[House Report 117-700]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Union Calendar No. 516
117th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 117-700
======================================================================
REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
AND LABOR
FOR THE
117TH CONGRESS
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
January 1, 2023.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
50-195 WASHINGTON : 2020
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chair
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut Minority Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, JOE WILSON, South Carolina
Northern Mariana Islands GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
LUCY McBATH, Georgia MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota LISA C. McLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MONDAIRE JONES, New York VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice Chair MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARY SATTLER PELTOLA, Alaska CHRIS JACOBS, New York
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin BRAD FINSTAD, Minnesota
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JOSEPH SEMPOLINSKI, New York
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
Vacancy
Veronique Pluviose, Majority Staff Director
Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
----------
February 4, 2021--Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia, was removed from the
Committee.
February 7, 2021--Ron Wright, Texas, deceased.
February 3, 2021--John A. Yarmuth, Kentucky, was appointed to the
Committee.
February 3, 2021--Adriano Espaillat, New York, was appointed to the
Committee.
February 11, 2021--Kweisi Mfume, Maryland, was appointed to the
Committee.
April 14, 2021--Julia Letlow, Louisiana, was appointed to the
Committee.
January 25, 2022--Gregory Murphy, North Carolina, resigned from the
Committee.
February 2, 2022--John A. Yarmuth, Kentucky, resigned from the
Committee.
February 2, 2022--Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida, was appointed to
the Committee.
March 1, 2022--Chris Jacobs, New York, was appointed to the Committee.
May 12, 2022--Julia Letlow, Louisiana, resigned from the Committee.
September 13, 2022--Brad Finstad, Minnesota, was appointed to the
Committee.
September 13, 2022--Joseph Sempolinski, New York, was appointed to the
Committee.
September 14, 2022--Joseph D. Morelle, New York, resigned from the
Committee.
September 29, 2022--Mary Sattler Peltola, Alaska, was appointed to the
Committee.
November 17, 2022--Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida, resigned from
the Committee.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chair
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BURGESS OWENS, Utah,
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona Minority Ranking Member
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK DeSAULNIER, California RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
LUCY McBATH, Georgia FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARY SATTLER PELTOLA, Alaska CHRIS JACOBS, New York
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia JOSEPH SEMPOLINSKI, New York
Vacancy VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Ex
Officio
----------
February 2, 2022--John A. Yarmuth, Kentucky, resigned from the
Subcommittee.
February 16, 2022--Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida, was appointed
to the Subcommittee.
March 16, 2022--Chris Jacobs, New York, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
April 20, 2021--Julia Letlow, Louisiana, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
May 12, 2022--Julia Letlow, Louisiana, resigned from the Subcommittee.
September 14, 2022--Joseph D. Morelle, New York, resigned from the
Subcommittee.
September 15, 2022--Joseph Sempolinski, New York, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
November 17, 2022--Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida, resigned from
the Subcommittee.
November 17, 2022--Mary Sattler Peltola, Alaska, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE INVESTMENT
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida, Chair
MARK TAKANO, California MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa,
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington Minority Ranking Member
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
MONDAIRE JONES, New York JIM BANKS, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina JAMES COMER, Kentucky
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin BOB GOOD, Virginia
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona CHRIS JACOBS, New York
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut BRAD FINSTAD, Minnesota
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Ex
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Officio
Virginia,
Ex Officio
----------
April 20, 2021--Julia Letlow, Louisiana, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
January 25, 2022--Gregory Murphy, North Carolina, resigned from the
Subcommittee.
February 16, 2022--Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa, was appointed
Minority Ranking Member of the Subcommittee.
March 16, 2022--Chris Jacobs, New York, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
May 12, 2022--Julia Letlow, Louisiana, resigned from the Subcommittee.
September 15, 2022--Brad Finstad, Minnesota, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EMPLOYMENT, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
MARK DeSAULNIER, California, Chair
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia,
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey Minority Ranking Member
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania JOE WILSON, South Carolina
LUCY McBATH, Georgia TIM WALBERG, Michigan
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan JIM BANKS, Indiana
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MARY SATTLER PELTOLA, Alaska SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Ex
Virginia, Officio
Ex Officio
----------
September 14, 2022--Joseph D. Morelle, New York, resigned from the
Subcommittee.
November 17, 2022--Mary Sattler Peltola, Alaska, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON WORKFORCE PROTECTIONS
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina, Chair
MARK TAKANO, California FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania,
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey Minority Ranking Member
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan BURGESS OWENS, Utah
MONDAIRE JONES, New York BOB GOOD, Virginia
MARY SATTLER PELTOLA, Alaska MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia MICHELLE STEEL, California
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Ex
Officio
----------
February 2, 2022--John A. Yarmuth, Kentucky, resigned from the
Subcommittee.
February 16, 2022--Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida, was appointed
to the Subcommittee.
November 17, 2022--Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida, resigned from
the Subcommittee.
November 17, 2022--Mary Sattler Peltola, Alaska, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN SERVICES
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon, Chair
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina RUSS FULCHER, Idaho,
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut Minority Ranking Member
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Ex
Virginia, Officio
Ex Officio
----------
March 11, 2021--Kweisi Mfume, Maryland, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
March 11, 2021--Victoria Spartz, Indiana, was appointed to the
Subcommittee.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
Committee on Education and Labor,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, January 1, 2023.
