Thank you, Chairman Kline. Before I describe the changes included in the substitute amendment, I would like to thank you and your staff for all the hard work invested in the legislation we are considering today. I would also like to thank Representatives Buck McKeon and Joe Heck – my partners in this important endeavor – for their valuable contributions to the Workforce Investment Improvement Act ... Read more »
Today we will consider H.R. 4297, the Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012. The legislation makes long overdue changes to the Workforce Investment Act, which expired nearly a decade ago. I want to thank my colleagues for their work on this issue, including the sponsors of the legislation, Representatives Virginia Foxx, Buck McKeon, and Joe Heck. In January, President Obama stood before the... Read more »
By Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), and Joe Heck (R-NV) In January, President Obama told the story of Jackie Bray, who found employment after participating in a job training program at a local community college. The president urged Congress to "cut through the maze of confusing training programs" so workers have "one program" for all the help they need and help provide two... Read more »
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce will on Thursday consider legislation introduced by Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), and Joe Heck (R-NV) that will help unemployed Americans gain the skills and education necessary to fill in-demand jobs. Today, more than 47 job training programs are scattered across the federal government, a bureaucratic mess that fails to... Read more »
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The Department of Labor today reported nearly 13 million Americans are still unemployed, indicating our nation’s outdated workforce development system is failing to provide the training and assistance job seekers need.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 »