Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, today joined colleagues in pressing for a vote on a proposal that would give Members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours to review legislation before it could receive a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. “The American people are tired of seeing bills cobbled together i... Read more »
A worker’s privacy. An employer’s freedom. The future of a wobbly U.S. economy. These are just a few of the issues at stake in the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act, but there’s one that particularly concerns the act’s biggest supporters: power. As Bloomberg News columnist Albert R. Hunt recently wrote in The New York Times, the future of Big Labor’s storied clout in Washington also rides o... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, is calling for a congressional oversight hearing into allegations that officials with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the White House inappropriately used federal resources to promote a political and legislative agenda. Kline made his request in a... 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 »
As a former Montana secretary of state, Bob Brown understands the history and importance of the secret ballot. In a recent essay for the Missoulian, Brown said the secret ballot in America started during Reconstruction as a way to protect former slaves from “brutal harassment” at the polls while exercising their new right to vote. By the turn of the century, the practice had spread to both Norther... 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 »
More evidence has surfaced to debunk claims about a compromise version of the Employee Free Choice Act passing the Senate. Sen. Mark Pryor hasn’t weighed in on the “new” version of EFCA. In fact, he hasn’t said much about the old one either. The Hill catches up with the Arkansas Democrat here: “Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) told The Hill on Thursday he remains ‘stubbornly noncommittal’ on so-called ‘ca... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, today strongly criticized legislation that would dramatically expand the federal government by eliminating the private sector-based federal student loan program and spending tens of billions of dollars on a range of new entitlement programs. The legislation, H.R. 3221, was approved by the House in a vote to... Read more »
By now, news of the card check compromise that never was has spread far and wide. Yet despite the denials of key backers in Congress, it may be worth exploring the details of this phantom proposal. While this alleged compromise may not be ripe today, workers and employers deserve to know what may be coming. An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal takes a look: “Mr. Specter's revised bill would... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, spoke this afternoon on the floor of the House about pending legislation that would eliminate the private sector-based Federal Family Education Loan program – the lending model chosen by a large majority of colleges and universities. The bill, H.R. 3221, also creates or expands numerous entitlement spending... Read more »
