[House Report 112-133]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


112th Congress 
 1st Session            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                 Report
                                                                112-133
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     

                                                  Union Calendar No. 83


                        REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES

                                 of the

                       COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND

                             THE WORKFORCE

                             together with

                             MINORITY VIEWS

                  FIRST QUARTER OF THE 112TH CONGRESS




  July 1, 2011.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed
                         LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

                              ----------                              

        Committee on Education and the Workforce,
                                  House of Representatives,
                                      Washington, DC, July 1, 2011.
Hon. Karen L. Haas,
Clerk of the House, The Capitol,
Washington, DC.
    Dear Ms. Haas: Pursuant to Rule XI, clause 1, paragraph (d) 
of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, I am hereby 
transmitting the Activities Report of the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce for the First Quarter of the 112th 
Congress.
    This report was adopted in a full committee markup session, 
with a quorum present, on June 22, 2011. I circulated this 
report to all members on June 23, 2011, and received minority 
views, which are included in this report.
    This report summarizes the activities of the Committee 
during the First Quarter of the 112th Session with respect to 
its legislative and oversight responsibilities.
            Sincerely,
                                                John Kline,
                                                          Chairman.


                                                  Union Calendar No. 83
112th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    112-133

======================================================================



 
    REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE 
                    WORKFORCE OF THE 112TH CONGRESS

                                _______
                                

  July 1, 2011.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

     Mr. Kline, from the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                             MINORITY VIEWS

                              INTRODUCTION

    The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, 
under the leadership of Chairman John Kline (R-MN), has been 
working diligently to address the challenges facing classrooms 
and workplaces since the 112th Congress convened just six 
months ago.
    The committee and its four subcommittees oversee programs 
that affect Americans of every age and economic level. 
Education and workforce policies are vital to the success of 
our country and the future prosperity of our citizens. 
Advancing meaningful reforms in both arenas is a key component 
of our efforts to re-energize the economy and better prepare 
America's workers for 21st century challenges.
    The committee is advancing fiscally responsible reforms 
that strive to provide children across the nation with access 
to a high quality education while also freeing workers to 
pursue the American Dream. In this time of worldwide economic 
instability and soaring federal deficits, fiscal responsibility 
is of the utmost importance. The need to reduce wasteful 
government spending and bureaucratic federal mandates guides 
the committee's agenda in the 112th Congress.
    The Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and 
Secondary Education, chaired by Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA), 
has jurisdiction over education from early learning through the 
high school level including, but not limited to, elementary and 
secondary education, special education, career and technical 
education, school lunch and child nutrition programs, teacher 
professional development, and early care and education 
programs. The subcommittee has been active in developing 
initiatives to modernize the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act (ESEA), holding several hearings to review the federal 
regulatory burden on K-12 classrooms, as well as hearings that 
examine various reform proposals.
    The Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, chaired by Rep. 
Tim Walberg (R-MI), has jurisdiction over workers' wages, 
workers' compensation, workers' safety and health issues, and 
trade and immigration issues as they affect employers and 
workers. The subcommittee has dedicated significant time to 
examining mine safety concerns, including holding hearings to 
evaluate the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and 
its enforcement activities. Additionally, the subcommittee has 
been involved in highlighting federal regulatory burdens that 
could have negative consequences for job creation.
    The Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce 
Training, chaired by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), has 
jurisdiction over education and training beyond the high school 
level. The subcommittee has held hearings to examine regulatory 
burdens on postsecondary education institutions and investigate 
redundancy and overlap of federal education and job training 
programs.
    The Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and 
Pensions, chaired by Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN), has 
jurisdiction over all matters dealing with relationships 
between employers and employees, employment-related health and 
retirement security, and equal employment opportunity and civil 
rights in employment. The subcommittee has focused much of its 
attention this Congress on examining the effects of the 2010 
health care law and the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) 
impact on employers and workers.

                         SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES


                    A. EDUCATION POLICY INITIATIVES

    The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is 
focused on promoting policies that address the needs of 
American students and their parents. The committee has 
specifically initiated action on several major education 
priorities, including:

Reforming elementary and secondary education

    In his State of the Union address in January, the President 
called on Congress to reform our nation's elementary and 
secondary education laws to make them more flexible and focused 
on what is best for students. The committee shares this goal.
    State and local leaders are already promoting innovative 
solutions to improve student achievement and accountability, 
including setting high standards for all students and reforming 
outdated teacher tenure rules. The committee strongly believes 
the federal government should reduce its involvement in the 
day-to-day operations of our schools and empower reform-minded 
state and local leaders to succeed. To this end, the committee 
is dedicating significant time to developing a series of 
education reform proposals that center on removing burdensome 
reporting requirements, eliminating inefficient federal 
education programs, providing states and school districts with 
additional flexibility in the use of federal funds, empowering 
parents, improving teacher quality, and increasing 
accountability for student achievement.
    The committee is still in the process of negotiating the 
final form of most of these initiatives, but it recently 
approved the first in a series of bills to reauthorize the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Setting New 
Priorities in Education Spending Act (H.R. 1891), sponsored by 
Rep. Duncan Hunter, eliminates more than 40 wasteful, 
duplicative, and ineffective Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act programs, effectively reducing the number of programs tied 
to K-12 classrooms by half. Not only does this legislation take 
an important step toward streamlining and simplifying the 
federal role in education, it also helps ensure taxpayer 
dollars are not being wasted on ineffective initiatives.

Empowering parents through support of high-quality schools

    The committee strongly supports Congressional efforts to 
encourage choices that allow parents to send their students to 
higher performing public or private schools if their current 
school fails to provide a high-quality education. Empowering 
parents with more options is a key component in the fight to 
provide students with a quality education.
    The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program, created in 2003, 
has allowed thousands of students in the District of Columbia 
to attend the school of their choice. If not for this critical 
program, more than 85 percent of students who receive 
scholarships would be forced to attend some of the District of 
Columbia's lowest performing schools. The program is a lifeline 
to those families whose children are trapped in low-performing 
and failing schools. Despite special interest attempts to 
eliminate options for low-income parents in Washington, DC, the 
committee worked with Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) in 
spearheading the successful bipartisan initiative to 
reauthorize and reinstitute the DC school choice program. 
Additionally, the committee continues its overall support for 
increasing parental choice through legislation that reforms and 
modernizes the existing Charter School Program to improve 
access to high-quality charter schools. The Empowering Parents 
through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 2218), sponsored by 
Rep. Hunter, was recently approved by the committee.

Ending harmful and job-destroying regulations

    The committee strongly opposes recent regulatory actions 
that will put college access at risk for millions of low-income 
students and invite federal intrusion into academic affairs at 
institutions of higher education. The administration's 
insistence on moving forward with a gainful employment 
regulation targeting the proprietary (or private) sector will 
destroy jobs and stifle local economic development. Proprietary 
colleges are an important part of our nation's higher education 
system. Their efforts to prepare students for a variety of 
careers are essential to meeting the President's goal of 
leading the world in college graduation rates by 2020.
    In an effort to protect student choice and help support a 
stronger workforce, on February 18, 2011, the committee offered 
an amendment to the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 
2011 (H.R. 1) to prohibit the U.S. Department of Education from 
implementing the gainful employment regulation. The House of 
Representatives adopted the amendment by a bipartisan vote of 
289 to 136; unfortunately, the amendment was not included in 
the final legislation. However, the committee stands firm in 
its commitment to stop this job-destroying regulation.
    The committee also recently approved legislation to repeal 
two additional regulations that put the federal government in 
the middle of issues that have historically been the 
responsibility of individual academic institutions, accrediting 
bodies, and/or states. The Protecting Academic Freedom in 
Higher Education Act (H.R. 2117) would repeal the unnecessary 
credit hour and state authorization regulations included in a 
program integrity package crafted in late 2010 and prohibit the 
U.S. Department of Education from setting a federal definition 
of credit hour permanently. Eliminating these regulations will 
help streamline the federal role in education and protect 
states, schools, and students from excessive regulatory 
burdens.
    The committee is focused on increasing education 
opportunities for students and streamlining federal regulations 
to assist institutions in developing innovative and inexpensive 
ways to deliver educational opportunities. Looking forward, the 
committee will continue to closely monitor and scrutinize the 
actions of the administration, with particular focus on 
additional federal regulations. The committee will also 
continue to thoroughly examine the unintended consequences of 
federal regulations and work to ensure states, school 
districts, schools, and institutions of higher education can 
operate without unnecessary red tape from Washington.

                    B. WORKFORCE POLICY INITIATIVES

    The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is also 
devoting great attention to the needs of employers, job-
seekers, and workers. The committee is specifically targeting 
action on several key workforce priorities, including:

Working to repeal the 2010 Health Care Law and lower health care costs

    The committee remains concerned the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) will have a devastating 
effect on families, employers, and workers. As such, the 
committee has held several hearings over the last six months to 
explore the broad effects of the law.
    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary 
Kathleen Sebelius testified in front of the full committee on 
May 5, about the department's policies and priorities. This 
hearing offered members an opportunity to directly question a 
member of the Obama Administration about various aspects of the 
law, as well as its implementation. Additionally, the committee 
has held hearings to review the ways that rising health care 
costs have affected the ability of employers to provide 
affordable employee health coverage.
    The committee will continue to investigate PPACA and plans 
to conduct comprehensive oversight of the administration's 
efforts to implement the law. Further, the committee continues 
to support sensible proposals to lower the cost of health care 
and increase access to affordable health insurance coverage, 
such as Small Business Health Plans that would reduce financial 
pressures on employers, workers and their families.

Improving job training and employment services

    The committee is dedicated to improving job training 
opportunities for unemployed workers by streamlining 
unnecessary bureaucracy, eliminating duplicative programs, 
fostering economic development, and encouraging the creation of 
high-skill and high-wage opportunities for workers in the 
global economy.
    A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report 
identified 47 separate job training programs administered by 
nine federal agencies. Of those 47 programs, GAO found 44 
overlap with at least one other workforce development program. 
Considering the $18 billion price tag attached to these 
programs, the committee is taking a leadership role in 
identifying ways to reduce costs, consolidate programs, and 
improve employment and training services. The committee has 
jurisdiction over 33 of these programs and remains committed to 
consolidating these funding streams to simplify program 
administration and create more efficient programs at the state 
and local levels.
    To this end, the committee has held hearings to examine 
duplication within job training programs as it begins the 
effort to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIA 
has helped integrate federal and state employment and training 
programs by requiring services be provided through a ``one 
stop'' delivery system. However, as the GAO report illustrates, 
the committee recognizes there are still areas where 
overlapping programs or services could be further consolidated 
and improved.

Protecting workplace democracy

    The committee remains determined to protect employee and 
employer rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) 
and ensure union transparency and democracy. Any efforts or 
actions undertaken by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) 
that could tip the scales of balance in labor-management 
relations deserve close review.
    Since the beginning of the 112th Congress, the committee 
has significantly ramped up its oversight of the NLRB. Cases 
such as Specialty Healthcare, the recent NLRB complaint filed 
against The Boeing Company, and concerns about corporate 
campaigns have been the subject of committee scrutiny in the 
form of letters, hearings, and outreach. The committee will 
continue its strong oversight of the NLRB throughout this 
Congress.

Enhancing workplace health and safety

    The committee remains dedicated to ensuring the health and 
safety of all American workers. To that end, we support 
policies that incorporate both proactive safety programs and 
appropriate enforcement of existing workplace safety laws. Over 
the last five months, the committee has held hearings to 
examine the efficacy and enforcement of current workplace 
safety regulations, with particular emphasis placed on 
reviewing the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
    Over the last year, MSHA has undertaken a number of actions 
intended to improve mine safety, including the issuance or 
proposal of several new regulatory initiatives, expanded mine 
inspections, and more aggressive legal and enforcement 
activities. While these efforts are welcome, the committee 
wants to ensure MSHA is effectively utilizing the current 
regulatory, legal, and enforcement tools at its disposal.
    The committee has held hearings with MSHA officials to 
examine its enforcement activities and will continue to examine 
and evaluate the agency's performance. Protecting the health 
and well-being of America's miners remains a top committee 
priority.

