... Read more »
Though the economic recovery began four year ago, countless Americans continue to face serious challenges. Roughly 12 million are searching for work. Families have recouped less than half of their household wealth lost during the recession. The economy continues to move along at an anemic pace. And the national debt will soon reach a historic $17 trillion. Congress has a responsibility to examine ... Read more »
We’re here today to address a crisis of Washington’s own making. Several years ago, Congress decided politicians – not the free market – were better equipped to set student loan interest rates. Politicians set a fixed rate of 6.8 percent for all loans, and then decided to advance legislation based on a campaign promise that would temporarily phase this rate for subsidized Stafford loans down to 3.... Read more »
Republicans and Democrats share the same goal: We want to ensure the American people work in an environment free of discrimination. Whether or not an individual succeeds in a workplace should be determined by merit and hard work, not the unlawful prejudice of their boss. For most employers, a person’s skills and drive to succeed are what matter most. However, bad actors will put personal bigotries... Read more »
I’d like to begin with a brief overview of what’s in the administration’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The president has asked for more than $71 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education – up $5 billion from last year’s request and $3 billion from the year before. This is on top of a request for $7 billion in mandatory funding for Pell Grants, $17.5 billion to “refor... Read more »
Our nation is mired in a jobs crisis and the president’s health care law is making it worse. Since ObamaCare was first enacted in 2010, federal bureaucrats have written nearly 20,000 pages of new regulations. Meanwhile, America’s job creators are struggling to manage the full effects of the law in their workplaces. Ed Tubel has owned and operated Sonny’s Real Pit Barbeque for more than 30 years. A... Read more »
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to offer this Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 1949, the Improving Postsecondary Education Data for Students Act. Few decisions in life are bigger than whether to attend college and which college to attend. Yet many families struggle to wade through the complicated maze of statistics to find the information they need to make fully informed, cost... Read more »
As many of us know, on July 1, today’s 3.4 percent subsidized Stafford Loan interest rate is set to double to 6.8 percent for millions of current students – all because elected officials made a promise they couldn’t afford to keep for the long-haul. Student borrowers shouldn’t have to ride the roller coaster of political largesse wondering every year whether Congress will intervene in time to adju... Read more »