Hon. Cheryl L. Johnson,
Clerk of the House,
The Capitol, Washington, DC.
Dear Ms. Johnson: Pursuant to rule XI, clause 1(d) of the
Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, I am hereby
transmitting the Activities Report of the Committee on
Education and Labor for the 117th Congress. This report
summarizes the activities of the Committee and its
Subcommittees with respect to its legislative and oversight
responsibilities.
I circulated this report to all Members of the Committee on
December 15, 2022, and I received the Minority Views included
in this report.
Sincerely,
Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott,
Chairman.
C O N T E N T S
Page
Introduction..................................................... 1
Hearings Held by the Full Committee.............................. 6
Markups and Other Business Meetings Held by the Full Committee... 8
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary,
and Secondary Education........................................ 15
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Higher Education and
Workforce Investment........................................... 17
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor,
and Pensions................................................... 21
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections....... 23
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human
Services....................................................... 27
Legislation Referred to the Committee That Passed the House...... 31
Legislation Referred to the Committee That Passed the House in
Another Measure................................................ 33
Legislation Within Committee Jurisdiction Not Referred to the
Committee That Passed the House................................ 38
Legislation Referred to the Committee Enacted Into Law........... 39
Legislation Referred to the Committee Enacted Into Law in Another
Measure........................................................ 40
Legislation Within Committee Jurisdiction Not Referred to the
Committee Enacted Into Law..................................... 41
Oversight Plan Summary and Activity.............................. 41
Committee-Initiated Correspondence............................... 75
Official Committee Proceedings Conducted Entirely Remotely or
With Remote Participation...................................... 85
Other Committee Activity (Briefing) Conducted Entirely Remotely
or With Remote Participation................................... 109
Conference Reports Filed With Committee Members Appointed as
Conferees...................................................... 109
Committee Review of Draft Codification of Law Proposed by the
Office of the Law Revision Counsel............................. 109
Issue Reports Written by the Committee........................... 109
Amicus Briefs Supported by the Committee......................... 110
Committee Activity Statistics.................................... 111
Minority Views................................................... 113
Union Calendar No. 516
117th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 117-700
======================================================================
REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR DURING
THE 117TH CONGRESS
_______
January 1, 2023.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Scott, from the Committee on Education and the Workforce, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
INTRODUCTION
Representative Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), Chair of the
House Committee on Education and Labor (Committee), is
committed to building an America where everyone can succeed,
not just the wealthy few.
During the 117th Congress, the Committee--with the
leadership of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary
Education Subcommittee Chair Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan
(Northern Mariana Islands), Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Subcommittee Chair Frederica S. Wilson (FL), Health,
Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chair Mark
DeSaulnier (CA), Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chair Alma
S. Adams (NC), and Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee
Chair Suzanne Bonamici (OR)--followed research and evidence to
improve the lives of children, students, workers, families, and
retirees.
One of the Committee's most significant achievements
occurred with the enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act of
2021, which touched nearly every corner of the Committee's
jurisdiction through education, labor, and health policy. Among
other victories, this historic relief package: delivered the
largest, one-time federal investment in K-12 education in the
nation's history--targeted toward schools with the greatest
need--to help students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic;
rescued the child care system from the brink of collapse;
helped reduce hunger among households with children by more
than 40 percent in less than six months; and delivered a
solution to the multiemployer pension crisis that saved the
pensions of over one million workers and protected thousands of
businesses from closing.
In total, the Committee held 61 hearings and passed 30
bills to achieve equity in education, expand access to
affordable health care, and create safe and inclusive
workplaces where workers can earn a living wage and
collectively bargain. What follows is an overview of what the
Committee accomplished in the 117th Congress in each policy
area within its jurisdiction.
Achieving Equity in Education
In the 117th Congress, the Committee advanced legislation
that secured urgent relief for students, schools, and families,
confronted the racial and economic resegregation of public K-12
education, and rebuilt America's crumbling public schools.
Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act (H.R. 730) restores
the right of students and parents to hold schools accountable
for discrimination in education. [Ordered reported out of
Committee on July 15, 2021]
Strength in Diversity Act (H.R. 729) supports school
districts in developing, implementing, or expanding voluntary
initiatives to increase diversity in schools. [Ordered reported
out of Committee on July 15, 2021]
Consider Teachers Act (S. 848) fixes a broken system that
improperly burdened teachers with loans. [Enacted on October
13, 2021]
Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act (S. 1098) allows
borrowers with uncommunicative or abusive spouses or former
spouses to escape a financial connection with them by severing
joint consolidation federal student loans into two separate
federal direct student loans. [Enacted on October 11, 2022]
School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5428)
lays the groundwork necessary to provide uniform data on school
shootings to policymakers and the public, allowing them to
better measure the impact of policy solutions at the state and
federal levels. [Ordered reported out of Committee on March 16,
2022]
Reopen and Rebuild America's Schools Act of 2022 (H.R. 604)
invests in high-poverty schools with facilities that pose
health and safety risks to students and staff, creates over 2
million construction jobs, and expands schools' access to high-
speed broadband. [Ordered reported out of Committee on May 18,
2022]
Fostering Safe and Inclusive Workplaces
In the 117th Congress, the Committee advanced legislation
to increase wages, promote the right to collectively bargain,
and protect workers from injury and discrimination.