                     EDUCATION GOALS AND ACTIVITIES

    No one can deny the importance of providing children with a 
quality education. A student's achievement in the classroom 
determines his or her future success in the workplace. Make no 
mistake: education is a jobs issue; supporting a world-class 
education system is critical to the strength of the American 
economy and workforce.
    Since the start of the 112th Congress, the House Committee 
on Education and the Workforce has actively engaged in a 
discussion about the state of education in the nation. We have 
heard from state and local school leaders, policy experts, 
reformers, teachers, and students about education successes and 
challenges. We learned those struggles are all too often caused 
by an overly intrusive federal presence.
    The committee also recognizes tough budgetary realities. 
The budget of the U.S. Department of Education and the role of 
the federal government in education have grown significantly 
over the last 45 years with negligible improvement in academic 
achievement. Our commitment to education should never be 
measured in the amount of money the federal government spends; 
it should be measured by the quality of our programs and 
policies.
    All students should receive a high-quality education that 
will prepare them to succeed in college and in the workforce. 
Now more than ever, our nation's students must graduate high 
school and college with the skills necessary to compete in the 
rapidly changing global economy.

                    A. STRENGTHENING K-12 EDUCATION

    The committee is evaluating the affects of federal 
education legislation and regulations on our nation's 
classrooms. The state of the American education system is 
sobering. Too many children are not reading at grade level. 
Reading, math, and science performance by U.S. students trails 
far behind our counterparts in other developed countries. A 
meager 57 percent of students with disabilities, 56 percent of 
African American students, and 52 percent of Hispanic students 
graduate from high school.
    The committee is committed to re-evaluating the federal 
role in elementary and secondary education. Over the last four 
decades, our nation's federal education policies have 
demonstrated that massive amounts of federal funding and top-
down interventions are not the way to create a high-quality K-
12 education system in America.
    The federal government is too involved in our nation's 
classrooms, and the committee believes states and local school 
districts should have the primary responsibility for public 
education. The committee is working to reduce the size and 
scope of the U.S. Department of Education, roll back federal 
bureaucratic requirements and regulations, and eliminate and 
consolidate ineffective and duplicative federal education 
programs to help balance the budget and get the federal deficit 
and debt under control. These efforts will empower parents, 
teachers, and school leaders to address unacceptable 
achievement gaps and prepare students for postsecondary 
education and the workforce.
    To ensure student success, the committee is focused on 
doing what's best for students, parents, teachers, and 
communities. This means helping children achieve their full and 
unique potential by equipping them with the tools and knowledge 
to succeed in the 21st century, and ensuring America's 
educational system is the best in the world. To accomplish 
these objectives, Congress must streamline federal spending, 
promote flexibility and innovation, improve teacher quality, 
and empower parents.
    These principles are guiding our efforts to reform federal 
education policy and protect the rights and responsibilities of 
states, local communities, and taxpayers when it comes to 
educating the next generation. Based on hearings to examine the 
current state of our education system, the committee has begun 
work on a series of education reform bills to reduce the 
federal burden on schools and empower state and local reforms. 
The committee's efforts to date and the outlook for the balance 
of the year reflect these priorities.

Eliminating duplicative and unnecessary programs

    In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act (ESEA) with the limited goal of providing states 
and local school districts additional resources to ensure 
disadvantaged students have access to a quality education. In 
the more than four decades since passage of ESEA, federal 
control of education has steadily increased and spending has 
exploded. Today, the United States spends more than $10,000 per 
pupil per year, nearly triple what was spent in 1965.\1\ 
Despite this record investment in public education by federal, 
state, and local governments, national academic performance has 
not improved. Math and reading scores have largely remained 
flat, graduation rates have stagnated, and researchers have 
found serious shortcomings with many federal education 
programs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education 
Statistics. (2010). Digest of Education Statistics, 2009 (NCES 2010-
013) Table 180 and Chapter 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act (H.R. 
1891), sponsored by Rep. Duncan Hunter, is the first step in 
the committee's education reform efforts. Under the current 
ESEA, the U.S. Department of Education operates more than 80 
separate programs. Many of these are duplicative, ineffective, 
or too small to have a meaningful impact, which results in 
waste and inefficiency. As the Council of the Great City 
Schools stated in its letter of support for this legislation, 
``. . . an array of small grant programs contributes little to 
the academic attainment necessary for national competitiveness 
nor helps overcome the achievement gaps that serve as a 
persistent barrier to educational and economic 
opportunity.''\2\ The committee considered and passed this 
legislation on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, and looks forward to 
moving it to the House Floor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\Letter from the Council of Great City Schools to The Honorable 
John Kline, Chairman, Education and the Workforce Committee, May 23, 
2011.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reforming the current charter school program

    Charter schools are independent public schools that embody 
two key principles American families want from the nation's 
public education system: choice and flexibility. These public 
schools emphasize parental involvement, encourage innovative 
instruction, and set high academic expectations for their 
students. The current charter school program at the U.S. 
Department of Education offers support to open charter schools. 
While successful, the program needs to be modernized and 
streamlined to better reflect the position of charter schools 
in the nation. On June 1, 2011, the Subcommittee on Early 
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing 
entitled ``Education Reforms: Exploring the Vital Role of 
Charter Schools.'' At the hearing, the committee examined the 
exceptional ability of charter schools to meet the education 
needs of special communities and individual communities, and 
looked at ways to improve the quality and expand access to 
high-quality charter schools. The Empowering Parents through 
Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 2218), sponsored by Rep. 
Hunter, was recently approved by the committee. This 
legislation supports the creation of new innovative models of 
charter schools, replicates and expands high-quality charter 
schools, incentivizes states to end discriminatory practices 
against charter schools, and improves state and authorizer 
support for charter schools.

Providing states and school districts funding flexibility

    The federal government currently operates a myriad of 
separate, siloed elementary and secondary education programs, 
each with their own application requirements, reporting 
requirements, uses of funds, and eligibility requirements. Many 
of these programs contain restrictive provisions that hamper 
the ability of states and local school districts to innovate or 
fund initiatives that would best address the needs of their 
individual students. The committee is focused on providing 
states and school districts with maximum flexibility to target 
federal resources where they are needed most. On April 7, 2011, 
the full committee held a hearing entitled ``Education Reforms: 
Promoting Flexibility and Innovation.'' The hearing included 
witnesses who spoke of the importance of giving state and local 
officials funding flexibility to help them tailor programs to 
meet more closely their students' unique needs and priorities. 
Looking forward, the committee will consider legislation to 
provide funding flexibility that will empower states and local 
schools to use federal dollars on programs that suit their 
unique needs.

Promoting effective teachers in America's classrooms

    Studies have consistently shown teacher quality to be among 
the most influential factors in improving student academic 
achievement. The federal government is currently spending 
nearly $2.5 billion on the Improving Teacher Quality State 
Grants program (authorized under Title II of ESEA), yet the 
program yields few results. Federal support of teacher quality 
programs was further highlighted in the April 6, 2011, full 
committee hearing entitled ``Streamlining Federal Education and 
Workforce Programs: A Look at the GAO Report on Government 
Waste.'' At that hearing, the Comptroller General discussed the 
findings of its report, titled ``Opportunities to Reduce 
Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, 
and Enhance Revenue.'' In the report, the U.S. Government 
Accountability Office (GAO) identified 82 distinct programs 
specifically focused on helping improve teacher quality, either 
as a primary purpose or as an allowable activity, administered 
across 10 federal agencies. Many experts believe federal 
teacher quality programs have failed to make significant 
progress in helping states and school districts close 
achievement gaps between schools serving students from 
different socioeconomic backgrounds in part because of the 
fragmentation of programs that focus on teaching and learning.
    The committee is committed to consolidating duplicative and 
ineffective teacher quality programs and refocusing the main 
Teacher Quality State Grant program on encouraging creative 
approaches to help states and school districts recruit, hire, 
train, and reward effective teachers and school leaders. Every 
student should be in a classroom with an outstanding teacher 
and a school with outstanding leadership.

Addressing accountability for school and student performance

    The committee recognizes the need to answer the questions 
of ``to whom'' and ``for what'' when considering 
accountability. Unfortunately, years of a top-down approach to 
education reform has not significantly improved student 
performance; instead, it has tied the hands of state and local 
reformers. The committee is working with all interested parties 
to expand state and local accountability, promote parental 
engagement and choice, and provide transparent data to foster 
academic achievement. Fundamentally, the committee believes 
schools should be accountable to parents, the local communities 
they serve, and their states in ensuring all students have 
access to a quality education that prepares them for 
postsecondary education and success in the workforce. The 
committee remains committed to reducing the federal footprint 
in education so states and school districts are free to pursue 
innovative approaches to reforming public education. The 
committee will also continue to closely monitor the actions of 
the Obama Administration that impose additional requirements on 
states and school districts in exchange for granting waivers 
from the law's burdensome requirements. Contrary to the 
administration's rhetoric, waivers are a blatant attempt to 
coerce states and school districts to adopt the 
administration's reauthorization proposal and bypass the 
authority of Congress.

Making special education a priority

    Too often, federal education policy piles on new and 
burdensome requirements and creates additional duplicative 
programs at the expense of key priorities. Since passage of the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal 
government has fallen far short of its commitment to fully fund 
Part B (the Grants to States Program) of IDEA. To provide some 
relief to school districts, the committee spearheaded an effort 
to restore proposed reductions to IDEA funding during debate on 
the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 (H.R. 1). 
An amendment offered by Chairman Kline and Rep. McMorris 
Rodgers (R-WA) restored nearly $558 million in IDEA Part B 
funding to address this shortfall in the federal government's 
commitment to states, school districts, and students with 
disabilities. The committee will continue to focus on key 
education priorities like supporting states and school 
districts in meeting their requirements to serve the needs of 
students with disabilities.

   B. ENCOURAGING STUDENT CHOICE AND OPPORTUNITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

    American colleges and universities attract students from 
around the world; few countries can compete with the wide array 
of higher education institutions and courses available in the 
United States. Through the first quarter of the 112th Congress, 
the committee has promoted policies that support continued 
diversity and choice in the higher education system to best 
prepare today's students to join tomorrow's workforce.
    With the next reauthorization of the Higher Education Act 
currently scheduled for 2014, the committee's higher education 
agenda has focused on overseeing the U.S. Department of 
Education's implementation of the 2008 reauthorization and 
regulatory initiatives. Through these efforts, the committee 
remains committed to promoting college access and blocking 
policies that may adversely affect the ability of students to 
complete a postsecondary education.

Ensuring the diversity of America's higher education system

    The American higher education system is one of the most 
diverse in the world. With more than 6,000 colleges and 
universities participating in federal student aid programs, 
students have the freedom to select the college that best fits 
their needs and those of their families. The committee has 
taken steps to stop the U.S. Department of Education's recent 
regulatory packages that undermine student choice and inject 
the federal government into academic affairs decisions.
    Throughout the month of March, the committee examined the 
regulatory burden imposed by the department on all levels of 
higher education. From witness testimony provided at the 
hearings, the committee learned of the harmful consequences of 
federal regulations on colleges and universities. Institutions 
have to train and maintain whole departments to monitor 
compliance with federal and state laws and regulations. When 
institutions have to spend more of their limited resources on 
compliance with burdensome federal requirements, they have less 
to spend on educating students, which results in dramatic 
increases in tuition costs. Colleges and universities should be 
spending time examining their programs to ensure they are 
meeting local and national workforce needs, not complying with 
bureaucratic requirements that serve little to no purpose.
    On March 11, the Subcommittee on Higher Education and 
Workforce Training held a hearing entitled ``Education 
Regulations: Federal Overreach into Academic Affairs.'' The 
hearing focused on the effects of the department's state 
authorization and credit hour regulations and the harmful and 
burdensome consequences these regulations will have for 
institutions of higher education. Specifically, the 
department's actions could limit the ability of institutions to 
provide innovative programs, which could result in fewer people 
matriculating into the workforce. Additionally, these 
regulations infringe on the heart of academia by trying to 
create a one-size-fits-all definition of credit hour and force 
colleges to focus more on seat time rather than student 
learning when awarding credit hours. Based on the testimony at 
the hearing, the committee considered and passed the Protecting 
Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act (H.R. 2117), 
introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx to repeal the credit hour and 
state authorization regulations that will drive up the cost of 
college and impede the ability of institutions to expand to 
meet the growing demand of postsecondary education. With a 
strong bipartisan vote, the committee looks forward to moving 
it to the House Floor.
    The committee is also focused on the U.S. Department of 
Education's harmful gainful employment regulation. On March 17, 
the full committee held a hearing entitled ``Education 
Regulations: Roadblocks to Student Choice in Higher 
Education.'' At the hearing, committee members heard from 
individuals concerned with the gainful employment regulation. 
Committee members discovered that the regulation predominately 
focuses on the proprietary school sector despite the fact that 
the problem of high student debt levels exists throughout 
American higher education. Proprietary colleges are 
particularly helpful during times of economic distress because 
their programs are focused on making sure students have the 
necessary workforce skills to succeed in the global economy. 
Additionally, these colleges are more nimble than other sectors 
of higher education and are able to start up programs quickly 
in response to voids in a community. Despite changes in the 
final regulation, the committee believes this regulation is 
problematic. The rule remains focused predominately on one 
sector of higher education, will impede local economic 
development, and does nothing to weed out the bad actors. The 
committee will continue to take steps to block this problematic 
job destroying regulation.

