President Obama last week asked Joe Biden to lead "an across-the-board reform" of federal job training that roots out ineffective and redundant programs. It's nice to hear the President admit that some government programs are wasteful, and if he's serious the spadework has already been done. Job-training programs originated during the New Deal, expanded under the Great Society and have continued ... Read more »
President Obama treats limits on executive power like college students treat the 21-year drinking age, and judging from oral arguments Monday the Supreme Court may respond by limiting his driving privileges. The vote may even be 9-0 that a President can't tell Congress when it is in recess so he can shred the Senate's power to offer "advice and consent" on his nominees. That's our reading of Mond... Read more »
By Bob Kerrey and Jeffrey T. Leeds Virtually all middle-class jobs now require postsecondary skills and credentials. Yet as many middle- and lower-income families and students adjust to the reality that college has become a necessity rather than a luxury, the luxury price tag that college commands is less and less affordable. Many students need to take on large amounts of debt, and these loans of... Read more »
The Obama administration may have an early Christmas gift for their Big Labor friends. In recent months union leaders have repeatedly voiced their concerns with President Obama’s health care law. At a September convention in Los Angeles, members of the AFL-CIO approved a resolution describing the health care law as “highly disruptive” to multiemployer health care plans. The Obama administration f... Read more »
President Obama has intoned "if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan" hundreds if not thousands of times. Sometimes he has even added that "no one will take it away, no matter what" or "nothing will change, period." But now that reality is repudiating the President's unequivocal promise, Democrats want you to know that there was always a secret footnote: If you're losing a hea... Read more »
By Chairmen Fred Upton, John Kline, and Dave Camp After more than three years and billions of taxpayer dollars, President Obama’s health care exchanges are scheduled to open for business this week, but don’t expect much fanfare out of the administration. Although the president insists that everything is “working the way it’s supposed to,” a former HHS official has already warned that we will see ... Read more »
As more unions express frustration with the president’s health care law, the Obama administration went to great lengths to silence the concerns of one major national union. In Los Angeles, the AFL-CIO has endorsed a resolution critical of ObamaCare. In the article below, The Hill reports the White House and at least one top administration official called unions leaders “expressing a desire that [t... Read more »
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 »
