On Thursday, June 7 at 10:00 a.m., the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), will hold a markup of the Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012 (H.R. 4297). The markup will take place in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building. According to the Department of Labor, nearly 13 million Americans are unemployed despite 3.7 million job openin... Read more »
The Department of Labor today reported nearly 13 million Americans are still unemployed, indicating our nation’s outdated workforce development system is failing to provide the training and assistance job seekers need. The problems in the system haven’t gone unnoticed. A Wall Street Journal editorial recently noted "a federal job training program that puts people back to work is hard to find." Eve... Read more »
House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and 30 House Republicans this week filed a legal brief challenging a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regulatory action that requires virtually every private employer to post a biased and vague notice of employee “rights” in the workplace. In the brief, which was filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of C... Read more »
The nation’s debt is fast approaching $16 trillion and experts warn the country is on the brink of a crisis. While the White House tries in vain to deny its own fiscal recklessness, House Republicans are moving forward with responsible solutions to root out government waste and better protect taxpayers. As part of that effort, Republican leaders on the House Education and the Workforce Committee h... Read more »
This week, the Obama National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) suffered yet another defeat in federal court. On Monday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg – appointed to the federal bench last year by President Obama – rejected the board’s recent ambush election rule. During the final days of 2011, the Obama labor board jammed through the regulatory process sweeping changes to long-standing rules gove... Read more »
The Department of Labor this week announced nearly 4 million jobs remained vacant in March - roughly 172,000 more than were reported in February. The latest numbers confirm employers are ready to hire but struggle to find skilled workers. Echoing news reports from across the country, the Wall Street Journal states: Economists and academics say the rise in job openings at a time when unemployment r... Read more »
More than a decade ago, Congress established a new workforce investment system to provide individuals with the skills and training necessary to succeed in the workplace. Regrettably, the system has since corroded, shifting from a helpful network of employment support to the confusing maze of bureaucracy and redundant programs detailed in the Wall Street Journal editorial below. While President Ob... Read more »
According to the most recent information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 12.6 million Americans are searching for work, yet 3.5 million jobs remain unfilled. The math doesn’t add up. A closer look at the nation’s workforce reveals an underlying problem: Employers have job openings, but they cannot find enough skilled workers. News reports confirm this phenomenon. In Pennsylvania, the skills g... Read more »
In his Fiscal Year 2013 budget, President Obama requests $932 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services, one of the largest allocations for any federal agency. Nearly $70 billion of this request is dedicated to various social services programs, including Head Start and Community Services Block Grants. While they support families nationwide, such programs are also vulnerable to waste ... Read more »
After delivering speeches at the University of North Carolina and the University of Colorado yesterday, President Obama heads to the University of Iowa today to rally the youth vote and promote his proposal to enact a one-year freeze on Stafford Loan interest rates. Missing from the speeches and politicking is the fact that the president’s disastrous economic policies have left 1 out of every 2 co... Read more »