We’re here today to examine economic opportunities for young Americans. Unfortunately, those opportunities seem to be few and far between these days. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that youth unemployment has reached a staggering 25.5 percent. That’s the highest level since we began tracking youth unemployment back in 1948. These figures are daunting. Although not all young people wish to ... Read more »
Has the House Democrat health care legislation become so toxic that members of the President’s own party are now denying its very existence? Apparently so. “During remarks this morning at the Finance Committee markup, there were references to the ‘House bill.’ Baucus quickly corrected the record. “‘There is no House Bill at this point,’ Baucus said. ‘There are committees looking at bills, I only s... Read more »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has concluded that concern among states about prevailing wage requirements has delayed implementation of a $5 billion weatherization program enacted through Democrats’ economic stimulus package. According to the GAO report, issued last week, “many of the states we reviewed reported that Davis-Bacon Act requirements—which have been applied to DOE’s Weatheri... Read more »
We’re here today to examine the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, a bill that would have major consequences for workplaces across the nation. As I understand it, H.R. 3017 is largely identical to legislation of the same name introduced in 2007. This panel considered the legislation two years ago, and eventually it was brought to a vote in the full U.S. House of Representatives before stal... Read more »
Voters use a secret ballot. Workers who want to create a union use a secret ballot (for now). So do prisoners of war. Most people probably aren’t aware of it, but POWs do have a right to the secret ballot – something that workers would not have if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law. In addition to issues of treatment and medical care, POW voting rights are listed in the Third Geneva Conventi... Read more »
Arlen Specter made quite a splash yesterday with his declaration that a new version of the Employee Free Choice Act had garnered the 60 votes needed for passage in the Senate. Yesterday, the newly Democratic lawmaker appeared before the AFL-CIO convention. He announced that a compromise on EFCA has been “pounded out” and would pass by year’s end – to great applause. After his speech, Specter offer... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement this afternoon in response to reports that compromise proposals are being developed to engineer passage of the Employee Free Choice Act: “The so-called Employee Free Choice Act was a bad bill when it was introduced in March, and it’s still a bad bill today. Proposals that rest... Read more »
Mike Weaver doesn’t oppose unions. He opposes unemployment – and that’s why he’s against the Employee Free Choice Act. In a Sunday essay for The Indianapolis Star, Weaver – president of Weaver Popcorn Co. in Noblesville, Ind.– criticized the act’s ability to set aside the secret ballot for workers and instead use a “card check” system. But he mainly opposes EFCA for this reason: “It’s all about jo... Read more »
It’s hard to imagine worse news to kick off Labor Day Weekend. The national unemployment rate reached 9.7 percent in August, the Labor Department reported today. That’s up from 9.4 percent in July and it’s the worst rate in 26 years. And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. “Analysts generally believe that economic output began rising by late summer. But new Labor Department data released Fr... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Republican Member, today delivers the weekly Republican address on the Democrats’ health care legislation moving through Congress “like a runaway freight train.” In his address, Kline calls on congressional Democrats and President Obama to “press the reset button” and pursue commonsense, bipartisan solutions that will fi... Read more »
