Today, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee held a hearing that covered potential ways to expand access to benefits to every American worker—not just those classified as employees. Nontraditional, independent work is exploding as a sector of the U.S. economy and is expected to constitute half of the workforce by 2027. However, under current law, nontraditional workers— those who do not receive a... Read more »
The Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee convened today to discuss the Department of Education’s (ED) botched rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSA is a critical tool for low-income students seeking financial aid. Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act at the end of 2020 with an effective date of July 2023 to implement a more streamline... Read more »
Today’s Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee hearing covered the gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The hearing featured a lone witness, PBGC Director Gordon Hartogensis. PBGC was created to protect private pension plans from insolvency and was intended to be solely funded by employer premiums. However, under poor leadership ... Read more »
Today, the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and the Higher Education and Workforce Development (HEWD) subcommittees held a joint hearing covering the NLRB’s overreach into college athletics. In recent years, name, image, and likeness compensation has caused political controversy and legal uncertainty for college athletics. In the words of former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel, th... Read more »
Divisive. Excessive. Ineffective. These three themes carried the day as the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee convened to discuss the outsized influence of DEI bureaucracies on college campuses. DEI is a term that garners lots of attention and maybe more definitions. To adherents, it stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. To bureaucrats, it is a jobs program for social ... Read more »
Today’s Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee hearing, led by Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL), covered the role charter schools play in the thriving school choice ecosystem. Charter schools are relatively new in terms of the American K-12 education system but already having a profound impact on many young lives. Today’s parents have decided to send nearly four million studen... Read more »
Today’s Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee hearing covered the partisan Department of Labor’s (DOL) attempt to limit retirement options for millions of American workers. In proposing the so-called “Retirement Security Rule,” the administration is out way over its skis. DOL has jurisdiction over employer-managed retirement accounts, or 401(k)s, but not the entire retirement invest... Read more »
Today, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee held an oversight hearing covering the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD). The hearing’s lone witness, WHD Administrator Jessica Looman, undertook the tall task of answering for her federal office’s job-killing, burdensome regulations. Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) laid out the case against WHD overregulation with his o... Read more »
Today’s Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee hearing, led by Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL), covered national efforts to prevent the abduction and exploitation of children. Chairman Bean opened the hearing by expressing his support for The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the national clearinghouse and resource center protecting missing and exploit... Read more »
Today’s Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education (ECESE) Subcommittee hearing, led by Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL), covered the role career and technical education (CTE) plays in filling America’s 8.8 million open jobs. With support from the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, CTE programs help K-12 students across the country develop new skills and prepare for the workfo... Read more »