National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 (H.R. 447) creates
nearly one million new Registered Apprenticeship, youth
apprenticeship, and pre-apprenticeship positions to help
workers access in-demand jobs across a wide range of
industries. [Passed the House on February 5, 2021]
Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021 (H.R.
842) protects workers' right to organize and bargain for higher
pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions. [Passed the
House on March 9, 2021]
Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social
Service Workers Act (H.R. 1195) provides health care and social
service workers with the workplace protections they deserve.
[Passed the House on April 16, 2021]
Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7) addresses pay inequity by
holding companies accountable for gender-based wage
disparities, strengthening the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and
protecting the rights of workers to challenge systemic pay
discrimination. [Passed the House on April 15, 2021]
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (H.R. 1065) establishes a
pregnant worker's clear-cut right to reasonable workplace
accommodations, provided they do not impose an undue burden on
the employer. [Passed the House on May 14, 2021; enacted
(substantially similar text was included) on December 23, 2022,
as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023]
Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act of 2021
(H.R. 2062) restores legal protections for older workers so
they can hold employers accountable for age discrimination.
[Passed the House on June 23, 2021]
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing
Mothers Act (H.R. 3110) expands and strengthens workplace
protections for nursing mothers so they have the time and
privacy to pump at work. [Passed the House on October 22, 2021;
enacted (provisions were included) on December 23, 2022, as
part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023]
Protect Older Job Applicants (POJA) Act of 2021 (H.R. 3992)
clarifies that older job applicants are protected from age
discrimination under federal law. [Passed the House on November
4, 2021]
Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2022 (H.R. 6102)
helps disabled miners overcome barriers to the compensation and
benefits for black lung disease that they are entitled to
receive. [Ordered reported out of Committee on March 16, 2022]
Longshore and Harbor Workers' COVID-19 Compensation Act of
2022 (H.R. 3114) makes it easier for maritime workers who were
diagnosed with COVID-19 to access the workers' compensation
they deserve. [Ordered reported out of Committee on March 16,
2022]
Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 (H.R. 2954) makes
commonsense improvements to ensure that the retirement system
better serves workers, retirees, and employers. [Passed the
House on March 29, 2022, previously reported out of Committee
as Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement (RISE) Act
(H.R. 5891); enacted (provisions were included) on December 23,
2022, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023]
Protecting America's Retirement Security Act (H.R. 7310)
makes commonsense improvements to the retirement system to
protect workers' retirement savings and support families and
employers. [Ordered reported out of Committee on April 5, 2022;
enacted (provisions were included) on December 23, 2022, as
part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023]
Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022 (H.R. 2499)
improves access to injury and illness benefits for federal
firefighters. [Passed the House on May 11, 2022; enacted
(substantially similar text was included) on December 23, 2022,
as part of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2023]
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022 (H.R.
7309) invests in the workforce development system to meet the
needs of workers and businesses, fill job openings with
qualified workers, reduce supply chain shortage, and lower
costs for families. [Passed the House on May 17, 2022]
Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act (H.R. 7701)
ensures a worker's right to be paid all legally owed wages and
holds unscrupulous employers accountable for violating the Fair
Labor Standards Act. [Ordered reported out of Committee on May
18, 2022]
Improving Access to Workers' Compensation for Injured
Federal Workers Act (H.R. 6087) expands federal employees'
access to workers' compensation by restoring their choice of
medical provider. [Passed the House on June 7, 2022]
Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act
of 2022 (H.R. 2193) helps protect indoor and outdoor workers
against occupational exposure to excessive heat by requiring
employers to provide paid breaks in cool spaces, access to
water, limitations on time exposed to heat, and other life-
saving measures. [Ordered reported out of Committee on July 27,
2022]
Susan Muffley Act of 2022 (H.R. 6929) restores Delphi
pension plan benefits for thousands of retirees. [Passed the
House on July 27, 2022]
Bridging the Gap for New Americans Act (S. 3157)
commissions a study to help the U.S. Department of Labor better
assist refugees and immigrants in finding a rewarding career.
[Enacted on October 17, 2022]
Promoting Healthy Communities and Increasing Access to Health Care
In the 117th Congress, the Committee advanced legislation
to expand access to quality, affordable health care coverage,
address and prevent child hunger, and improve access to mental
health services.
Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (H.R.
485) addresses the recent rise in child abuse and neglect by
funding networks of prevention services that are designed to
strengthen families and improve the quality of child protective
services. [Passed the House on March 16, 2021]
Family Violence Prevention Services Improvement Act (H.R.
