Dear Mr. Secretary: Last Spring, the President signed into law the SOAR Act which reauthorized, for five years, the highly successful Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The program, created in response to years of a crisis with respect to the quality of education in the nation's capital, provides low-income District families with scholarships to attend private scholastic institutions in the D... Read more »
Dear Ms. London: We are very pleased that Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the SOAR Act which reauthorized the highly successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarships Program (OSP) as part of "three-sector" approach to educational improvement in the District. We know that as the current Administrator of the OSP, the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation (the Trust) is uniq... Read more »
Dear Chairman Rehberg and Ranking Member DeLauro: I write to encourage you to increase funding for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. To read the full letter, click here. # # # Read more »
Dear Secretary Solis: We write to request additional information on an issue of significant concern to many farmers and ranchers throughout the United States. On September 2, 2011, the Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise labor regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) for minors hired as farm workers. According to the department, this... Read more »
Dear Secretary Solis: We respectfully request a 90-day extension of the comment period of the Wage and Hour Division's (WHD) December 27, 2011, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the proposed rule) entitled: Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service. We request the extension in light of our concerns with the proposed rule and to provide adequate time to review related informatio... 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 »
Dear Secretary Solis: We respectfully request additional information to clarify issues raised in connection with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' (OFCCP) December 9, 2011, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding individuals with disabilities. We also request a 90-day extension of the public comment period for the review of the additional information. Thorough review of t... Read more »
Dear Assistant Secretary Borzi: On November 18, 2011, we wrote to you concerning the U.S Department of Labor's (DOL) regulatory efforts to significantly expand the definition of "fiduciary" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). On December 13, 2011, Brian V. Kennedy, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, responded to our in... Read more »
Dear Secretary Duncan: On October 27, 2011, the Committee on Education and the Workforce sent you a letter regarding the President's intention to unilaterally alter federal policies governing federal student loans. Your November 18 reply failed to provide adequate responses to the majority of the questions posed. To gain a better understanding of the provisions included in the President's student... Read more »
Dear President Obama: We write to express our strong opposition to so-called recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). While the U.S. Constitution empowers the president to fill vacancies to federal positions when the Senate is in recess, exercising that authority when the Senate is meeting in pro forma session to install nominees who have received no public scrutiny is an ... Read more »
