The Republican Health Care Solutions Group today unveiled a health care reform plan that will make health care more affordable, reduce the number of uninsured Americans, and increase quality at a price our country can afford. The GOP plan makes sure that Americans who like their health care coverage can keep it – a stark contrast with the Democratic plan, which the Congressional Budget Office has ... Read more »
Over GOP objections, Democrats on the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee today approved a pair of partisan proposals that would impact Americans’ ability to save for retirement by making 401(k) plans more complex and costly while reducing workers’ access to individualized investment advice. “Republicans share the goal of improving retirement savings options for workers. Unfortuna... Read more »
Cesar Chavez is an icon of the American labor movement for successfully organizing farm workers in the 1960s and 1970s. But how did he become so successful? One of the reasons may have been his insistence on the right to form unions by secret ballot – a right many workers would be denied under the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, a bill better known as card check. When California lawmakers intr... Read more »
The Subcommittee meets to mark up two bills this morning. This is truly a rare occasion – in fact, it’s the first subcommittee markup we’ve held since the beginning of the 110th Congress. Since we do have a number of items on the agenda, I will keep my remarks brief this morning. As I indicated, we are addressing two bills, both of which relate to the regulation of our nation’s 401(k) system. The ... Read more »
America is a nation founded on freedom, but Alaska National Guard Staff Sergeant Phillip Newton sees some of those basic freedoms eroding under the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, now pending in Congress: "When I joined the U.S. military, I did so because I wanted to protect the freedoms we take for granted — the freedom to vote, to find a job to support a family, to speak freely, and to do th... Read more »
I am pleased the Committee is exploring the timely issue of how technology is transforming our nation’s public schools. More often, people are using different technologies to gather and disseminate information. I believe that in today’s technologically-driven world, states and school districts throughout the country have the opportunity to use these new technologies to improve academic achievement... Read more »
Workers worried about their right to privacy in choosing to unionize or their right to vote on a contract may have breathed a collective sigh of relief over the weekend when a Democratic Senator pronounced the controversial card check plan “dead.” Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), one of a handful of Senate Democrats who have balked at a plan that detractors view as an assault on workers’ rights and econ... Read more »
Ever wonder what workplace life might look like under the so-called Employee Free Choice Act? The prospect is contemplated in an essay that appeared this week in the Central Maine Morning Sentinel: “Under EFCA, each signature is a public vote and the only vote, conducted in the open, with the full view and knowledge of their fellow workers, management and the union organizers. “Imagine for a momen... Read more »
From the moment the 111th Congress was gaveled into session, the controversial card check scheme has been a vexing problem for congressional Democrats. Special interests have demanded passage of the legislation as political payback, yet the American people remain firmly opposed to its infringement on basic worker rights. With support eroding among members of both political parties, the backers of ... Read more »
With an additional 345,000 Americans out of work last month and unemployment reaching its highest level in more than a quarter-century, congressional Democrats are contemplating a pair of proposals that will drive up costs for employers and taxpayers and erode job creation at a time when it is needed most. Republicans led by Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (R-GA) voiced these concerns during a hearing today ... Read more »