Examining the impact of higher education on the workforce

    The committee is focused on improving higher education and 
creating jobs at a time when unemployment is plaguing many 
Americans. We believe a quality postsecondary education system 
and a strong workforce are vital to America's success in an 
increasingly global economy. Both rely on constant innovation 
to keep pace with rapid changes, domestically and globally. The 
committee's goal is to improve coordination between the higher 
education and workforce development systems in order to train 
more Americans to be well-prepared for the future needs of our 
nation's workforce. To this end, the committee held three field 
hearings to discuss how the business community, local workforce 
investment boards, and postsecondary institutions are working 
together to build a strong workforce to maintain America's 
competitiveness. The hearings, entitled ``Reviving Our Economy: 
The Role of Higher Education in Job Growth and Development,'' 
were held in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on March 21, 2011; 
Utica, New York, on March 22, 2011; and Columbia, Tennessee, on 
April 21, 2011. In all three field hearings, committee members 
and witnesses focused on ways to improve higher education and 
made it clear that America cannot succeed without a high-
quality higher education system that works closely with our 
evolving workforce.

Putting Pell Grants on a path to stability

    The Pell Grant program is the foundation of our nation's 
commitment to assist low-income students in accessing higher 
education. The committee is concerned about the runaway cost of 
the Pell Grant program and, going forward, will work with the 
U.S. House Committee on Appropriations to ensure the Pell Grant 
program is available to students who need it most. Funding for 
the Pell Grant program has tripled over the last five years and 
is expected to cost approximately $37 billion in FY 2012--an 
amount equal to the total discretionary budget figure of all 
other K-12 and higher education programs run by the U.S. 
Department of Education. Over the last several years, the 
program has grown beyond its original intent, making financial 
promises to students that American taxpayers simply cannot 
afford to keep. The committee is determined to put the Pell 
Grant program back on the path to long-term fiscal stability, 
enabling millions of low-income students to pursue their dream 
of a postsecondary education.

                     WORKFORCE GOALS AND ACTIVITIES

    The American workforce faces significant challenges. 
Unemployment is greater than 9 percent, and unemployed workers 
often are so discouraged by searching for work that they leave 
the labor force entirely. The committee has focused its efforts 
thus far in the 112th Congress on examining practices that 
support job creation and working to eliminate those practices 
that prevent employers from expanding their operations or 
hiring additional workers.

Working to repeal the New Health Care Law and ensure lower health care 
        costs

    As one of its first votes of the year, the U.S. House of 
Representatives passed H.R. 2, Repealing the Job Killing Health 
Care Law Act, by a vote of 245-189. Despite inaction by the 
U.S. Senate, and the likely opposition of the administration, 
House and Committee Republicans continue to believe full repeal 
of the new health care law, the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), is a necessary first step 
in fiscally responsible efforts to lower the costs of health 
care and insurance coverage for all Americans.
    Since most Americans obtain their health coverage through 
their employer, and because we remain concerned that rising 
health care costs continue to place significant strains on 
businesses, employees, and families, the committee has launched 
an examination of the PPACA and its impact on Americans, 
employer-sponsored coverage, and health care costs.
     To further examine the new health care law, the 
full committee held a hearing entitled ``The Impact of the 
Health Care Law on the Economy, Employers and the Workforce.'' 
At that hearing, the committee heard testimony indicating the 
PPACA will increase the deficit, increase health care and 
insurance costs, reduce employment, and hinder job creation. Of 
note, one witness testified that 3 to 5 percent of the increase 
in her company's health insurance costs is attributed to the 
new mandates and administrative costs caused by the PPACA that 
are effective in 2011. The committee also heard recommendations 
on measures that would serve to lower employers' health care 
costs.
     The Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and 
Pensions held a hearing entitled ``The Pressure of Rising Costs 
on Employer Provided Health Care.'' Testimony from the hearing 
revealed employer-sponsored health plans will continue to 
experience significant cost inflation, and mandates and 
administrative requirements in the PPACA will only exacerbate 
and accelerate health care cost growth. Further, because of the 
PPACA's employer mandate, many employers will likely drop their 
insurance coverage and pay the $2,000 per employee penalty, 
which for many employers will be far less expensive than 
continuing to provide health care benefits. One witness 
testified that the fines and new costs in the PPACA ``may well 
incinerate more than $26 million that [the company] would have 
invested, as well as more than 500 jobs we could have 
created.''
     Along with hearing from employers, the committee 
sought testimony from the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. At that hearing, the 
committee heard testimony regarding the impact of an 
underfunded PPACA program to subsidize retiree health insurance 
costs and the fiscal impact of the PPACA on state and federal 
governments.
     In June, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, 
Labor, and Pensions held a field hearing in Evansville, 
Indiana, entitled ``The Recent Health Care Law: Consequences 
for Indiana Families and Workers,'' and heard testimony from a 
physician, a representative of the Indiana Department of 
Insurance, and several local and business representatives. The 
subcommittee heard testimony that the PPACA has contributed 
significantly to the destabilization of the Indiana health 
insurance market, has increased costs for Indiana employers and 
individuals, and will reduce employment.
    As a result of these hearings, the committee is learning 
the full extent of the negative financial and administrative 
burdens on individuals and job creators as a result of the 
PPACA. New insurance mandates are increasing costs, and will 
continue to do so into the foreseeable future, with little 
relief for individuals and employers struggling to maintain and 
provide health insurance coverage. New penalties in the PPACA, 
like the employer mandate, will place an unsustainable burden 
on employers with limited financial resources and low profit 
margins, and will provide a significant incentive for many 
employers to drop employer coverage and pay the lower-cost 
penalty. New regulations that were supposed to protect 
employers from costly PPACA mandates, like the so-called 
``grandfather'' regulation, fail to provide relief to employers 
and will result in significant changes to the coverage enjoyed 
by millions of people--contrary to the president's repeated 
promise that if you like your coverage, you'll be able to keep 
it under the PPACA. New taxes, like the 2.3 percent tax on most 
medical devices, will be passed through to the extent possible 
to consumers, which will increase costs and likely inhibit job 
growth at medical device makers. Finally, the creation of a 
massive new $2.6 trillion entitlement program, ostensibly paid 
for by raiding Medicare and increasing taxes on American 
employers and workers, will substantially increase the federal 
deficit at a time when America can least afford it.
    Considering the results of the hearings to date, the 
committee will continue to investigate the PPACA and the 
implementation of the government takeover of the health care 
system by the administration. As part of this ongoing process, 
the committee will continue to conduct oversight of the 
administration's efforts to implement the law and oppose 
regulatory efforts that increase burdens on businesses and 
workers. Further, the committee will examine efforts to support 
sensible proposals to lower the cost of health care and 
increase access to affordable health insurance coverage, such 
as Small Business Health Plans, that would reduce financial 
pressures on employers, workers, and their families.

Promoting retirement security

    The committee has continued its efforts to strengthen the 
retirement security of American workers by protecting existing 
pensions, cutting regulatory burdens, and increasing 
opportunities for retirement savings. This involves fighting 
against proposals that would limit opportunities for workers to 
participate in 401(k) retirement accounts or increase the costs 
of such accounts through burdensome regulations and increased 
liability and litigation. In this way, the committee has 
engaged a broad variety of stakeholders troubled by a U.S. 
Department of Labor (DOL) proposed regulation greatly expanding 
the definition of ``fiduciary.'' If finalized, the proposed 
rule would have a destabilizing effect on the relationship 
between defined contribution pension plans and their service 
providers. The committee has communicated these concerns to the 
department and requested that the rule be reconsidered and 
reproposed.
    The committee also supports fiscally responsible efforts to 
ensure the continued viability of the defined benefit pension 
structure. To this end, the committee has scrutinized proposals 
included in the president's budget that would give the Pension 
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) the unfettered discretion 
to determine premium amounts. Specifically, the committee will 
continue to guard against efforts to utilize this vague and 
undefined proposal to address budget concerns which, while 
legitimate, should not determine important policy changes 
affecting the future retirement security of American workers.
    These, and other concerns regarding our private pension 
system, were addressed in a hearing of the Subcommittee on 
Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on June 14, 2011, 
entitled ``Retirement Security: Challenges Confronting Pension 
Plan Sponsors, Workers, and Retirees.'' The hearing was an 
overview of the various economic and regulatory challenges 
facing pension plan sponsors and the impact of these issues on 
plan participants and retirees. Witnesses addressed defined 
benefit plan underfunding, PBGC concerns, and DOL regulatory 
issues.

Improving job training and employment services

    With the nation's unemployment rate greater than 9.1 
percent and millions of Americans out of work, our nation's job 
training programs are more important than ever. The committee 
is dedicated to strengthening and improving those programs and 
services under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) designed to 
put Americans back to work and make the United States more 
competitive in the global economy. We can best do this by 
eliminating duplication, improving accountability, enhancing 
the role of employers, and increasing state and local 
flexibility to better serve our nation's workers. Together, 
these reforms will ensure the nation's workforce development 
system can respond quickly and effectively to the changing 
needs of job seekers and those in need of training.
    Over the last six months, the committee has focused on 
holding hearings in an effort to determine those important 
issues that should be addressed through the upcoming 
reauthorization process. On April 6, 2011, the full committee 
held a hearing entitled ``Streamlining Federal Education and 
Workforce Programs: A Look at the GAO Report on Government 
Waste'' and on May 11, 2011, the Subcommittee on Higher 
Education and Workforce Training held a hearing entitled 
``Removing Inefficiencies in the Nation's Job Training 
Programs.'' At both hearings, the GAO highlighted the findings 
from its recent report titled ``Multiple Employment and 
Training Programs: Providing Information on Colocating Services 
and Consolidating Administrative Structures Could Promote 
Efficiencies,'' which revealed that the federal government 
operates 47 separate and distinct employment and training 
programs across nine different federal agencies. Together, the 
programs spent approximately $18 billion on employment and 
training services.\3\ Almost all of the federal employment and 
training programs provide comparable services to similar 
populations and overlap with each other.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\GAO Report 11-92, Multiple Employment and Training Programs: 
Providing Information on Colocating Services and Consolidating 
Administrative Structures Could Promote Efficiencies, p. 5, January 10, 
2011.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Only five of the 47 programs conducted impact studies that 
evaluate whether the services they provide improved employment 
outcomes. For those programs, the impact studies found the 
effects of participation tended to be inconsistent or were 
restricted to short-term impacts. Nineteen of the programs 
reported that some other type of review or study had been 
conducted since 2004, and 23 of these programs did not claim to 
conduct any type of study that reviewed performance. These 
hearings highlighted the overlapping, fragmented, and 
duplicative programs that exist and discussed ways to reduce 
the regulatory burden imposed on states and localities to 
comply with multiple federal requirements.
    Going forward, the committee is dedicated to improving job 
training opportunities for Americans by streamlining 
unnecessary bureaucracy, eliminating duplicative programs, and 
fostering economic development. The committee will work with 
other congressional committees with jurisdiction over job 
training programs to consolidate duplicative and ineffective 
programs, improve coordination among workforce development 
programs, and eliminate wasteful spending that is adversely 
affecting our nation's employment and training system. This 
effort will ensure job seekers and employers are better served 
and able to access a more nimble workforce development system.