2119) refocuses and enhances federal investments to prevent
intimate partner violence and support survivors. [Passed the
House on October 26, 2021]
Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act of 2022
(H.R. 5129) strengthens the Community Services Block Grant
program to help local organizations reduce poverty in their
communities. [Passed the House on May 13, 2022]
Access to Baby Formula Act (H.R. 7791) provides flexibility
to allow families to use their WIC benefits to purchase safe
and available infant formula products in response to the infant
formula shortage. [Enacted on May 21, 2022]
Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for Students Act of
2022 (H.R. 6493) updates and improves efforts to prevent
substance misuse on campuses. [Passed the House on June 23,
2022]
Enhancing Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Through
Campus Planning Act (H.R. 5407) requires the U.S. Department of
Education to encourage institutions of higher education to
develop and implement evidence-based comprehensive campus
mental health and suicide prevention plans. [Passed the House
on June 23, 2022]
Keep Kids Fed Act (S. 2089) provides children with healthy
meals over the summer and ensures that schools and daycares can
respond to supply chain challenges and high food costs during
the school year. [Enacted on June 25, 2022]
Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act (H.R. 8450) helps address
and prevent child hunger through a comprehensive, science-
driven reauthorization of federal child nutrition programs that
meets the needs of children and families. [Ordered reported out
of Committee on November 07, 2022; enacted (provisions were
included) on December 23, 2022, as part of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2023]
Mental Health Matters Act (H.R. 7780) takes wide-ranging
steps to support the behavioral health of children and school
staff, strengthen school-based behavioral health care, and
ensure access to mental health and substance use disorder
benefits for workers and families. [Passed the House on
November 29, 2022]
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (H.R. 5376) takes historic
steps to reduce the cost of health insurance, lower the cost of
prescription drugs, create millions of good-paying jobs, make
the most significant investment to address climate change in
our history, and dramatically reduce the deficit. [Enacted on
August 16, 2022, previously marked up and transmitted out of
Committee to comply with the Reconciliation Directive included
in Section 2002 of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for
Fiscal Year 2022, S. Con. Res. 14]
Conducting Oversight and Requiring Accountability
The Committee rigorously exercised its Article I oversight
authority through dozens of letters, meetings, and public
hearings. [Discussed in detail in the report section titled
``Oversight Plan Summary and Activity'']
Conclusion
In the 118th Congress, the Committee will continue to put
people over politics. The Committee will work with our
colleagues across the aisle and the Biden Administration to
address longstanding inequities in education and provide
quality educational opportunities; expand access to quality and
affordable health care; and promote safe and inclusive
workplaces where workers can earn a living wage and
collectively bargain. The Committee will also push for robust
oversight on behalf of students, families, and workers.
Hearings Held by the Full Committee
April 20, 2021--Hearing titled ``For-Profit College Conversions:
Examining Ways to Improve Accountability and Prevent Fraud.''
Purpose: To provide Committee members the opportunity to
better understand the findings in a U.S. Government
Accountability Office report on for-profit college conversions
and the harm ``covert for-profits'' cause students and
taxpayers.
Witnesses: Ms. Melissa Emrey-Arras, Director of Higher
Education, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Boston, MA;
Ms. Yan Cao, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation, New York,
NY; Mr. Brian Galle, Professor of Law, Georgetown University
Law Center, Washington, DC; and Dr. Andrew Gillen, Senior
Policy Analyst, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Austin, TX.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 22, 2021--Hearing titled ``Members Day Hearing: Committee on
Education and Labor.''
Purpose: To provide an opportunity for non-Committee
Members to inform the Committee of their interests and
priorities as they relate to the Committee's jurisdiction
pursuant to Rule X of the Rules of the House of
Representatives.
Witnesses: Oral testimony provided by the Honorable Mary
Gay Scanlon, Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives,
Swarthmore, PA; and the Honorable James Langevin, Member of
Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Warwick, RI. Written
testimony provided by the Honorable J. French Hill, Member of
Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Little Rock, AR; the
Honorable Brenda Lawrence, Member of Congress, U.S. House of
Representatives, Southfield, MI; the Honorable Angie Craig,
Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Eagan, MN;
the Honorable Matt Cartwright, Member of Congress, U.S. House
of Representatives, Moosic, PA; and the Honorable Steve Cohen,
Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Memphis, TN.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 28, 2021--Hearing titled ``Building Back Better: Investing in
Improving Schools, Creating Jobs, and Strengthening Families
and our Economy.''
Purpose: To examine President Biden's American Jobs Plan
(AJP) and American Families Plan (AFP), proposals which
encompass a multi-year plan to transform the economy through
infrastructure investment, job training, and addressing climate
change. The hearing received testimony on proposals to expand
child care, rebuild unsafe school buildings in areas of
greatest need, help workers develop in-demand skills to prepare
for rewarding careers, and update community college
infrastructure.
Witnesses: Mr. Rasheed Malik, Senior Policy Analyst, Center
for American Progress, Washington, DC; Dr. Neal McCluskey,
Director, Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom,
Washington, DC; Mr. Mark Mitsui, President, Portland Community
College; Portland, OR; Mr. Bob Lanter, Executive Director,
California Workforce Association, Sacramento, CA; Mr. Brian
Riedl, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, New York, NY; and
Ms. Mary Filardo, Executive Director, 21st Century School Fund,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 9, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of
the U.S. Department of Labor.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Labor as conveyed in President Biden's Budget for
Fiscal Year 2022.
Witness: The Honorable Martin Walsh, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Labor, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 16, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services as conveyed in
President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2022.
Witness: The Honorable Xavier Becerra, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 24, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities
of the U.S. Department of Education.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Education as conveyed in President Biden's Budget
for Fiscal Year 2022.
Witness: The Honorable Miguel Cardona, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
December 1, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Corporation for National and Community
Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, including
financial management concerns identified by the agency's
auditors.
