If at first your bill doesn’t succeed on Capitol Hill, try hiding your agenda in another one. That seems to be the new strategy for supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act as their bill slowly dies on Capitol Hill. Instead of pushing for EFCA’s passage, they are now secretly slipping key special-interest items into the massive health care reform legislation. Houston labor lawyer A. Kevin Troutm... Read more »
Two leading Republicans today called on U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to give workers immediate access to vital information about the financial status of their pension plans. Reps. John Kline (R-MN) and Tom Price (R-GA) wrote today to Secretary Solis requesting that her agency immediately begin posting to the internet a collection of pension disclosures that would help workers better underst... Read more »
Now they are getting desperate. In an attempt to save their dying bill, supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act are trying to introduce new words in the debate. The Service Employees International Union offered details of its substitution strategy in a confidential memo, and Politico lists the new lingo here: “The memo reflects the fact that unions and organized labor aren't universally popular... Read more »
Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee are calling for an immediate hearing to examine the nation’s high unemployment rate, the continued revelations of faulty reporting related to the Democrats’ $787 billion ‘stimulus’ package, and how the Administration plans to address these concerns. In a letter sent today to the panel’s Chairman, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Education and Labor ... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, today criticized the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to roll back vital investment advice opportunities for workers. The Department formally rescinded regulations that would have given workers access to individualized investment advice to help manage their 401(k) plans – a benefit that would prove espec... Read more »
It’s starting to sink in. A major supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act admitted Wednesday that serious bipartisan opposition to the bill has made its passage on Capitol Hill unlikely this year – and maybe the next. The Las Vegas Sun, which also reported on Nevada’s attempts to block EFCA, has the details here: “John Wilhelm, president of Unite Here, the international hotel and casino workers ... Read more »
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a new report today highlighting weaknesses in the U.S. Department of Education’s oversight capabilities, resulting in limited controls to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the agency’s grant programs. This report comes in response to a request made by Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee after troubling information em... Read more »
Good Morning. I would like to thank Chairman Kildee for holding today's hearing. I am pleased the Committee is examining current federal literacy initiatives and ways to improve the reading comprehension skills of all children from birth through high school. Today, 14 percent of Americans over the age of 16 - about 30 million people - have trouble with basic reading and writing skills and cannot r... Read more »
Representative John Kline (R-MN), Ranking Member on the House Education and Labor Committee, and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced today they are introducing bipartisan legislation to extend the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA). This effort, like the original legislation, would maintain stability... Read more »
It seems many Nevadans do not want to gamble with their privacy at the workplace under the Employee Free Choice Act. The Las Vegas Sun reported Tuesday that efforts are under way in the Silver State to amend its constitution to require the secret ballot for union elections – something that’s set aside under EFCA. The Sun shines a light on the subject here: “An initiative petition has been filed to... Read more »