Protecting workplace democracy

    The committee remains committed to ensuring union 
transparency and accountability. To that end, on March 31, 
2011, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pension 
held a hearing entitled ``The Future of Union Transparency and 
Accountability'' to examine how the Office of Labor-Management 
Standards' (OLMS) recent and future regulatory reforms have 
affected union transparency and accountability. At the hearing, 
witnesses expressed concern for the future reporting of union 
trusts, union officer and employee compensation, and union 
receipts. Moreover, concern was expressed regarding the extent 
to which these reforms would impede the ability of rank-and-
file union members to understand and account for the management 
of their union. As such, the committee will continue to monitor 
OLMS regulatory reforms in order to evaluate their efficacy and 
to better assess the need for legislation in this area.

Reforming the Federal Employees' Compensation Act

    During the first quarter of the 112th Congress, the 
committee launched an examination of the Federal Employees' 
Compensation Act (FECA), the federal statute that provides 
workers' compensation benefits to federal employees. As part of 
that effort, on May 12, 2011, the Subcommittee on Workforce 
Protections held a hearing entitled ``Reviewing Workers'' 
Compensation for Federal Employees.'' At the hearing, witnesses 
from the Congressional Research Service, the Government 
Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and 
the American Postal Workers Union provided background 
information on the FECA statute and the inner workings of the 
FECA program. Witnesses also discussed ways to improve and 
modernize FECA, focusing substantial attention on a draft 
reform package crafted by the Obama Administration. The 
administration's proposed reforms would incorporate a number of 
best practices of state workers' compensation programs, improve 
return-to-work procedures, streamline claims processing, and 
update benefit levels.
    Following up on the May 12 hearing, the committee conducted 
a thorough review of the administration's FECA reform package. 
Specifically, the committee met with DOL's Office of Workers' 
Compensation Programs--which administers the FECA program--and 
other stakeholders to collect additional information and field 
varying perspectives on the administration's proposed reforms 
and FECA reform in general. The committee expects to consider 
legislation soon that will improve and update the law in ways 
that increase the program's efficacy and better serve its 
beneficiaries.

Enhancing workplace health and safety

    The committee remains dedicated to ensuring the health and 
safety of all American workers. To that end, the committee has 
held hearings and engaged in other oversight activity to 
promote workplace safety and health policies that incorporate 
both proactive safety programs and appropriate enforcement of 
existing workplace safety laws.
             Examining the Occupational Safety and Health 
                    Administration
    The committee has carefully scrutinized the Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) regulatory agenda, 
giving particular attention to its effect on both workplace 
safety and job creation. On February 15, 2011, the Subcommittee 
on Workforce Protections held a hearing entitled 
``Investigating OSHA's Regulatory Agenda and Its Impact on Job 
Creation.'' The hearing examined OSHA's regulatory priorities 
and its apparent disregard for stakeholder input. The committee 
is especially concerned by OSHA's failure to consider the 
impact of its proposals on smaller businesses. Without 
sufficient stakeholder input, OSHA risks promulgating costly 
and burdensome regulations that may do little to protect 
workers. At least two OSHA regulatory proposals had to be 
withdrawn because the agency failed to recognize the economic 
impact on stakeholders, and could provide little evidence the 
proposals would improve workplace safety.
    The committee also examined OSHA's efforts to oversee 
workplace safety efforts at the state level. On June 16, 2011, 
the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing 
entitled ``Is OSHA Undermining State Efforts to Promote 
Workplace Safety?'' Under current law, states have the option 
to manage their own workplace safety programs (``state plan 
states'') or remain under the auspices of the federal OSHA. The 
committee's hearing examined the interaction of the agency with 
the state plans, and a recent DOL Office of Inspector General 
(OIG) report critical of OSHA's ability to establish 
performance benchmarks for both the agency itself and the state 
plans it oversees. The committee will continue to monitor the 
manner in which OSHA injects itself into the management of 
state plan states.
             Examining the Mine Safety and Health 
                    Administration
    The committee continues to closely monitor actions taken by 
the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) intended to 
improve mine safety, including the issuance or proposal of 
several new regulatory initiatives, expanded mine inspections, 
and more aggressive legal and enforcement activities. The 
committee has also conducted oversight to ensure the agency is 
fully and effectively utilizing its current regulatory, legal, 
and enforcement tools.
    As part of its efforts to hold MSHA accountable for its 
actions, the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a 
hearing on March 3, 2011, entitled ``Examining Recent 
Regulatory and Enforcement Actions of the Mine Safety and 
Health Administration.'' The sole witness at the hearing was 
MSHA Assistant Secretary Joe Main. The committee examined 
regulatory and policy changes MSHA has implemented in the wake 
of the Upper Big Branch mining disaster.\4\ The hearing 
provided committee members with an opportunity to learn more 
about MSHA's specific activities and assess their overall 
effectiveness in improving mine safety.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\The April 5, 2010, explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in 
West Virginia killed 29 miners in the worst coal mine disaster in 
almost forty years. The accident investigation by MSHA is ongoing as is 
the State of West Virginia's accident investigation. The Department of 
Justice also initiated a criminal investigation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a second 
hearing on mine safety on May 4, 2011, entitled ``Modernizing 
Mine Safety.'' The hearing focused on the proactive steps taken 
by stakeholders to improve mine safety. Witnesses also 
discussed concerns about MSHA's inconsistent inspection 
protocols that may be increasing citation volume, but are doing 
little to improve mine safety.
    The committee also directed MSHA to produce audit 
information prepared by the Office of Accountability regarding 
the agency's enforcement activities. The committee subsequently 
requested that the department's Office of Inspector General 
undertake its own review of the audit information in order to 
determine if MSHA has fully addressed questions raised by the 
Office of Accountability.

