The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), today held a hearing entitled, “The NLRB Recess Appointments: Implications for America’s Workers and Employers.” The hearing examined the constitutional concerns and legal uncertainty surrounding President Obama’s so-called recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the impact these im... Read more »
In January, President Obama shocked many across the country when he made three so-called recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – despite the Senate not being in recess. This unprecedented action touches upon a number of constitutional powers. The first is the president’s authority to fill vacancies through recess appointments, a power which no one questions. The other co... Read more »
In the first session of the 112th Congress, House Education and the Workforce Committee Republicans held 11 hearings to discuss a better way forward for the K-12 education system. Dozens of state and local education officials offered their thoughts on the challenges facing states and school districts across the country. Time and time again, these experts shared their frustration with current law’s... Read more »
Dear Commissioner Shulman: As you know the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released an advance notice of proposed regulations titled "Determination of Government Plan Status." We understand these regulations would define the term "governmental plan" and will determine what a governmental plan is under section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. It has been brought to our attention that these regu... Read more »
House Education and the Workforce Committee Republicans are advancing legislation to improve the nation’s federal job training system to better serve workers and employers. In the Winter 2012 edition of the Ripon Forum, Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) describes the committee’s efforts to ensure modern workforce training programs are more effective, accountable, and flexible: According to a n... Read more »
On Tuesday, February 7 at 10:00 a.m., the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), will hold a hearing entitled “The NLRB Recess Appointments: Implications for America's Workers and Employers.” The hearing will take place in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building. On January 4, 2012, President Obama announced three recess appointments to the NLRB. ... Read more »
U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-MN) issued the following statement after the Department of Labor released employment data for January: “The employment gains we have seen in recent months are encouraging. More Americans are heading back to work and private-sector jobs are being created. While these are welcome signs of progress, we are still struggling wit... Read more »
The Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), today held a hearing entitled, “Examining the Challenges Facing PBGC and Defined Benefit Pension Plans.” The hearing explored the financial and management challenges at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), as well policy proposals intended to strengthen the financial standing of the corporatio... Read more »
We are confronted today with two difficult realities. The first is the financial challenges facing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. For more than 35 years, PBGC has provided an important safety net to millions of workers in the event a defined benefit pension plan becomes insolvent or terminated. The sheer size of the corporation’s responsibilities are quite remarkable, and they continue ... Read more »
During the State of the Union address, President Obama proposed what could be a very promising breakthrough in the effort to improve federal workforce development programs. Today, more than 47 job trainings programs are scattered across the federal government, a bureaucratic mess that fails to adequately serve workers and wastes taxpayer dollars. To fix the problem, President Obama called on Congr... Read more »
