Congress may not have been in session these last several weeks, but plenty has been happening in Washington and around the nation. Below is a brief recap of notable education and labor news – what you might have missed and what is worth watching in the waning days of the congressional session. Common Standards Pave Way for National Tests For months, advocates for local control of education have wa... Read more »
Dear Secretary Duncan: Given the significant investment of taxpayer resources in postsecondary education, the federal government has an obligation to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the student aid programs. One important way to protect the integrity of federal student aid is to ensure participating institutions provide a high-quality education to their students. Any institution misusing feder... Read more »
Today is a very good day for powerful union leaders. Congress was summoned back into session – with great complexity and expense – to vote on a multi-billion dollar bailout for unionized state workers. At the same time, the Obama administration is preparing to rollback reporting requirements for union bosses because of the “burden” of “unnecessary government regulation.” The State Bailout: A Boon ... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s senior Republican member, issued the following statement today in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to summon Congress to Washington to vote on a controversial state bailout, including $10 billion requested by teachers’ unions to keep school systems funded at levels states cannot afford. “The American people hav... Read more »
Dear Secretary Duncan: Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the proposed program integrity regulations included in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published in the Federal Register on June 18, 2010. We share your goal of strengthening accountability and integrity among the institutions that participate in the federal student aid programs and agree a number of the issues included inthe p... Read more »
President Obama traveled to New Jersey today to raise support for his economic policies among small business leaders. It makes sense to hear from small business owners about their ideas to promote a strong and stable economic recovery. After all, they are the nation’s primary source for job creation. Let’s hope this time the president did less talking and more listening because a look at just a fe... Read more »
If it looks like time is running out on the Democrats’ reckless agenda – look again. With only three weeks of legislative work remaining before Congress starts six weeks of vacation, it may appear the prospects for passing further job-killing policies like card check legislation are growing dimmer by the day. But according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Democrats are planning an “ambitiou... Read more »
The New York Times reports this morning the Obama administration, facing “deep skepticism” over its government takeover of health care, is “orchestrating an elaborate campaign to sell the public on the law.” Meanwhile, the public continues to learn about and oppose ObamaCare with its higher costs, job-killing mandates, and tax hikes. Yesterday, an editorial by the Columbus Dispatch recapped the de... Read more »
In Pittsburgh, Penn., President Obama credited his administration’s economic policies for “breaking the freefall” of the current recession. Despite more than 15 million Americans still looking for work, the president declared the nation is “again moving in the right direction.” But as the Wall Street Journal reports, the nation’s seven million long-term unemployed workers – those unable to find wo... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s senior Republican member, issued the following statement today regarding launch of AmericaSpeakingOut.com, a new website created by House Republicans as part of the broader America Speaking Out initiative to engage the American people in a dialogue about policy ideas and priorities, including those that affect students, teacher... Read more »