                     OVERSIGHT PLAN AND ACTIVITIES

    On January 25, 2011, the committee adopted an oversight 
plan for the 112th Congress. The committee's oversight plan 
ensures its work is well-informed and that Congress meets its 
responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness and 
administration of federal laws. As Chairman Kline stated during 
committee consideration of the oversight plan, ``The American 
people no longer accept waste, fraud, and abuse as unavoidable 
costs of the federal government. Taxpayers simply cannot afford 
government programs that go on year after year without any 
accountability for the money they spend or the results--or lack 
of results--they achieve.''\5\ Diligent oversight of federal 
programs will help promote policies that lead to job creation, 
reforms that improve public education, and innovative practices 
that prepare our nation's workers for success in the global 
economy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\Education and the Workforce Committee consideration of Committee 
Oversight Plan, January 25, 2011.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Conducting oversight is an established responsibility of 
the Congress. The power to gather information and investigate 
is essential and inherent to the legislative process. It is 
Congress's obligation to monitor proposed federal rules to 
ensure laws are implemented as Congress intends. Likewise, 
Congress has the power to obtain information and conduct 
investigations to improve agency implementation of existing 
laws and inform the development of any needed legislation. 
Congress also exercises this power when examining situations 
involving waste, fraud, and abuse. In the end, taxpayers 
benefit from a robust examination of current practices.
    The committee's oversight plan for the 112th Congress 
identified several issues of interest:
           Financial Interests of Students and 
        Taxpayers
           Access to Educational Options for Students
           Department of Labor Implementation of 
        Workplace Laws and Regulations
           Workplace Safety Laws
           Union Democracy
           Health Care and Employer-sponsored Health 
        Benefits Plans
           Retirement Security
    During the first quarter of the 112th Congress, the 
committee focused much of its efforts on oversight activities. 
The committee examined federal programs and practices in each 
of the issues of interest in the committee's oversight plan. 
Nearly all of the committee's hearings sought to fulfill the 
committee's oversight obligations. The committee's oversight 
work includes the following:
     On April 6, 2011, the committee sought the 
assistance of the GAO in identifying waste within federal 
education and workforce programs. The committee sought 
additional assistance from the GAO in identifying duplicative 
education programs and evaluating the quality of program 
implementation within the U.S. Department of Education. This 
work contributed to legislation, the Setting New Priorities in 
Education Spending Act (H.R. 1891), considered and passed by 
the committee, to eliminate duplicative and unnecessary federal 
education programs.
     The committee also investigated the GAO Forensic 
Audit and Special Investigations unit (FSI) in conjunction with 
the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 
This investigation resulted in a fundamental reworking of the 
FSI unit, including reassignment of staff involved in the 
development of a flawed report on the proprietary higher 
education sector issued by the FSI unit.
     The committee held four hearings directly 
examining federal education regulations, with additional 
hearings also examining regulatory burdens imposed by the U.S. 
Department of Education on states, school districts, and 
institutions of higher education. These hearings looked at 
federal regulation, both existing and proposed rules, on K-12 
and higher education. The hearings and related oversight 
efforts resulted in legislation, the Protecting Academic 
Freedom in Higher Education Act (H.R. 2117), which would ease 
the regulatory burden on higher education institutions. The 
committee expects that additional legislative proposals will be 
considered to streamline and eliminate regulations that hinder 
the ability of states, school districts, colleges and 
universities, principals, teachers, and parents to focus on 
helping students achieve. Removing unnecessary federal 
requirements allows schools and faculty to focus on providing a 
high quality education for our nation's students.
     The committee also regularly monitors the 
implementation of the school lunch and breakfast programs 
currently authorized under the Child Nutrition Act and the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The committee 
examined the U.S. Department of Agriculture's implementation of 
the recently reauthorized school lunch and breakfast programs 
to ensure that ``unwarranted costs and unmanageable 
requirements'' are not being imposed upon schools and school 
districts.\6\ The committee held an oversight hearing to raise 
concerns and questions with the department's actions. The 
committee also formally submitted comments to the proposed 
regulations. This action resulted in language included in the 
committee report accompanying the Agriculture Appropriations 
Act (H.R. 2112) directing the Secretary of Agriculture to 
revise the nutrition standards regulation in an effort to 
reduce the burden on school districts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\Letter to the Honorable Tom Vilsack, Secretary, U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, from Chairman John Kline, April 13, 2011.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     The committee will continue to use its oversight 
responsibility to ensure the Corporation for National and 
Community Service appropriately uses taxpayer funds, including 
adequately monitoring its subgrantees to ensure participants 
are not engaged in prohibited activities. The committee is 
aware of a potential misuse of federal funds by a corporation 
subgrantee. The committee is taking action, including holding a 
hearing before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and 
Workforce Training on June 26, 2011, to fully understand the 
misuse of funds and ensure similar inappropriate uses of 
taxpayer funds do not re-occur.
     The committee adopted its oversight plan with the 
understanding the American people want Congress to make job 
creation its top priority. That is why over the last six 
months, the committee has conducted aggressive oversight on the 
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and related agencies. The 
committee wants to ensure government policies are not standing 
in the way of putting Americans back to work.
     Within workforce issues, and with the intended 
result of increasing job creation, the committee held:
           six hearings examining U.S. Department of 
        Labor practices that impede job creation;
           four hearings examining implementation of 
        health care laws and the impact on employees and 
        employers;
           four hearings on workplace safety;
           two hearings examining judicial activism at 
        the National Labor Relations Board;
           one hearing on union democracy; and
           one hearing focused on retirement security 
        concerns.
     The committee has been aggressive in its oversight 
of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to protect the 
rights of both employees and employers.
    First, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and 
Pensions held a hearing on February 11, 2011, to examine 
individual NLRB holdings, rulemakings, and policies. Witnesses 
identified and discussed a number of recent controversial and 
unprecedented decisions--including an NLRB holding that 
effectively rescinds restrictions on bannering during secondary 
boycotts--that could significantly hinder employers' ability to 
manage their businesses. Witnesses expressed a greater concern, 
however, over the mounting evidence that suggests the current 
board is seeking to rewrite federal labor law through judicial 
fiat. The committee shares this concern.
    The Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 
held a second hearing on May 26, 2011, exploring the relatively 
new phenomenon known as corporate campaigns and their effects 
on job creation. Two employers outlined the effect these 
campaigns had on their corporate balance sheets, their 
employees, and their ability to grow their businesses. The 
committee also heard testimony regarding federal agencies--
including the NLRB--being all too willing to play a 
facilitating role in these campaigns. The committee will 
continue to monitor these campaigns in the future.
    Finally, the committee continues to actively investigate 
the NLRB's use of taxpayer funds, the controversial Specialty 
Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile case, and 
inconsistencies surrounding the Boeing complaint. The committee 
will continue its aggressive oversight of the NLRB and, when 
necessary, consider legislation that ensures balance in labor-
management relations, while at the same time protecting an 
employee's right to choose whether to join a union.
     On January 26, 2011, the committee held its first 
hearing under the new Republican majority. With a national 
unemployment rate of 9.4 percent and the number of unemployed 
persons totaling 14.5 million in December 2010, the committee 
made its first hearing of the 112th Congress about our nation's 
economy. This hearing provided a broad overview of the 
workforce, including witnesses' perspectives on the effect of 
the stagnant economy on employer efforts to create jobs, 
barriers to job creation on the regulatory front, and policies 
and strategies that are needed to boost private-sector job 
creation. This hearing, entitled the ``State of the American 
Workforce,'' properly set the stage for the committee's 
subsequent hearings and oversight activities concerning more 
specific examples of the administration's failure to ``save or 
create'' jobs. This hearing highlighted the administration's 
``job destroying'' policies, and underscored where and how the 
administration has favored politically-powerful constituencies 
at the expense of middle-class working Americans.
     U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis appeared 
before the committee for a hearing entitled ``Policies and 
Priorities at the U.S. Department of Labor'' on February 16, 
2011. At this hearing, the committee examined DOL's performance 
over the previous two years and considered the department's 
policy and program priorities included in the Fiscal Year 2012 
budget proposal, which was submitted to Congress on February 
14, 2011. This hearing provided members with an opportunity to 
broadly review DOL practices and all its program areas and the 
extent to which the department's regulatory agenda negatively 
affects job creation.
     Secretary Solis told attendees at the Democratic 
National Committee's winter meeting in Washington that ``[t]he 
fight is on!'' and she pledged aid to unionized public 
employees who were, in her view, ``under assault'' in Wisconsin 
and elsewhere. The committee believes that DOL and its policies 
must serve employers and workers whether they choose to take 
part in union activity or not. Following Secretary Solis's 
clear statement of union favoritism, the committee 
appropriately made an inquiry with DOL concerning its use of 
public funds and involvement in Wisconsin. The committee will 
continue to monitor the potential use of departmental resources 
to aid or benefit parties in a dispute in which the federal 
government has no official interest.
     The committee continues to examine DOL's 
implementation of the Davis-Bacon Act. The Subcommittee on 
Workforce Protections held a hearing in response to a March 22, 
2011, GAO report entitled ``Davis-Bacon Act: Methodological 
Changes Needed to Improve Wage Survey.'' The report found 
deficiencies with the quality, timeliness, and transparency of 
the wage rates established by DOL and made recommendations 
about how to improve the wage survey process. The report's 
findings strongly suggest that inaccurate wage determinations 
increase the costs of federal construction projects. 
Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office suggests that 
repealing Davis-Bacon could save the government $15.7 billion 
dollars over the next 10 years. Ultimately, if the federal 
government is going to require contractors to comply with the 
Davis-Bacon requirements, it should not allow the extraordinary 
mismanagement of the program as identified in the March GAO 
report findings to continue.
     The cost of regulations on employers and their 
effect on the economy has been of significant concern to the 
committee. In addition to monitoring individual regulations, 
the committee is actively working to ensure the effective 
implementation of Executive Order 13563. This executive order 
was issued by President Obama on January 18, 2011, with the 
stated purpose of improving federal regulations and the 
regulatory review process. In an effort to receive more precise 
information on this executive order, the committee has made 
multiple inquires with DOL, including a March 23, 2011, letter 
to Secretary Solis and a Question for the Record following 
Secretary Solis's appearance before this committee. In 
response, the committee has collected and reviewed multiple 
documents from DOL that outline the preliminary plans for 
periodic review of significant rules and will continue to 
monitor its implementation. The committee anxiously awaits more 
concrete information from DOL concerning implementation of 
Executive Order 13563.
     The committee has seriously embraced its 
obligation under House Rules to conduct oversight of the 
Department of Labor's audit of its financial statements.
    On November 15, 2010, the DOL reported its first-ever 
failure to achieve an unqualified audit for its consolidated 
financial statements. A second audit of DOL's consolidated 
financial statements, released by DOL's Office of Inspector 
General (OIG) on May 23, 2011, confirmed DOL had failed to 
comply with two federal laws, the Federal Financial Management 
Improvement Act of 1996 and the Federal Managers' Financial 
Integrity Act of 1982, and was deficient in its management of 
its $173 billion budget. In addition, this audit identified 
four ``Material Weaknesses'' and two ``Significant 
Deficiencies'' in DOL's financial reporting.
    Concerned by DOL's failure to comply with federal law and 
its distinction as the only executive agency to have multiple 
new material weaknesses in its financial management system in 
FY 2010, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and 
Pensions held a hearing entitled ``Investigating Financial 
Mismanagement at the U.S. Department of Labor'' on June 2, 
2011. At the hearing, DOL's Inspector General confirmed there 
had been no material weaknesses in the previous 10 years and 
emphasized the serious nature of ``material weaknesses.'' The 
committee insists that DOL's management adhere to federal law 
and eliminate all of its financial deficiencies in FY 2011. 
With these goals in mind, the committee will continue to 
provide vigorous oversight of DOL and its financial management 
of the agency.
     The committee supports efforts to eliminate black 
lung disease and other potential hazards associated with coal 
mining. In furthering this goal, the committee believes any 
proposed regulations issued by the Mine Safety and Health 
Administration (MSHA) should be based on sound science and 
require the minimal necessary disruption to workers and 
employers. The committee is concerned that when MSHA proposed 
its rule, ``Lowering Miners' Exposure to Respirable Coal Mine 
Dust; Including, Continuous Personal Dust Monitors,'' it did 
not share its data and assumptions concerning the linkage 
between dust exposure level trends and incidence of black lung 
disease with lawmakers and stakeholders. In addition, the 
committee is concerned by the vastly divergent estimates 
between MSHA and stakeholders concerning this regulation's 
impact on jobs and the economy.
    On June 6, 2011, the committee wrote to MSHA Assistant 
Secretary Joe Main requesting additional information regarding 
MSHA's proposed respirable coal mine dust rule. The letter 
requests that, among other documentation, MSHA provide the 
committee with information on all data and assumptions used for 
drafting this rule and an accounting of all economic costs to 
the private sector and the federal government.
     The committee is concerned by any DOL policy that 
could potentially harm employer-worker relations for the 
benefit of a special interest group. On November 19, 2010, Vice 
President Biden announced an agreement between the Obama 
Administration and the American Bar Association (ABA) 
concerning the Wage and Hour Division's (WHD) handling of cases 
under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family Medical Leave 
Act. Under this agreement, when WHD notifies a worker it has 
completed its investigation but will not pursue this claim any 
further it will also provide the worker with a toll-free number 
and instructions for using the ABA-Attorney Referral System. In 
addition, WHD will provide ABA-approved attorneys with the WHD 
case number, violations found during its investigation, and 
back wages owed.
    Given WHD's own estimate that 10 percent of minimum wage, 
overtime, and family medical leave claims are investigated but 
not pursued by WHD, the Committee wrote to Secretary Solis on 
June 16, 2011, concerning the drafting, implementation, and 
legal basis of DOL's agreement with the ABA. The Secretary's 
response is due on June 30, 2011.

                           COMMITTEE HEARINGS

    In the first quarter of the 112th Congress, the Committee 
held 14 hearings with an education focus, and 17 hearings with 
a workforce focus.

                         A. EDUCATION HEARINGS

    ``Education in the Nation: Examining the Challenges and 
Opportunities Facing America's Classrooms,'' Full Committee, 
February 10, 2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-3
    ``Education Regulations: Weighing the Burden on Schools and 
Students,'' Full Committee, March 1, 2011, Printed Hearing: 
Serial No. 112-7
    ``The Budget and Policy Proposals of the U.S. Department of 
Education,'' Full Committee, March 9, 2011, Printed Hearing: 
Serial No. 112-9
    ``Education Regulations: Federal Overreach into Academic 
Affairs,'' Higher Education and Workforce Training 
Subcommittee, March 11, 2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-
11
    ``Education Regulations: Burying Schools in Paperwork,'' 
Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education 
Subcommittee, March 15, 2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-
12
    ``Education Regulations: Roadblocks to Student Choice in 
Higher Education,'' Full Committee, March 17, 2011, Printed 
Hearing: Serial No. 112-13
    ``Reviving our Economy: The Role of Higher Education in Job 
Growth and Development,'' Full Committee Field Hearing in 
Wilkes-Barre, PA, March 21, 2011
    ``Reviving our Economy: The Role of Higher Education in Job 
Growth and Development,'' Full Committee Field Hearing in 
Utica, NY, March 22, 2011
    ``Streamlining Federal Education and Workforce Programs: A 
look at the GAO Report on Government Waste,'' Full Committee, 
April 6, 2011
    ``Education Reforms: Promoting Flexibility and 
Innovation,'' Full Committee, April 7, 2011, Printed Hearing: 
Serial No. 112-17
    ``Reviving our Economy: The Role of Higher Education in Job 
Growth and Development,'' Full Committee Field Hearing in 
Columbia, TN, April 21, 2011
    ``Removing Inefficiencies in the Nation's Job Training 
Programs,'' Higher Education and Workforce Training 
Subcommittee, May 11, 2011
    ``Examining the Costs of Federal Overreach into School 
Meals,'' Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education 
Subcommittee, May 13, 2011
    Education Reforms: Exploring the Vital Role of Charter 
Schools,'' Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education 
Subcommittee, June 1, 2011

                         B. WORKFORCE HEARINGS

    ``State of the American Workforce,'' Full Committee, 
January 26, 2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-1
    ``The Impact of the Health Care Law on the Economy, 
Employers and the Workforce,'' Full Committee, February 9, 
2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-2
    ``Emerging Trends at the National Labor Relations Board,'' 
Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, February 
11, 2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-4
    ``Investigating OSHA's Regulatory Agenda and Its Impact on 
Job Creation,'' Workforce Protections Subcommittee, February 
15, 2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-5
    ``Policies and Priorities at the U.S. Department of 
Labor,'' Full Committee, February 16, 2011
    ``Examining Recent Regulatory and Enforcement Actions of 
the Mine Safety and Health Administration,'' Workforce 
Protections Subcommittee, March 3, 2011, Printed Hearing: 
Serial No. 112-8
    ``The Pressure of Rising Costs on Employer Provided Health 
Care,'' Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, 
March 10, 2011, Printed Hearing: Serial No. 112-10
    ``The Future of Union Transparency and Accountability,'' 
Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, March 31, 
2011
    ``Streamlining Federal Education and Workforce Programs: A 
look at the GAO Report on Government Waste,'' Full Committee, 
April 6, 2011
    ``Examining the Department of Labor's Implementation of the 
Davis-Bacon Act,'' Workforce Protections Subcommittee, April 
14, 2011
    ``Modernizing Mine Safety,'' Workforce Protections 
Subcommittee, May 4, 2011
    ``Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Health 
and Human Services,'' Full Committee, May 5, 2011
    ``Reviewing Workers' Compensation for Federal Employees,'' 
Workforce Protections Subcommittee, May 12, 2011
    ``Corporate Campaigns and the NLRB'' The Impact of Union 
Pressure on Job Creation,'' Health, Employment, Labor and 
Pensions Subcommittee, May 26, 2011
    ``Investigating Financial Mismanagement at the U.S. 
Department of Labor,'' Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions 
Subcommittee, June 2, 2011
    ``The Recent Health Care Law: Consequences for Indiana 
Families and Workers,'' Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions 
Subcommittee Field Hearing in Evansville, IN, June 7, 2011
    ``Retirement Security: Challenges Confronting Pension Plan 
Sponsors, Workers, and Retirees,'' Health, Employment, Labor 
and Pensions Subcommittee, June 14, 2011

                           COMMITTEE MARKUPS

    In the first quarter of the 112th Congress, the Committee 
held five markups.
    Committee Organizational Meeting to Adopt the Committee 
Rules, Oversight Plan and Announce Subcommittee Assignments, 
Full Committee, January 25, 2011, Committee Rules and Oversight 
Plan adopted by voice vote
    H.R. 1891, the Setting New Priorities in Education Spending 
Act, Full Committee, May 25, 2011, Ordered favorably reported, 
as amended, to the House by a vote of 23-16
    H.R. 2117, the Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher 
Education Act, Full Committee, June 15, 2011, Ordered favorably 
reported, as amended, to the House by a vote of 27-11
    H.R. 2218, the Empowering Parents through Quality Charter 
Schools Act and Committee Activities Report for the First 
Quarter of the 112th Congress, Full Committee, June 22, 2011, 
H.R. 2218 ordered favorably reported as amended to the House by 
a vote of 34-5, Committee Activities Report ordered favorably 
reported to the House by voice vote



