We’re here this morning to examine an issue that is enormously complex, but based on a principle that is remarkably simple. Simply put, today, literally billions of dollars of investment savings in participant directed retirement accounts are being managed by individual plan participants. For the laymen in our room, that means that decisions about, say, 401(k) investments that will have consequenc... Read more »
Dear Republican Colleague: I am writing to invite you to cosponsor the Priorities in Education Spending Act which would repeal a number of ineffective and unnecessary federal education programs. With congressional Democrats on an out-of-control spending spree, this bill will stand up for students and taxpayers, and for future generations by proposing real solutions to reform federal spending and i... Read more »
Last week, we responded to growing speculation that a move is afoot to compromise on the anti-worker card check bill. Speaking of card check, we said, “It’s bad for workers, bad for the economy, and just plain bad for democracy. … On card check, there is simply no room for compromise.” Still, word of a compromise has continued to spread, with MSNBC’s First Read reporting this morning— “Some busine... Read more »
Supporters of the undemocratic card check plan seem to have come to the conclusion that their plan is so toxic, and so unpopular with the American public, that it will never become law. How else to explain the recent increase in speculation about a possible “compromise” on card check? There’s just one problem. At its core, card check is nothing more than a special interest power grab that would be... Read more »
The following op-ed by Reps. John Kline (R-MN) and Tom Price (R-GA) appears today in The Washington Times. Kline and Price are the top Republicans on the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee and Workforce Protections Subcommittee, respectively. The right to say 'no' John Kline and Tom Price COMMENTARY: There are sacred principles that epitomize American democracy. Freedom of speech... Read more »
Without much fanfare, Democrats in Congress have quietly set in motion a plan that the Washington Post has described as “an ill-disguised bid to kill a program that gives some poor parents a choice regarding where their children go to school.” Through a little-noticed provision tucked in the FY 2009 omnibus spending bill – a $410 billion monstrosity that funds everything from the United States Sec... Read more »
I am pleased to be here today examining early childhood education. Research increasingly points to the critical importance of quality early childhood education as the foundation for school success. Early childhood development is an issue the Committee knows well, and one that is extremely important to me. Since serving as the Governor of Delaware, I have actively worked to ensure children five yea... Read more »
Following today’s bipartisan vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in favor of the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, the House Education Committee’s top Republican, issued the following statement: “The American spirit is one of giving back – to our neighbors, our communities, and our nation. All across this country, citizens are devot... Read more »
One of the major arguments against the anti-worker card check scheme – the legislation introduced in Congress that would replace federally-supervised secret ballot elections with a public sign-up process that makes workers’ choices known to all – is that the American people overwhelmingly reject it as undemocratic. New polling data released yesterday by Rasmussen Reports confirm the public’s views... Read more »
Neighbors helping neighbors. This happens countless times every day across America: A college student teaching English to immigrants. A Boy Scout troop collecting canned food for the hungry. Families taking in neighbors who have lost their homes to a tornado, fire or flood. Mr. Chair, the bill before us today, aptly named the GIVE Act, encourages the selfless actions I just described by updating d... Read more »