Witnesses: The Honorable Deborah Jeffrey, Inspector
General, Corporation for National and Community Service,
Washington, DC; and Mr. Malcolm Coles, Acting Chief Executive
Officer, Corporation for National and Community Service,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 6, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services as conveyed in
President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: The Honorable Xavier Becerra, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 26, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of
the U.S. Department of Education.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Education as conveyed in President Biden's Budget
for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: The Honorable Miguel Cardona, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 14, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities
of the U.S. Department of Labor.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Labor as conveyed in President Biden's Budget for
Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: The Honorable Martin Walsh, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Labor, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 14, 2022--Hearing titled ``In Solidarity: Removing Barriers
to Organizing.''
Purpose: To examine the increase in worker organizing
activity across the country, the factors driving this activity,
the need to increase funding for the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) to handle the spike in this activity, and the need
to enact the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R.
842).
Witnesses: Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner, Director of Labor
Education Research and Senior Lecturer, Cornell University
School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Ithaca, NY; Mr. Mark
Pearce, Visiting Professor and Executive Director of the
Workers' Rights Institute, Georgetown University, Washington,
DC; Mr. Roger King, Senior Labor and Employment Policy Counsel,
HR Policy Association, Arlington, VA; and Ms. Michelle Eisen,
Barista, Starbucks, Buffalo, NY.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
Markups and Other Business Meetings Held by the
Full Committee
February 8, 2021--Full Committee Organizational Meeting to introduce
new Members of the Committee; consider and adopt the Rules of
the Committee for the 117th Congress; approve the Subcommittee
Chairs and Ranking Members as well as approve the assignment of
Members to Subcommittees; and share the Committee Oversight
Plan for the 117th Congress.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via Cisco Webex
Meetings.
February 9, 2021--Markup of Committee Print to comply with the
reconciliation directive included in section 2001(b) of S. Con.
Res. 5, the concurrent resolution setting forth the
congressional budget for the United States Government for
fiscal year 2021 and setting forth the appropriate budgeting
levels for fiscal years 2022 through 2030.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: The Committee Print was ordered to be
favorably transmitted to the House Committee on the Budget, as
amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: Transmitted on February 16, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via Cisco Webex
Meetings.
March 11, 2021--Meeting to approve new Subcommittee assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 24, 2021--Markup of H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 7 was ordered to be favorably reported to
the House, as amended, by a vote of 25 Yeas and 22 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-13 was filed on April 5,
2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 24, 2021--Markup of H.R. 1065, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY)
Disposition: H.R. 1065 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 30 Yeas and 17 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-27 (Part I) was filed on
May 4, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 24, 2021--Markup of H.R. 1195, the Workplace Violence Prevention
for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Courtney (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 1195 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 20 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-14 (Part I) was filed on
April 5, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 20, 2021--Meeting to approve new Subcommittee assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 26, 2021--Markup of H.R. 3110, the Providing Urgent Maternal
Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY)
Disposition: H.R. 3110 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-102 was filed on July
22, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 26, 2021--Markup of H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Workers Against
Discrimination Act of 2021 (POWADA).
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 2062 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 29 Yeas and 18 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-63 was filed on June 17,
2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Markup of H.R. 2119, the Family Violence Prevention and
Services Improvement Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Lucy McBath (GA)
Disposition: H.R. 2119 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 26 Yeas and 20 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-126 was filed on
September 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Markup of H.R. 3992, the Protect Older Job Applicants
(POJA) Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX)
Disposition: H.R. 3992 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 26 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-127 was filed on
September 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Markup of H.R. 729, the Strength in Diversity Act of
2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 729 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-176 was filed on
November 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Markup of H.R. 730, the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement
Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 730 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-177 (Part I) was filed
on November 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 9, 2021--Markup of Committee Print to comply with
reconciliation directive included in section 2002(b) of S. Con.
Res. 14, a concurrent resolution setting forth the
congressional budget for the United States Government for
fiscal year 2022 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary
levels for fiscal years 2023 through 2031.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: The Committee Print was ordered to be
favorably transmitted to the House Committee on the Budget, as
amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 22 Nays.
Committee Report: Transmitted on September 14, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 10, 2021--Markup of H.R. 5891, the Retirement Improvement and
Savings Enhancement (RISE) Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 5891 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: House Report 117-250 (Part I) was filed
on February 25, 2022.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
February 16, 2022--Meeting to approve new Subcommittee assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Meeting to approve new Subcommittee assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Markup of H.R. 6102, the Black Lung Benefits
Improvement Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA)
Disposition: H.R. 6102 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 22 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-589 (Part I) was filed
on December 2, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Markup of H.R. 5129, the Community Services Block Grant
Modernization Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR)
Disposition: H.R. 5129 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 35 Yeas and 14 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-311 was filed on May 6,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Markup of H.R. 2499, the Federal Fire Fighters Fairness
Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA)
Disposition: H.R. 2499 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 31 Yeas and 18 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-306 was filed on May 6,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Markup of H.R. 5428, the School Shooting Safety and
Preparedness Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)
Disposition: H.R. 5428 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-307 was filed on May 6,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Markup of H.R. 3114, the Longshore and Harbor Workers'
COVID-19 Compensation Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Frank Mrvan (IN)
Disposition: H.R. 6102 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-526 was filed on
September 29, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Markup of H.R. 6087, the Improving Access to Workers'
Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Courtney (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 6087 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: No Committee Report filed.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
April 5, 2022--Markup of H.R. 7309, the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 7309 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 29 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-321 was filed on May 12,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
April 5, 2022--Markup of H.R. 7310, the Protecting America's Retirement
Security Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Lucy McBath (GA)
Disposition: H.R. 7310 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 29 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-557 (Part I) was filed
on November 14, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Markup of H.R. 604, the Rebuild America's Schools Act
(RASA) of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 604 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-607 (Part I) was filed
on December 7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Markup of H.R. 7701, the Wage Theft Prevention and Wage
Recovery Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 7701 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-540 was filed on October
7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Markup of H.R. 5407, the Enhancing Mental Health and
Suicide Prevention Through Campus Planning Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Susan Wild (PA)
Disposition: H.R. 5407 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: House Report 117-383 was filed on June
23, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Markup of H.R. 6493, the Campus Prevention and Recovery
Services for Students Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM)
Disposition: H.R. 6493 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: House Report 117-384 was filed on June
23, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Markup of H.R. 7780, the Mental Health Matters Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA)
Disposition: H.R. 7780 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 26 Yeas 18 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-484 was filed on
September 22, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
July 27, 2022--Markup of H.R. 2193, the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness
and Fatality Prevention Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Judy Chu (CA)
Disposition: H.R. 2193 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-547 was filed on
November 7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
July 27, 2022--Markup of H.R. 8450, the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids
Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 8450 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 20 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-548 was filed on
November 7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Meeting to approve new Subcommittee assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Markup of H. Res. 1295, Of inquiry directing the
Secretary of Education to transmit certain documents to the
House of Representatives relating to the Department of
Education's cost estimates for the Secretary's waivers related
to public service loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment.