                             MINORITY VIEWS

                              INTRODUCTION

    The jurisdiction of the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce provides numerous opportunities to grow and 
strengthen America's middle class. Unfortunately, over the last 
six months, the Committee's activities have been focused more 
on pushing a tired ideological agenda than on working together 
to grow and strengthen the middle class.
    Committee Democrats believe education and labor policies 
should be designed to expand all Americans' opportunities to 
earn a decent living and provide for their families. While we 
are hopeful that bipartisan attempts at elementary and 
secondary education reform will prove successful, we are 
disappointed in the range of other policies pursued by the 
majority over the last six months. With more than 24 million 
workers unemployed or underemployed, not a single hearing was 
held on wide-scale job creation or job quality. Instead, 
funding for education and workforce development programs was 
under persistent assault. With millions of Americans benefiting 
from the first reforms of the new health care law, Committee 
Republicans attacked health care reform and pushed for the end 
of Medicare. With stagnant wages having pushed many Americans 
into debt, rather than defending workers' right to bargain for 
a better life, Committee Republicans attacked the agency 
charged with protecting that right. Despite calls by experts 
and investigators for badly needed mine safety and health 
reform, no action was taken to move legislation for America's 
miners. Despite a massive assault in the House on programs that 
provide support to our youngest children, ranging from Head 
Start to Women, Infants, and Children, not a single hearing was 
held on early childhood issues. While Committee Republicans 
held multiple duplicative field hearings on the importance of 
higher education, they have supported a budget that would cut 
Pell Grants by up to $2,510.
    This Committee should have an overarching focus on growing 
and strengthening America's middle class. This means improving 
all Americans' access to quality education, addressing the 
squeeze on Americans' incomes caused by stagnant wages and 
rising costs, providing security in health and retirement, 
ensuring equal opportunity for all, and protecting their basic 
health and safety at school and work.

                     EDUCATION POLICY AND OVERSIGHT

    Providing all students with an education that prepares them 
to succeed in the 21st century global economy is critical to 
the long-term strength of our nation. While Committee 
Republicans claim they are focused on ``promoting policies that 
address the needs of American students,''\1\they have instead 
supported policies to make college more expensive, kick 
children out of Head Start, and slash over 40 elementary and 
secondary education programs. Republicans' inaction and 
spending cuts imperil our national competitiveness. Committee 
Democrats believe that ensuring all students have access to a 
top-quality education, from early childhood to university, must 
be an absolute national priority.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Committee on Education and the Workforce, First Quarter 
Activities Report (June 2011).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elementary and secondary education
    The inextricable link between education and the economy is 
why President Obama has called on Congress to reauthorize of 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) this year. 
Committee Democrats share the President's concern that the 
United States is falling further and further behind our 
economic peers in education. The United States has not fallen 
in international rankings because schools have gotten worse--
the nation has fallen behind because we have stagnated while 
other countries made providing all of their students a world 
class education a national goal. Additionally, while the top 
ten percent of our nation's students can compete with students 
from any other country, poor and minority students have been 
allowed to fall flat.
    The time is now to craft an ESEA reauthorization bill that 
tackles our current education challenges and modernizes the 
system as a whole. Committee Democrats agree with Committee 
Republicans that we must rethink the current federal role in 
elementary and secondary education. However, at no time, and 
especially now, can we lose sight of the clear federal role in 
advancing equity and protecting civil rights in education.
    ESEA reauthorization should set high standards and goals of 
college and career readiness and support a modern assessment 
system; maintain accountability for all students, including 
current subgroups, but through a richer index of measures that 
uses growth, graduation rates; provide states, districts and 
schools with the flexibility to improve schools based on their 
student, school and community needs, including providing 
wraparound services; support data-based decision making to 
support a performance-based system; ensure performance is 
transparent to parents and communities so that they can 
participate in their schools and support their success; and 
support a professional environment for teachers and school 
leaders and provide them with the information and resources to 
succeed.
    Additionally, while funding will not always create change 
in schools, funding is not irrelevant to what our schools can 
and cannot achieve. We cannot short change education, either 
through slashing funding or services, if we truly believe it is 
at the core of our nation's long-term economic security. 
Republican budget proposals are an attack on our states', 
communities' and schools' ability to provide students with a 
world-class education.
    Committee Democrats believe that the ESEA reauthorization 
should be conducted in a bipartisan manner and appreciate the 
majority's efforts to reauthorize the bill in that way. Through 
the bipartisan process on the Empowering Parents through 
Charter Schools Act, Democrats and Republicans were able to 
make critical changes to the Charter School Program to increase 
accountability and increase opportunities for all students, 
including students with disabilities and English Language 
Learners to enroll in and thrive in high quality charter 
schools. While Committee Democrats have concerns with moving 
the reauthorization in pieces given the critical links across 
the bill and are increasingly concerned with the timing of the 
process, Democrats look forward to working with Republicans to 
taking up the remaining and most important aspects of ESEA this 
year.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
    Committee Republicans indicate that they have made special 
education a priority because they offered an amendment to 
restore substantial cuts to IDEA that were initially proposed 
by Republicans in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act 
of 2011 (H.R. 1). This does not make special education a 
priority. It does not improve services to students or improve 
student outcomes. Additionally, with the Fiscal Year 2012 (FY 
12) Labor-HHS appropriations allocation requiring a 12 percent 
cut, Republicans put IDEA funding at further risk and 
jeopardize the jobs of 24,000 special educators and other 
personnel providing these critical services. Committee 
Democrats remain committed to fighting for full funding of 
IDEA, meeting the needs of students with disabilities, and 
improving their educational outcomes. The majority has yet to 
act to make special education a priority.
Early education
    Access to high quality early learning opportunities are 
essential to any meaningful effort to close the achievement gap 
and ensure our children are graduating and career-ready. Child 
development experts,\2\ researchers,\3\ economists,\4\ business 
leaders,\5\ law enforcement,\6\ and military leaders\7\ believe 
improved access to high quality early learning is an investment 
that is critical to our country's future and is fiscally 
responsible because it yields savings from improved child 
outcomes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\The Science of Early Childhood Development: Closing the Gap 
Between What We Know and What We Do, National Scientific Council on the 
Developing Child (2007). Available at: http://
developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/reports_and_working_papers/
science_of_early_childhood_development/.
    \3\A.J. Reynolds, The Chicago Child-Parent Centers: A Longitudinal 
Study of Extended Early Childhood Intervention,'' Institute for 
Research on Poverty Discussion Papers, University of Wisconsin 
Institute for Research on Poverty (Jun. 2011).
    \4\James Heckman, The Economics of Inequality: The Value of Early 
Childhood Education, American Educator (Spring 2011).
    \5\Available at: http://www.ced.org/news-events/early-child-
development/622-fund-early
-education-programs-urges-ced-president-charles-kolb.
    \6\Available at: http://www.fightcrime.org/issues/early-care-
education.
    \7\Available at: http://cdn.missionreadiness.org/MR-Early-Ed-
School-Reform-Brief.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Despite stating in their First Quarter Activities Report 
that Committee Republicans are ``advancing fiscally responsible 
reforms that strive to provide children across the nation with 
access to high quality education,'' and that ``to ensure 
student success, the committee is focused on . . . helping 
children achieve their full and unique potential'' the 
Republicans have failed to hold a single hearing or take any 
action to examine the critical issue of early education. This 
is despite repeated calls from Republican witnesses in 
elementary and secondary education hearings that investment in 
early education is critical.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\Dr. Gary Amoroso and Dr. Janet Barresi, Testimony before the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce (April 2, 2011).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Moreover, Committee Republicans not only voted for H.R. 1, 
which would have cut 218,000 children from the Head Start 
program, but supported a FY12 budget that would cut more than 
100,000 children from Head Start. Furthermore, in the face of 
an allocation for the Labor-HHS appropriations bill that will 
require a 12 percent reduction in funding, which for Head Start 
would mean cutting 157,000 children from the program, the 
Committee has failed to hold a hearing or take any action to 
examine the effect this cut would have on child outcomes and 
ongoing efforts to close the achievement gap. Committee 
Democrats believe the complete lack of any mention of any 
action on early childhood education in the Republican 
activities report is a notable and concerning void when so many 
believe experts across the political spectrum believe such 
investments are fiscally responsible and critical to this 
country's growth.
Higher education
    During this economic downturn, students and families are 
facing rising college costs, growing student debt burdens, and 
uncertainty about employment after graduation. However, during 
the first six months of the 112th Congress, the majority failed 
to hold hearings or promote legislation that addresses the 
critical higher education needs of this country.
    Instead, the majority has held a number of hearings to 
oppose regulations issued by the Department of Education that 
aim to provide accountability and transparency to higher 
education. During those hearings, the majority failed to offer 
alternative approaches to providing accountability for students 
and the billions of federal dollars spent in student aid. 
Further, the majority held three field hearings in March and 
April at which the Committee examined the exact same topics of 
the role of higher education in job growth. While each 
community is unique, holding duplicative hearings is costly and 
inefficient.
    It is paramount that the Committee turns its focus to 
ensuring that the nation's higher education system is 
accessible for all students and is held accountable for the 
services it provides. In the 2010-2011 academic year, the 
Federal government provided almost $175 billion in student aid, 
primarily through Pell grants and student loans.\9\ This 
Committee should be asking questions and supporting efforts 
that ensure that student and taxpayer dollars are spent wisely 
and that institutions are acting in the best interest of 
students. Further, the Committee should be concerned that many 
students are not completing higher education, and many that do 
complete are still struggling to find jobs after school.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\Department of Education Fiscal Year 2012 Justifications of 
Appropriation Estimates to the Congress, available at: http://
www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget12/index.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Pell Grants are the cornerstone of Federal student aid, and 
the primary way that many low-income students are able to 
afford higher education. The Department of Education estimates 
that next year 9.4 million students will receive a Pell Grant; 
a 52 percent increase from 2008.\10\ As postsecondary education 
becomes more essential to remaining competitive in the labor 
market, it is essential that Federal policies continue the 
commitment to this program and the millions of students it 
serves. Unfortunately, Committee Republicans have supported a 
budget that slashes Pell Grants. The Committee should examine 
policies that preserve the Pell program for the nation's low-
income students without reducing the maximum award.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Child Nutrition
    There is a health crisis among our children. Today, one in 
three children is overweight or obese.\11\ These children are 
at greater risk of developing health problems, such as heart 
disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma and certain cancers.\12\ Last 
year, Congress enacted a bipartisan child nutrition 
reauthorization that established a timeline for USDA to issue 
regulations for providing healthier meals to students in 
school. USDA has already begun this deliberative, science-based 
process. The Republican sponsored Agriculture Appropriations 
bill would require USDA to start their process of establishing 
nutrition standards from the beginning, and delay, if not make 
impossible, providing healthier meals to students at school. 
Committee Democrats remain committed to ending the obesity 
crisis to help children succeed in school and live healthier 
lives.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\Available at: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/
Overweight-in-Children_UCM _304054 _Article.jsp.
    \12\Available at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_obesity/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition, the Republicans' Agriculture Appropriations 
bill slashes WIC funding levels cutting 200,000 to 350,000 low 
income women and children from the program.\13\ Committee 
Republicans have not acted to examine the effects of these 
policies on children's health, development, and education. 
Committee Democrats remain committed to providing nutrition 
education and healthy foods to low income women and children.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\Zoe Neuberger and Robert Greenstein, House WIC Cuts Would End 
Food Assistance for 200,000 to 350,000 Low-Income Women and Children 
(2011). Available at: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/
index.cfm?fa=view&id=3499.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Child Safety
    Committee Democrats are alarmed that Republican Committee 
activities have yet to do anything to ensure the safety of 
America's children.

