Today Education Secretary Arne Duncan will testify before the House Education and the Workforce Committee on the department’s budget and policy priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Nearly one year has passed since the secretary last appeared before the committee, and members are eager to discuss the president’s latest education proposals. Here are five questions for the secretary that should h... Read more »
On Tuesday, April 29 at 10:00 a.m., the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), will hold a hearing entitled, “Reviewing the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Proposal for the Department of Education.” The hearing will take place in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building. In his Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal, President Obama requested $68.6 b... Read more »
House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) today released the following joint statement after the Department of Labor announced a final rule concerning respirable coal dust: For too long a flawed regulatory process has stymied efforts to provide stronger black lung protections. No miner should go to work... Read more »
Despite facing broad opposition from the education stakeholders, elected officials, and the federal court system, the Obama administration is moving forward with a so-called gainful employment regulation that will harm low-income students and threaten the strength of our higher education system. In their zeal to gin up public support for its misguided regulatory proposal, the administration is ci... Read more »
The House Education and the Workforce Committee, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), today approved two pieces of legislation to roll back an attempt by the National Labor Relations Board to weaken workforce democracy and employee privacy. The Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 4320) and the Employee Privacy Protection Act (H.R. 4321) will ensure access to a fair union election process and ... Read more »
Today the committee will consider H.R. 4321, the Employee Privacy Protection Act and H.R. 4320, the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act. Together these proposals provide an appropriate congressional response to the National Labor Relations Board’s proposed ambush election rule. I had hoped today’s meeting would not be necessary. Over the last several weeks this committee has tried to engage in a ... Read more »
Before I highlight the technical change included in the amendment, I’d like to help set the record straight and review briefly the specific policies embodied in the legislation. Despite what our Democratic colleagues may suggest, the legislation largely codifies a union election process that has worked well for decades. Not too long ago, former acting general counsel Lafe Solomon described the NLR... Read more »
Thank you, Chairman Kline, and thank you for convening today’s markup of H.R. 4321, the Employee Privacy Protection Act. In just a few moments I will address the technical change included in the substitute amendment. Before I do, I think it’s important to outline why this commonsense legislation is necessary. I understand some are so wedded to the board’s destructive ambush election rule that they... Read more »
It has been four years since the tragedy at Upper Big Branch; four years since 29 miners lost their lives in a deadly disaster; four years since the families of Montcoal, West Virginia were forced to live without their loved ones; and for four years Democrats in Washington have sought to politicize their loss. I will remind my colleagues what the independent report from NIOSH said about Upper Big ... Read more »
Today the committee will mark up two pieces of bipartisan legislation that will help improve the nation’s K-12 education system. We begin this morning with consideration of H.R. 4366, the Strengthening Education through Research Act, introduced by Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Chairman Todd Rokita and Ranking Member Carolyn McCarthy. This proposal will enhanc... Read more »