Sponsor: Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC)
Disposition: H. Res. 1295 was ordered to be reported
adversely to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 21
Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-549 was filed on
November 10, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Markup of H. Res. 1296, Of inquiry requesting the
President and directing the Secretary of Education to transmit,
respectively, certain documents to the House of Representatives
relating to the legal authority to forgive Federal student loan
debt.
Sponsor: Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC)
Disposition: H. Res. 1296 was ordered to be reported
adversely to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 21
Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-550 was filed on
November 10, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Markup of H. Res. 1273, Of inquiry directing the
President to provide certain documents in the President's
possession to the House of Representatives relating to
communication between the executive branch and the American
Federation of Teachers regarding reopening schools and
supporting safe, in-person learning.
Sponsor: Rep. John Joyce (PA)
Disposition: H. Res. 1273 was ordered to be reported
adversely to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 21
Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-539 was filed on
September 30, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
November 17, 2022--Meeting to approve new Subcommittee assignments.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education
March 25, 2021--Hearing titled ``Lessons Learned: Charting the Path to
Educational Equity Post-COVID-19.''
Purpose: To examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted
communities and discuss the most effective methods of ensuring
the nation's public schools reopen and recover equitably.
Witnesses: Mr. Mark H. Morial, President and CEO, National
Urban League, New York, NY; Mrs. Jennifer Dale, Parent, Lake
Oswego, OR; Ms. Selene A. Almazan, Esq., Legal Director,
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc., Towson, MD;
and Mr. Alberto M. Carvalho, Superintendent of Schools, Miami-
Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 6, 2021--Hearing titled ``Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on
Students with Disabilities.''
Purpose: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
students with disabilities and needed steps to support their
educational recovery, life skills development, and social-
emotional well-being.
Witnesses: Mr. Ronald M. Hager, Managing Attorney, National
Disability Rights Network, Washington, DC; Ms. Kanika A.
Littleton, Project Director, Michigan Alliance for Families,
Lansing, MI; Mr. Reade Bush, Parent, Arlington, VA; and Dr.
Danielle M. Kovach, Special Education Teacher, Tulsa Trail
Elementary School, Hopatcong Board of Education, Hopatcong, NJ.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 19, 2021--Hearing titled ``Picking up the Pieces: Strengthening
Connections with Students Experiencing Homelessness and
Children in Foster Care.''
Purpose: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
the educational experiences of children and students
experiencing homelessness and children and students in foster
care and the ways in which the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
will support these populations.
Witnesses: Ms. Jennifer Erb-Downward, MPH, Senior Research
Associate, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, MI; Ms. Michelle Linder-Coates, Executive Director,
School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; Ms. Gretchen
Davis, foster parent, Arlington, VA; and Dr. James F. Lane,
Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction, Virginia
Department of Education, Richmond, VA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 29, 2021--Hearing titled ``Back to School: Highlighting Best
Practices for Safely Reopening School.''
Purpose: To examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted
the return to school for the 2021-2022 school year.
Witnesses: Dr. Jesus Jara, Superintendent of Schools, Clark
County School District, Las Vegas, NV; Ms. Denise Forte,
Interim Chief Executive Officer, The Education Trust,
Washington, DC; Mr. David Zweig, Freelance Journalist, New
York, NY; and Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean and Professor of Health
Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University School of
Public Health, Providence, RI.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 17, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Implementation of
COVID-19 Education Funds'' (held jointly with the Subcommittee
on Higher Education and Workforce Investment).
Purpose: To hear from senior U.S. Department of Education
officials about the management and oversight of the Education
Stabilization Fund (ESF).
Witnesses: Ms. Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, DC; and Mr. James Kvaal,
Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
February 16, 2022--Hearing titled ``Serving All Students: Promoting a
Healthier, More Supportive School Environment.''
Purpose: To examine outdated discipline practices and to
highlight evidence-based practices that schools can implement
to create healthy school environments that support students'
social, emotional, and academic development.