Abuse of teens in therapeutic programs

    Investigations conducted by the U.S. Government 
Accountability Office during the 110th Congress uncovered 
thousands of cases and allegations of child abuse and neglect 
since the early 1990's at teen residential programs.\14\ The 
Committee also heard testimony on inexcusable deaths occurring 
at these programs.\15\ To combat this horrific treatment of 
children and empower parents to have the information they need 
to make safe choices for their children, the Committee 
developed bipartisan legislation, the Stop Child Abuse in 
Residential Programs for Teens Act, which passed the U.S. House 
of Representatives twice with bipartisan support in the 110th 
and 111th Congresses. In the two years since the legislation 
passed the House of Representatives, children have continue die 
and be abused at some of these programs. Yet, Committee 
Republicans have taken no action this Congress to address this 
ongoing tragedy. Committee Democrats remain committed to making 
the reforms necessary to protect the well-being and civil 
rights of youth in residential programs and call on the 
Committee Republicans to move forward on what should be a 
bipartisan priority.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\Government Accountability Office, Residential Treatment 
Programs: Concerns Regarding Abuse and Death in Certain Programs for 
Troubled Youth, Report, GAO-08-146T (Oct. 10, 2007).
    \15\See: http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/hearings/2007/10/
cases-of-child-neglect-and-abu.shtml.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act

    Concussions among student athletes are an alarmingly common 
problem that demands immediate attention. According to recent 
estimates, up to 3.8 million Americans sustain concussions 
annually, and the injury is particularly common among children 
and adolescents. Committee Democrats held two hearings on this 
matter in the 111th Congress and introduced the Protecting 
Student Athletes from Concussion Act in 2010 and in 2011. This 
legislation sets minimum safety standards for concussion 
management in public schools and is strongly supported by the 
National Football League, American College of Sports Medicine, 
parent and school groups. Such standards urgently needed to 
keep student athletes safe on the field and thriving in the 
classroom. Despite bipartisan support for similar legislation 
across States and communities, Committee Republicans have 
failed to take action.

Seclusion and restraint

    Last year, the House passed the Keeping All Students Safe 
Act with bipartisan support to address the troubling problem of 
seclusion and restraint in our schools. This bill would 
establish minimum safety standards in schools and increased 
transparency, oversight, and enforcement to prevent future 
abuse. This year, Committee Republicans have yet to consider 
this legislation or even call for a hearing on the subject. In 
April, TASH released a report on the many reported abusive 
incidents of seclusion and restraint in the year since the bill 
passed the House.\16\ Committee Democrats will continue to 
press for the consideration of this legislation. Every day of 
inaction puts more children in harm's way. We cannot afford to 
wait.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \16\TASH, The Cost of Waiting (April 2011). Available at: 
www.tash.org.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                       LABOR POLICY AND OVERSIGHT

Job training

    Committee Republicans have supported severe funding cuts to 
the nation's workforce development programs in the midst of 
record unemployment and job opportunities. Not a single hearing 
was held on what impact these cuts would have on American 
workers. Effective employment and training programs are 
necessary to ensure that job seekers have access to the career 
counseling and job training necessary to successfully compete 
in the labor market. Tight job markets like those of today make 
the role of labor market intermediaries, like the Employment 
Service and Workforce Investment Act staff, even more important 
than usual.
    Instead of ensuring that workforce development programs 
have the resources necessary to meet the needs of our nation's 
roughly 24.6 million unemployed or underemployed workers, 
Committee Republicans have held hearings on potential overlap 
in employment and training programs. Citing Government 
Accountability Office (GAO) reports, Committee Republicans 
argued that workforce development programs provide comparable 
services to similar populations and that duplication in these 
programs must be eliminated. However, the GAO did not find any 
examples of duplication in federal employment and training 
programs.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\U.S. Government Accountability Office, Multiple Employment and 
Training Programs: Proving Information on Co-locating Services and 
Consolidating Administrative Structures could Promote Efficiencies. 
(January 2011). Available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1192.pdf.
    \18\Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-
Killing Health Care Law Act, Letter to Speaker John Boehner (Feb. 18, 
2011). Available at: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12069/hr2.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Access to job training opportunities is essential for 
unemployed workers. Now more than ever, sufficient funding must 
be provided to prepare adult, youth, and dislocated workers for 
jobs in emerging industries, which often require advanced 
training and education. While Committee Democrats support 
better coordination of programs, we are dedicated to resisting 
funding cuts to critical workforce development programs.

Health care

    For decades, different Congresses have worked on health 
reform. Last year, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became the law 
and already the benefits of the law are being realized. The law 
gives American families new protections against the worst 
abuses of the insurance industry and in coming years will 
extend access to affordable, quality health care to those 
without it. The ACA also contains critical measures to keep 
rising health care costs under control which is critical to 
this country's long-term economic growth.
    Despite the fact that the ACA has been endlessly debated 
over the past three years, Committee Republicans are focused on 
re-litigating past fights rather than working to move this 
country forward. Committee Republicans continue their attempts 
to repeal the law, ignoring the devastating impact repeal would 
have on the country's health and economy. According to the 
Congressional Budget Office, repealing the Affordable Care Act 
would increase the deficit by $210 billion and slightly 
increase employer-sponsored premiums.\18\ Insurance companies 
would once again be permitted to deny coverage to or 
discriminate against a child due to a pre-existing condition, 
drop someone's health care because they are sick or hit a 
lifetime limit, and spend more money on profits and 
administrative costs and less on actual care.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-
Killing Health Care Law Act, Letter to Speaker John Boehner (Feb. 18, 
2011). Available at: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12069/hr2.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In the last six months, the Committee has had four hearings 
attacking the Affordable Care Act. Committee Republicans fail 
to acknowledge the testimony of witnesses who testified about 
the benefits of the law and expressed concerns that these 
benefits would be stripped away if repeal efforts were 
successful. The Committee heard witnesses testify that the 
Affordable Care Act contains almost every cost-containment 
provision that policy analysts have considered effective in 
reducing the growth of medical spending\19\ and is helping to 
lower the health care costs of small businesses.\20\ Witnesses 
also testified about how the law's consumer protections are 
helping young adults secure health coverage and is putting 
Americans back in control of their health care by prohibiting 
insurance companies from rescinding coverage when they get 
sick, imposing lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits 
and ensuring they get more value for their health care dollars 
by limiting what insurance companies can spend on overhead and 
profits and enhancing the review of unreasonable health 
insurance premium increases.\21\ In addition, Health and Human 
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the 
Committee about the positive impact the Affordable Care Act is 
having for seniors by lowering their prescription medication 
costs and providing access to a free annual check-up and 
prevention and wellness services.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \19\Paul Van de Water, Testimony before the Committee on Education 
and the Workforce (Feb. 11, 2011). Available at: http://www.cbpp.org/
cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3392.
    \20\Jim House, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Health, 
Employment, Labor and Pensions, Committee on Education and the 
Workforce (Mar. 10, 2011). Available at: http://edworkforce.house.gov/
UploadedFiles/03.10.11_houser.pdf.
    \21\Id. See also: Reverend Phil Hoy, Testimony before the 
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, Committee on 
Education and the Workforce (Jun. 7, 2011), available at: http://
edworkforce.house.gov/UploadedFiles/06.07.11_hoy.pdf and Elizabeth 
Wilson, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor 
and Pensions, Committee on Education and the Workforce (Jun. 7, 2011), 
available at: http://edworkforce.house.gov/UploadedFiles/
06.07.11_hoy.pdf.
    \22\The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius, Testimony before the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce (May 5, 2011). Available at: http://
edworkforce.house.gov/UploadedFiles/05.05.11_sebelius.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Committee Republicans have repeatedly stated they support 
some of the law's consumer protections such as allowing young 
adults to stay on their parents' health plan, prohibiting 
rescissions and lifetime limits. Yet, they have voted to repeal 
these protections.
    When Republicans voted to repeal the ACA at the beginning 
of this Congress, they committed to working on replace 
legislation and including these benefits. The Republican passed 
H. Res. 9 directed this Committee and others to act on health 
care reform replacement legislation. Chairman Kline, along with 
Chairmen Ryan, Camp, Upton and Smith stated: ``Repeal is the 
first, not the last step. Compassionate, innovative and job-
creating health care reform is what's next.''\23\ Six months 
into the 112th Congress Republicans have yet to put forth any 
health reform proposals, save for one: ending Medicare 
(discussed in more detail in retirement security section). 
Committee Democrats believe we must protect Medicare and fight 
attempts to destroy it. Furthermore, Committee Democrats 
believe it is time to move beyond the misinformed attacks on 
the Affordable Care Act and begin working on ways to improve 
the law where necessary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \23\``GOP Chairmen: Repeal is First, Not Last, Step,'' USA TODAY 
(Jan. 20, 2011). Available at: http://edworkforce.house.gov/News/
DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=220654.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Employment standards--wage and hour protection

    Wage theft includes many different violations of wage and 
hour law. Common forms of wage theft are: not paying a covered 
employee minimum wage, non-payment of overtime, misclassifying 
a worker, failing to provide workers their last paycheck, and 
simply not paying a worker earned wages. Wage theft occurs in 
every industry and affects millions of workers each year. Not 
only does wage theft rob workers of earned wages, it also 
reduces federal revenues. According to a 2009 report by the 
Government Accountability Office, the misclassification of 
workers cost federal revenues $2.72 billion in 2006.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \24\U.S. General Accounting Office, Employee Misclassification: 
Improved Coordination, Outreach, and Targeting Could Better Ensure 
Detection and Prevention (Aug. 2009). Available at: http://www.gao.gov/
products/GAO-09-717.
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    Despite the magnitude of this problem, Committee 
Republicans have instead expressed concern over a program 
designed to address wage theft and other violations of federal 
employment law. The Wage and Hour Division's partnership with 
the American Bar Association provides access to an attorney 
referral service for workers whose claims the Division is 
unable to pursue. Department of Labor staff and resources 
committed to wage and hour enforcement were diminished over 
many years, hobbling the Department's ability to take on 
meritorious cases. This leaves workers who have had their wages 
stolen with limited recourse. The attorney referral program 
simply provides these workers with the phone number of an 
attorney referral service so that they may be able to receive 
assistance exercising their rights.
    Committee Democrats will continue to explore legislative 
solutions to the problem of wage theft and will work to ensure 
that the Department of Labor has adequate resources to enforce 
existing wage and hour protections.
    Committee Democrats are also committed to ensuring 
government expenditures are not used to drive down workers' 
wages. Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, and federal 
project labor agreements are critical protections for 
construction and service workers on federal projects. Committee 
Democrats are encouraged by the Department of Labor's recent 
efforts to improve wage survey methodology for Davis-Bacon and 
will continue to monitor those efforts. In the meantime, House 
Republicans have repeatedly attempted to roll back prevailing 
wage laws altogether in the 112th Congress. Those attempts have 
been repeatedly rejected by the full House. Paying less than 
prevailing wage on federal projects is bad for workers, their 
families, taxpayers, and the economy.

