In light of recent decisions by federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and Census Bureau to sever ties with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Rep. John Kline (R-MN) is requesting a review of links between the organization and federal education, labor, and human services programs. Kline, the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, ye... Read more »
The following op-ed by Rep. John Kline (R-MN) – the Senior Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee – appears in The Hill as part of a special section on healthcare. Calling for commonsense, bipartisan solutions to reform our nation’s healthcare system, Kline writes: “The problem is that the current healthcare debate has ignored this common ground and instead focused on the most ... Read more »
If you want to know why the Employee Free Choice Act slipped into a legislative coma, ask Peter D. Conrad. Conrad wrote an essay for The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel explaining in detail how the act, which began with great promise thanks to presidential support and a Democratic-led Congress, has become mercifully inert for U.S. workers. The reasons range from a strong bipartisan defense of the s... Read more »
If you believe its supporters, the Employee Free Choice Act should have been a done deal a long time ago. With presidential support and Democrats controlling large majorities in both chambers of Congress, it would be easy to assume EFCA was on its way to enactment in the opening days of the 111th Congress. But fortunately for American workers, opposition to EFCA is not the purely partisan matter i... Read more »
The national unemployment rate ticked up to 9.8 percent in September as the U.S. continued to struggle with the worst economic downturn in decades. The job loss is worse than experts had predicted; The New York Times has the grim economic details here: “The American economy shed another 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, reinforcing a broad assumption that man... Read more »
This morning, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a loss of 263,000 jobs in the month of September and an increase in the national unemployment rate to 9.8 percent. Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement: “Today’s jobs report prompts a very important question: Where are the jobs? Nearly seven months ago, the Amer... Read more »
Predicting the fate of the Employee Free Choice Act has been difficult lately for the act’s supporters. Senate Democrats were once quite confident the act could pass and become law. After all, on paper, they had the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster of the job-killing bill. Indeed, EFCA’s chances seemed sunny. But then clouds began to appear on the horizon: It turned out that several Democrats ... Read more »
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 »
Proposing an innovative strategy to reward teachers and principals for improving student academic achievement, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) today is introducing legislation to establish the Teacher Incentive Fund to strengthen teacher quality improvement programs. Price is joined by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the Education and Labor Committee, in introducing the legislation. “Too many ... Read more »
The secret ballot is important not only to people in the United States. It’s important around the world, too. In New Zealand, National MP Tau Henare, a former union organizer, recently proposed a bill to make use of the secret ballot the official law in the island nation near Australia. The New Zealand Herald gives details of Henare’s measure here: “Unions will be legally bound to hold a secret ba... Read more »