Witnesses: Mr. Guy Stephens, Founder and Executive
Director, Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint, Lusby, MD;
Ms. Morgan Craven, National Director of Policy, Advocacy, and
Community Engagement, Intercultural Development Research
Association, San Antonio, TX; Mr. Max Eden, Research Fellow,
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC; and Ms. Kristen
Harper, Vice President for Public Policy and Engagement, Child
Trends, Laurel, MD.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 24, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of
the Bureau of Indian Education'' (held jointly with the
Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous
People of the United States) (hearing was adjourned before
witness testimony or Member questions due to technical
difficulties; subcommittees agreed to conduct a second hearing
and include an additional witness).
Purpose: To examine the role of the Bureau of Indian
Education in serving American Indian and Alaskan Native
students.
Witness: Mr. Tony Dearman, Director, Bureau of Indian
Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 28, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities
of the Bureau of Indian Education'' (held jointly with the
Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous
People of the United States) (this hearing was a follow-up to
the hearing on May 24, 2022, above).
Purpose: To examine the role of the Bureau of Indian
Education in serving American Indian and Alaskan Native
students.
Witnesses: Ms. Beth Sirois, Assistant Director, U.S.
Government Accountability Office, Washington, DC; and Mr. Tony
Dearman, Director, Bureau of Indian Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 20, 2022--Hearing titled ``Back to School: Meeting Students'
Academic, Social, and Emotional Needs.''
Purpose: To examine how states and school districts are
approaching pandemic recovery this school year, including
efforts to leverage evidence-based interventions to close
achievement gaps exacerbated by the pandemic, as well as meet
students' social and emotional needs.
Witnesses: Ms. Phyllis Jordan, Associate Director,
FutureEd, Washington, DC; Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, President and
CEO, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional
Learning, Fairfax Station, VA; Dr. Penny Schwinn, Tennessee
Commissioner of Education, Tennessee Department of Education,
Nashville, TN; and Dr. Matthew Blomstedt, Commissioner of
Education, Nebraska Department of Education, Lincoln, NE.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment
March 17, 2021--Hearing titled ``Rising to the Challenge: The Future of
Higher Education Post COVID-19.''
Purpose: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
institutions of higher education and students and to highlight
the need for additional Administration and congressional
action.
Witnesses: Mr. Keith Thornton, Jr., Student, Florida
International University, Miami, FL; Mr. Eloy Ortiz Oakley,
Chancellor, California Community Colleges, Corona Del Mar, CA;
Dr. Lindsey Burke, Director, Center for Education Policy, and
Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Education, The Heritage
Foundation, Washington, DC; and Mr. Daniel Zibel, Vice
President and Chief Counsel, National Student Legal Defense
Network, Takoma Park, MD.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 13, 2021--Hearing titled ``Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Reauthorization: Creating Opportunities for Youth Employment.''
Purpose: To examine how the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA) currently serves the needs of in-school
and out-of-school youth and what changes are needed to improve
WOIA's youth services as part of reauthorization.
Witnesses: Ms. Chekemma Townsend, President and CEO,
Philadelphia Youth Network, Philadelphia, PA; Mr. Thomas
Showalter, Senior Advisor, National Youth Employment Coalition,
Washington, DC; Ms. Deb Lindner, Human Resources Manager,
Precor, Whitsett, NC; and Mr. Byron Garret, President and CEO,
National Job Corps Association, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 27, 2021--Hearing titled ``Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Reauthorization: Creating Employment Pathways for Dislocated
Workers.''
Purpose: To examine how the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA) currently serves the needs of dislocated
workers and to consider improvements to improve outcomes for
dislocated workers through the reauthorization of WIOA.
Witnesses: Mr. Joseph Barela, Executive Director, Colorado
Department of Labor and Employment, Denver, CO; Mr. PJ McGrew,
Executive Director, Indiana Governor's Workforce Cabinet,
Indianapolis, IN; Mr. Matt Sigelman, Chief Executive Officer,
Burning Glass Technologies, Boston, MA; and Ms. Portia Wu,
Managing Director, U.S. Public Policy, U.S. Government Affairs,
Microsoft Corporation, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 15, 2021--Hearing titled ``Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act Reauthorization: Examining Successful Models of Employment
for Justice-Involved Individuals.''
Purpose: To examine how the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA) currently serves the needs of justice-
involved individuals and what changes are needed to improve the
scope and effectiveness of the U.S. Department of Labor's
Reentry Opportunities Program through the reauthorization of
WIOA.
Witnesses: Ms. Traci Scott, Vice President of Workforce
Development Division, National Urban League, New York, NY; Mr.
Gregg Keesling, President, DBA Recycle Force Workforce, Inc.,
Indianapolis, IN; Dr. Pamela Lattimore, Senior Director for
Research Development, Division for Applied Justice Research,
RTI International, Durham, NC; and Ms. Wendi Safstrom,
Executive Director, SHRM Foundation, Alexandria, VA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 20, 2021--Hearing titled ``Care for Our Communities: Investing in
the Direct Care Workforce'' (held jointly with the Subcommittee
on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions).
Purpose: To examine the unmet need for direct care workers
as well as the difficulty in recruiting, retaining, supporting,
and training this critical and in-demand workforce; to discuss
issues related to wages, Medicaid reimbursement rates, and
working conditions; and to consider the role of the Direct CARE
Opportunity Act (H.R. 2999) in addressing the problems
identified.