Retirement security

    At the June 14, 2011, Health, Employment, Labor and 
Pensions (HELP) subcommittee hearing, ``Retirement Security: 
Challenges Confronting Pension Plan Sponsors, Workers, and 
Retirees,'' Committee Democrats emphasized that Social Security 
and Medicare are the linchpins of our safety net for older 
Americans and both programs must be strengthened and preserved, 
not weakened as some in the majority have advocated for. The 
majority's budget resolution would turn Medicare into an $8,000 
a year voucher for individuals under 54.\25\ Seniors would be 
forced to purchase coverage from private insurers which would 
cost them almost $6,400 more in health care costs in 2022, and 
increase with each passing year. As a result, the typical 65-
year-old in 2022 will spend half of their Social Security on 
health insurance under the Republican budget plan.
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    \25\Congressional Budget Office, Long-Term Analysis of a Budget 
Proposal by Chairman Paul Ryan, Letter to Chairman Paul Ryan (Apr. 5, 
2011). Available at: http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12128/04-05-
Ryan_Letter.pdf.
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    The impact of these additional costs on seniors caused by 
the Republican plan to end Medicare would be devastating to the 
retirement security of workers. According to analysis by the 
Center for Economic and Policy Research, a 54-year-old would 
need to save an additional $182,000\26\ or an extra $250 a week 
in order to afford Medicare under the Republican plan. At a 
time when more than half of the American population does not 
have pension or 401(k) plan and barely half have savings 
accounts, the majority's efforts to weaken these safety net 
programs is extraordinarily dangerous.\27\ Committee Democrats 
believe that along with Social Security and Medicare, 
retirement should be supplemented by a healthy system of 
private employer-provided pensions and other personal assets 
and savings. The Committee should be focused on improving 
existing employer-provided pensions and increasing access to 
savings for retirement.
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    \26\David Rosnick, Letter to Ranking Member George Miller, Center 
for Economic and Policy Research (May 5, 2011).
    \27\John J. Topoleski, Memorandum to Committee on Education and the 
Workforce on Income, Retirement Plan, and Asset Data, Congressional 
Research Service (May 9, 2011).
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Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)

    On April 5, 2010, a massive explosion ripped through the 
Massey-operated Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, killing 
29 miners and seriously injuring one other in the worst coal 
mine accident in this country in nearly 40 years. Despite 
repeated testimony before this Committee by the Assistant 
Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety asking for reform 
legislation that would give MSHA additional tools to protect 
miners,\28\ Committee Republicans have stated that they need to 
wait for investigation reports to be completed before 
considering reforms, and argue that MSHA has not historically 
used all of its legislative authorities.
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    \28\Assistant Secretary Joe Main, Testimony before the Committee on 
Education and Labor (Jul. 13, 2010). See also: Assistant Secretary Joe 
Main, Testimony before the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
(Mar. 3, 2011).
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    The first report on the UBB disaster was issued on May 19, 
2011 by the West Virginia Governor's Independent Investigation 
Panel (GIIP), which was headed by former MSHA Administrator J. 
Davitt McAteer. In the 120-page report, GIIP found that this 
``explosion was the result of failures of basic safety systems 
identified and codified to protect miners.'' The report 
provided 52 recommendations to industry and government, 
including legislative recommendations to Congress. Some of the 
legislative recommendations include: providing subpoena power 
to MSHA; requiring coal mine operators to use real-time 
explosibility meters to assess the adequacy of rock dust; and 
making advance notice of an MSHA inspection a felony instead of 
a misdemeanor.\29\
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    \29\Upper Big Branch, The April 5, 2010 Explosion: a Failure of 
Basic Coal Mine Safety Practices, Report to the Governor, Governor's 
Independent Investigation Panel (May 2011) at 109-113.
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    On April 15, 2011, Democrats introduced a comprehensive 
mine safety bill entitled the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety 
Protection Act (H.R. 1579). This bill contains ten of the GIIP 
report's legislative recommendations, as well as 
recommendations from MSHA and the DOL Inspector General.\30\ 
This bill mirrors legislation brought to the House floor in 
2010.
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    \30\In 32 Years MSHA Has Never Successfully Exercised Its Pattern 
of Violation Authority, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector 
General--Office of Audit (Sept. 29, 2010).
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    To date, the majority has failed to hold a single hearing 
on the report from the Governor's panel, despite a stated 
interest in reviewing investigation reports before considering 
legislation. Committee Democrats urge the majority to hold a 
hearing on H.R. 1579 or propose an alternative approach.

Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA)

    In 2009, 4,551 workers were killed from traumatic 
injuries,\31\ while there were over 4.1 million occupational 
injuries\32\ with a cost of $159 to $318 billion in direct and 
indirect costs for disabling injuries.\33\ Despite 
opportunities to promote worker safety by enacting laws that 
would require employers to promptly abate violations, provide 
for modern whistleblower protections or speed the adoption of 
standards to prevent combustible dust explosions, Republicans 
voted for H.R. 1 which cut almost $100 million from OSHA's 
budget, and had it been signed by the President, these cuts 
would have crippled OSHA's ability to conduct safety 
inspections or investigate whistleblower violations for the 
rest of the fiscal year.
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    \31\Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (2011). 
Available at: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0008.pdf.
    \32\Bureau of Labor Statistics, Survey of Non Fatal Occupational 
Injuries and Illnesses including Private and Public Sector Workers, 
2009 (Oct. 2010). Available at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/
osh.pdf.
    \33\Death on the Job: the Toll of Neglect, AFL-CIO (Apr. 2011).
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    Committee Democrats believe that job safety laws need to be 
strengthened.
     To bring the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 
1970 (OSHAct) into the 21st century, Democrats have introduced 
the Protecting America's Workers Act (H.R. 190).\34\
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    \34\This bill would update OSHA's penalties which have not been 
adjusted for inflation in over 20 years, expand the coverage of the 
OSHAct to cover state and local government employees, and provide for 
victim's rights.
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     To implement a key recommendation from the 
National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and 
Offshore Drilling, Democrats introduced the Offshore Oil and 
Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act (H.R. 503).
     To speed the adoption of regulations needed to 
prevent combustible dust explosions and fires, Democrats 
introduced the Worker Protections Against Combustible Dust 
Explosions and Fires Act of 2011 (H.R. 522).
     To better protect workers from recognized hazards, 
Committee Democrats have asked the Government Accountability 
Office (GAO) to identify the roadblocks to timely issuance of 
OSHA health and safety standards.
    Committee Republicans held a June 16, 2011, hearing 
questioning whether OSHA's efforts to strengthen state OSHA 
plans are ``undermining states efforts to promote worker health 
and safety''. Rather than assuring that the 27 OSHA state plans 
will have sufficient federal matching funds, Republicans have 
voted for a FY 12 budget which, if enacted, could cripple state 
occupational safety and health plans and federal OSHA. 
Committee Democrats have asked the GAO to assess whether some 
states may be unable to sustain their state OSHA plans in the 
face of proposed budget cuts.
    Committee Republicans held a hearing on February 15, 2011 
which focused attacks on OSHA's proposed regulation to improve 
recordkeeping of the estimated 962,000 musculoskeletal injuries 
each year. Rather than learn about the science and technical 
basis for OSHA's worker protection initiatives, Committee 
Republicans have declined to invite OSHA. Committee hearings 
have failed to advance any credible evidence that OSHA's safety 
regulations are weakening the economy or killing jobs. One 
thing is clear: Republican budget cuts are threatening worker 
safety. Committee Democrats will continue to fight these budget 
cuts.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

    Committee Republicans have spent considerable time over the 
last six months engaged in a relentless assault against the 
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a small independent 
agency that administers and enforces the National Labor 
Relations Act (NLRA) and its protections for the right to 
organize and collectively bargain. The majority first attempted 
to cripple the Board by cutting $50 million of its budget in 
the House passed H.R. 1--a cut which would have required the 
Board to furlough all staff for three months.
    Committee Republicans have held two hearings attacking the 
NLRB, most recently on May 26, 2011, where they objected to the 
right of workers to exercise their First Amendment rights in a 
campaign to win better wages and working conditions. During 
this hearing, Committee Democrats raised concerns with two of 
the four oversight requests Committee Republicans have sent to 
the NLRB, specifically requests demanding internal deliberative 
documents of the judges on a still-pending case as well as 
documents of the prosecuting Acting General Counsel that could 
reveal, among other things, trial strategy ahead of a pending 
trial, to the advantage of one party over others. While the 
Committee has the duty to conduct rigorous oversight, Committee 
Democrats are concerned these requests may constitute improper 
interference with the quasi-judicial proceedings of the NLRB 
and the constitutional due process rights of private parties. 
Even the Republicans' own witness at this hearing acknowledged 
that the NLRB should zealously defend such internal documents 
from improper disclosure.
    Protecting workers' rights helped build America's middle 
class. Attacks on these rights and the agency that enforces 
them only weakens prospects for a fair and sustainable recovery 
with good jobs for all. Committee Democrats will continue to 
fight for the fundamental human rights of American workers.

Employment Standards Administration--Office of Labor-Management 
        Standards (OLMS)

    The Committee held a hearing on March 31, 2011, The Future 
of Union Transparency and Accountability. Since at least the 
first Bush Administration, anti-union ideologues have viewed 
union reporting requirements under the Labor Management 
Reporting and Disclosure Act as a tool for burdening unions, 
rather than as a means of protecting their members, as the Act 
had originally envisioned. The Obama Administration has been 
reviewing the previous administration's regulations and 
revising them to ensure they are designed to protect union 
members, not simply to impose recordkeeping burdens on unions. 
While Committee Republicans object to the Obama 
Administration's efforts, the record demonstrates that this 
administration has a comparable if not greater success rate in 
enforcement actions when compared to the Bush Administration.

Federal Employee Compensation Act (FECA)

    A Workforce Protections Subcommittee hearing was held May 
12, 2011, to assess potential reforms to the Federal Employee 
Compensation Act, the law which provides workers' compensation 
benefits to federal employees and postal service workers who 
are injured on the job. The witnesses identified a number of 
unresolved questions about a proposal to restructure the 
program. Committee Democrats and Republicans are working 
together to develop a responsible bill that will enhance 
program integrity and modernize elements that have not been 
changed since 1949. It is expected that a bipartisan request 
will be submitted to the Government Accountability Office to 
analyze the implications of proposed changes such as cutting 
benefits for workers injured on the job after they reach 
``normal'' retirement age.

Civil rights

    Committee Democrats believe that workplace discrimination 
is bad for business and a hindrance to economic growth. We are 
disappointed that Committee Republicans have yet to make these 
issues a priority and have failed to hold a hearing or consider 
any legislation to strengthen the right of workers to be free 
from discrimination in the workplace. Last Congress, this 
Committee worked to end discrimination based on sexual 
orientation and gender identity with the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, protect the rights of victims of age 
discrimination with the Protecting Older Workers Against 
Discrimination Act and the right of women to earn the same as 
their male counterparts with the Paycheck Fairness Act. 
Committee Democrats will continue to press for consideration of 
these bills and work to strengthen the civil rights of workers 
in this country.

Work and family

    The majority has failed to address the workplace needs of 
working families in the 112th Congress. Over 64 percent of 
families have two working parents.\35\ Work-life balance 
policies are not only good for families but improve employers' 
bottom line by increasing retention rates, decreasing 
absenteeism, and improving productivity and moral.\36\ 
Committee Democrats support initiatives that promote greater 
work-life balance for America's families.
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    \35\Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Characteristics of 
Families, ``Table 5: Employment status of the population by sex, 
marital status, and presence and age of own children under 18, 2008-09 
annual averages'' (2010). Available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/
famee.t05.htm.
    \36\Jodie Levin-Epstein, Responsive Workplaces: The Business Case 
for Employment that Values Fairness and Families, The American Prospect 
(Feb. 19, 2007). See also: Report of the Majority Staff of the Joint 
Economic Committee, Paid Family Leave at Fortune 100 Companies: A Basic 
Standard but Still Not the Gold Standard (Mar. 2008).
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Department of Labor audit findings

    Committee Republicans held a hearing, ``Investigating 
Financial Mismanagement at the U.S. Department of Labor,'' as a 
follow-up to one held by Committee Democrats last Congress.\37\ 
The Department of Labor's new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) 
provided a progress report on how, within six months since the 
Democrats' hearing, he successfully moved DOL from a disclaimer 
of opinion, which is given when the auditor lacks sufficient 
evidence to provide an opinion, to a clean audit today. Both 
DOL's Inspector General and the independent auditing contractor 
testified that the disclaimer of opinion was the result of 
DOL's change in financial management systems and not because of 
financial mismanagement at the Department. DOL's CFO testified 
that he expects to receive a clean audit in FY 11 and that 
most, if not all, of the material weaknesses identified in last 
year's initial audit will be remedied. Committee Democrats will 
continue to press for improved financial management at all 
agencies within our jurisdiction.
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    \37\Committee on Education and Labor, Review of the Independent 
Audit of the Labor Department's Fiscal Year 2010 Consolidated Financial 
Statements (Dec. 7, 2010).

                                   George Miller,
                                           Senior Democratic Member.
                                   Lynn C. Woolsey.
                                   Dave Loebsack.
                                   Mazie Hirono.
                                   Raul M. Grijalva.
                                   John F. Tierney.
                                   David Wu.
                                   Ruben Hinojosa.
                                   Carolyn McCarthy.
                                   Timothy H. Bishop.
                                   Robert C. Scott.
                                   Rush D. Holt.
                                   Dale E. Kildee.
                                   Robert E. Andrews.
                                   Donald M. Payne.
                                   Susan A. Davis.
                                   Dennis J. Kucinich.

                                  
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