Good morning and thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to begin by thanking our distinguished panel for appearing today. We appreciate that they have taken time out of their busy schedules to share their experiences and expertise with us. Firefighters and public safety officers do a tremendous job protecting our communities. They are on the front lines of emergencies and represent a key component ... Read more »
The following op-ed was published in The Hill on March 8, 2010. As the outlines of the Democrats’ health care endgame begin to emerge, one thing has become perfectly clear: The majority party in Washington, D.C., has no intention of bipartisanship. Before last month’s televised summit, President Barack Obama submitted an 11-page proposal that included “targeted changes” to the 2,700-page Senate bi... Read more »
The U.S. Department of Labor announced this morning that 36,000 jobs were lost in February, while the national unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent. Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the Senior Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement: “Day after day, Democrats tell the American people their policies will create jobs and spur economic recovery. Yet mont... Read more »
Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4247, the Keeping All Students Safe Act. This legislation establishes new federal requirements and limitations for the use of seclusion or restraints in schools and comes in response to a 2009 Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis of incidents in which students suffered injury or death as a result of abuse of these practices. While there is... Read more »
Let me begin by stating unequivocally that the incidents uncovered by the GAO are unacceptable. No child should be put in physical danger by the use of seclusion or restraints in school. In each of the cases reviewed by the GAO, there was a criminal conviction, a finding of civil or administrative liability, or a large financial settlement – in other words, everyone agrees that what happened is si... Read more »
Thank you Chairman Miller, and thank you Mr. Secretary for joining us. We have an extremely limited amount of time with the Secretary to cover a number of pressing topics, so I will keep my remarks brief. Secretary Duncan came to Washington billed as a reformer, and I believe he has lived up to that reputation. In particular, his willingness to stand up to the unions and the old ways of doing busi... Read more »
Thank you Chairman Miller, and good afternoon. Today we will examine federal child nutrition programs with an eye toward improving children’s health. Childhood obesity rates are a serious concern for parents and families, and they present a challenge to the health of our nation as a whole. What children eat at school certainly plays a role in their overall nutrition, so I welcome this opportunity ... Read more »
Numerous media outlets have recently reported the White House is looking for ways to isolate and deny government contracts for businesses that do not abide by a yet-to-be-defined new regime of wage and benefit requirements. At a time when millions of Americans are out of work and the nation’s debt continues to explode, this would seem an inopportune time to start adding costly new regulations to o... Read more »
As if there were any doubt about how prominent a role Democrats’ favorite special interest group plays these days in Washington, D.C., a pair of news items out today reaffirms the oversized clout of union bosses. The White House blogs today that the first annual report of the Middle Class Task Force is out. Not surprisingly, union expansion is a major theme, with special attention paid to the so-c... Read more »
Republicans on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today released four principles to guide the eventual reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: Restoring Local Control; Empowering Parents; Letting Teachers Teach; and Protecting Taxpayers. The principles, which were developed by a Republican working group in anticipation of the upcoming overhaul of the nation’s prima... Read more »
