In Case You Missed It

The Department of Justice recently filed a lawsuit to stop the state of Louisiana from implementing a private school choice program to help low-income students trapped in failing public schools. House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) is among those who have voiced concerns about the administration's action, stating, “Private school choice programs provide students ... Read more »

The drop in the unemployment rate in August to a 4½-year low was hardly cause for celebration. The rate fell because more people stopped looking for work. More than 300,000 people stopped working or looking for a job. Their exodus shrank the so-called labor force participation rate — the percentage of adult Americans with a job or seeking one — to 63.2 percent. It's the lowest participation rate ... Read more »

By Avik Roy A few weeks ago, I discussed the fact that labor unions have been increasingly vocal about their objections to certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare will “shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class,” wrote three labor leaders in July. Now, according to a repo... Read more »

Congressional Republicans and business groups on Tuesday demanded information about who made the decision to delay the healthcare law’s employer mandate. White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett announced early this month that businesses would have an additional year to comply with the mandate, which requires organizations with more than 50 full-time workers to either provide insurance to worke... Read more »

The chairmen of a pair of House subcommittees want to question the Obama administration's regulations chief over the decision to delay a key component of the Affordable Care Act. For Howard Shelanski, the June 23 grilling would be a baptism under fire, since he reported for duty less than a week ago. Shelanski began work as director of the little known but influential White House Office of Inform... Read more »

The Senate is set to consider on Wednesday the Keep Student Loans Affordable Act, in what could be the chamber’s only reaction to the recent doubling of a low student-loan interest rate. We are all for taming college costs. But lawmakers should reject this pathetic non-solution and put their effort instead into finalizing a compromise plan that is well within their reach. The Senate vote is on wh... Read more »

If you think the federal student-loan program looks like a bad deal for taxpayers, imagine how it would look with honest accounting. And now you don't need to imagine thanks to a new report that's receiving far too little attention. Turns out that the official "savings" for taxpayers of $184 billion over the next decade really add up to $95 billion in losses. Here's the scam: Lawmakers peddle wha... Read more »

The Supreme Court has been busy making headlines this week. One decision in particular could have significant implications for America’s workplaces and our constitutional system of checks and balances. The court agreed on Monday to consider whether President Obama’s non-recess recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board are constitutional. Education and the Workforce Committee Republ... Read more »

For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans used their weekly address to push Senate Democrats and President Obama to act on federal student loan rates, which are set to double July 1 unless Congress and the president can agree on a proposal that prevents the rate hike. "As you may know, millions of student-loan borrowers could soon see their interest rates double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 per... Read more »

‘Obamacare’ benefits mandate could further phase out full-time work President Obama’s health care reform is prompting employers to hire more part-time and temporary workers to escape paying benefits under a mandate that goes into effect next year, amplifying a trend toward transient employment that took hold during the recession, according to a growing number of economic indicators. Hardest hit b... Read more »