Dear Director Cordray: We write to request you immediately rescind the issuance of a civil investigative demand to the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) and halt any other planned investigatory actions regarding accreditors or the accreditation of institutions of higher education. This action is an unprecedented overreach by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ... Read more »
Dear Secretary Duncan: The Department of Education (department) has indicated the formation of an interagency task force (task force) for oversight of proprietary institutions of higher education. Additionally, the department has indicated this task force met in May and would seek public input from stakeholders. However, no further information is available regarding the participants or the activit... Read more »
Dear Secretary Burwell, As members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, we are responsible for oversight of the Head Start Act and write today deeply concerned about the health and safety of children enrolled in the Head Start program. This concern stems from apparent discrepancies in how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decides when to suspend or terminate the con... Read more »
Dear Secretary Perez: The recently enacted Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) made several important reforms to the Job Corps program in an effort to ensure that program participants, some of our nation’s most disadvantaged youth, receive high quality education, workforce development, and support services in order to become more employable, responsible, and productive citizens. In cr... Read more »
Dear Secretary Perez: President Obama recently directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to move forward with a repackaged rulemaking to expand fiduciary liability. DOL's initial attempt to regulate in this area in 2010 was roundly criticized by stakeholders and by lawmakers on a bipartisan basis and subsequently withdrawn. We continue to have strong reservations about any policy that could reduce a... Read more »
Dear Mr. President: We write today to urge you to act quickly to ensure our nation's ports remain open to commerce. The ongoing labor dispute at our West Coast ports has disrupted our nation's transportation network, supply chain, and, most significantly, our broader economy. Unfortunately, the dispute has already had a substantial negative impact on the movement of goods throughout the nation, a... Read more »
Dear Director Roessel: The federal government has made a commitment to Indian students and families to provide educational opportunity in a manner that preserves their culture, language, and traditions. However, we are deeply concerned by recent reports of the deplorable conditions of schools maintained by the Bureau of Indian Education, particularly the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School in northern ... Read more »
Dear Chair Yang and Commissioners Barker, Feldblum, and Lipnic: On March 6, 2014, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a publication entitled “Religious Garb and Grooming in the Workplace: Rights and Responsibilities” and an accompanying fact sheet. Among other things, this enforcement guidance describes employers’ obligation to accommodate employees’ and potential emplo... Read more »
Dear General Counsel Griffin: Your office recently filed an amicus brief indicating the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) should adopt a broader standard to determine joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). A month later, your office authorized complaints against McDonald’s, USA, LLC and McDonald’s franchisees as joint-employers. To better understand these recent a... Read more »
Dear Secretary Perez, We write to request the Department of Labor (department) reverse its attempt to unilaterally extend the Davis Bacon Act (hereinafter referred to as "Davis-Bacon") to survey technicians. It is clear from witness testimony before the Committee on Education and the Workforce as well as documents produced by the department there was no transparency, comprehensive stakeholder inp... Read more »