Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee, today raised serious questions about tomorrow’s scheduled hearing on “Examining the Single Payer Health Care Option.” Kline noted the hearing – which will examine one of the most radical options on the table for Democrats’ health care overhaul – was announced without the customary minimum seven ... Read more »
The three top Republican members of the House Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means committees today asked the respective chairmen to hold bipartisan hearings on the health care reform legislation from which Democrats have excluded their Republican counterparts. U.S. Reps. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., ranking member of Education and Labor, Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking ... Read more »
With all the fuss that’s been made over the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, one would be forgiven for thinking it’s the only proposal out there to change federal labor law. Luckily for workers, it’s not. Last week, Republicans led by Rep. Tom McClintock and Sen. David Vitter introduced the Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees Act – aptly dubbed the RAISE Act, because it... Read more »
America’s health care system is broken. Americans are generally happy with their doctors, but they know that health care costs too much. And far too many Americans have no health care coverage at all. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ solution to the health care cost crisis is to dramatically inflate federal spending by adding millions of Americans to the government health care rolls. In other words, ... Read more »
The monthly jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor came out this morning, and the news was grim. An estimated 345,000 Americans lost their jobs in May, bringing the unemployment rate to 9.4 percent – its highest level in more than 25 years. Amid continued job losses, it’s no surprise to see editorial boards continuing to voice their opposition to the anti-worker, anti-job card check scheme.... Read more »
The so-called Employee Free Choice Act is in trouble. It has been rejected by the American public – union and non-union households alike – and it has come under fire from opinion leaders and a growing number of elected officials in Washington and around the country. Now, in a desperate bid to resuscitate the controversial scheme, a coalition has been manufactured to feign the appearance of support... Read more »
The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s top Republican today applauded charter school leaders for their success in improving student academic achievement, but argued that major reforms are needed to allow these innovative schools to serve more students and build on the most effective education reform strategies. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) also highlighted pro-charter school policie... Read more »
Thank you, Chairman Miller, and good morning. I want to thank you for holding this important hearing and thank our witnesses for being here to shed light on a key opportunity to improve educational options for students and families. Republicans on this Committee have been strongly committed to the charter school movement for quite some time, and we’re pleased to see that the cause is now bipartisa... Read more »
Although card check remains the top legislative priority among union bosses, the Las Vegas Sun is reporting that internal squabbles may be threatening prospects for the controversial plan. It’s good news for workers, but the big spending special interests behind the bill will certainly be disappointed: “After spending hundreds of millions of dollars to win Democratic majorities in Congress and ele... Read more »
At the core of the controversial Employee Free Choice Act is a provision known as card check. Rather than permitting workers to form unions through federally-supervised secret ballot elections, a card check system requires workers to publicly declare – by signing, or not signing, an authorization card – whether they wish to join a particular union. The card check ploy has been resoundingly rejecte... Read more »