Witnesses: Mr. Robert Espinoza, Vice President of Policy,
PHI, Bronx, NY; Ms. Zulma Torres, Home Health Aide, Cooperative
Home Care Associates, Waterbury, CT; Mr. Paul Burani, Head of
Business Development, North America Udacity, Inc., Mountain
View, CA; and the Honorable Jessica Fay, State Representative,
Maine House of Representatives, Raymond, ME.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 29, 2021--Hearing titled ``Keeping the Pell Grant Promise:
Increasing Enrollment, Supporting Success.''
Purpose: To examine trends related to low enrollment of
Pell Grant eligible students at four-year public institutions,
best institutional and research-based practices to increase
enrollment and success, and how proposed federal policies will
support and advance these efforts.
Witnesses: Dr. Justin Ortagus, Associate Professor, Higher
Education Administration and Policy, and Director, Institute of
Higher Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Dr.
Robert Jones, Chancellor, University of Illinois Urbana-
Champaign, Champaign, IL; Dr. Michael Poliakoff, President,
American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Washington, DC; and
Ms. Darleny Suriel, Student, City College of New York, Bronx,
NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 30, 2021--Hearing titled ``Protecting Students and Taxpayers:
Improving the Closed School Discharge Process.''
Purpose: To hear testimony from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office about its findings related to the closed
school discharge process and to provide Committee members the
opportunity to better understand potential improvements to the
closed school discharge process to protect students harmed by
school closures.
Witnesses: Ms. Melissa Emrey-Arras, Director of Higher
Education, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Boston, MA;
Ms. Karyn Rhodes, Student Borrower, Torrance, CA; Mr. Preston
Cooper, Research Fellow, Foundation for Research on Equal
Opportunity, Washington, DC; and Ms. Robyn Smith, Senior
Attorney, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
October 6, 2021--Hearing titled ``Homecoming: The Historical Roots and
Continued Contributions of HBCUs.''
Purpose: To explore the important and unique role that
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) play in
the higher education landscape, the historical background that
sets these institutions apart, challenges created by systemic
underfunding of the sector, and the ongoing need for federal
support.
Witnesses: Dr. Lezli Baskerville, President and CEO,
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education,
Washington, DC; Dr. Glenda Glover, President, Tennessee State
University, Nashville, TN; Mrs. Angela Sailor, Vice President,
The Edwin J. Feulner Institute, The Heritage Foundation,
Washington, DC; and Dr. Andre Perry, Senior Fellow, The
Brookings Institute, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
October 27, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Office of Federal Student Aid.''
Purpose: To explore the plans of the Office of Federal
Student Aid within the U.S. Department of Education in
overseeing institutions of higher education and enforcing
compliance with the requirements for participation in programs
authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Witness: The Honorable Richard Cordray, Chief Operating
Officer, Office of Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of
Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 17, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Implementation of
COVID-19 Education Funds'' (held jointly with the Subcommittee
on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education).
Purpose: To hear from senior U.S. Department of Education
officials about the management and oversight of the Education
Stabilization Fund.
Witnesses: Ms. Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, DC; and Mr. James Kvaal,
Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 2, 2022--Hearing titled ``Investing in Economic Mobility: The
Important Role of Hispanic Serving Institutions and Other
Minority Serving Institutions.''
Purpose: To explore the important role that Minority
Serving Institutions play in higher education, their ongoing
need for federal support, and their implementation of
federally-funded grant activities.
Witnesses: Dr. Jose Luis Cruz Rivera, President, Northern
Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ; Dr. Patricia Ramsey,
President, Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, NY; Dr. Janine
Davidson, President, Metropolitan State University of Denver,
Denver, CO; and Dr. Robert Teranishi, Professor of Education
and Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American
Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 19, 2022--Hearing titled ``The History and Continued Contributions
of Tribal Colleges and Universities.''
Purpose: The purpose of this hearing is to explore the
important and unique role that Tribal Colleges and Universities
(TCUs) play in the higher education landscape, including the
historical background that sets these institutions apart from a
policy standpoint, their accomplishments, the important role
these institutions play in their communities, and their ongoing
need for federal support.
Witnesses: Ms. Carrie Billy, President and CEO, American
Indian Higher Education Consortium, Alexandria, VA; Dr. Cynthia
Lindquist, President, Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Fort
Totten, ND; Dr. Beth Akers, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise
Institute, Washington, DC; and Dr. Sandra Boham, President,
Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, MT. (Dr. Lindquist was unable
to provide oral testimony, but her written statement was made
part of the hearing record via unanimous consent.)
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
December 14, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Corporation for National and Community
Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, including
financial management concerns identified by the agency's
auditors.
Witnesses: The Honorable Deborah Jeffrey, Inspector
General, Corporation for National and Community Service,
Washington, DC; and Mr. Michael Smith, Chief Executive Officer,
Corporation for National and Community Service, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and
Pensions
April 15, 2021--Hearing titled ``Meeting the Moment: Improving Access
to Behavioral and Mental Health Care.''
Purpose: To address barriers to access to behavioral health
care, particularly limited coverage of mental health and
substance use disorder treatment, and the importance of
improving enforcement of mental health parity laws.
Witnesses: Dr. Brian Smedley, Chief of Psychology in the
Public Interest, American Psychological Association,
Washington, DC; Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, Chief Medical
Officer, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, New York,
NY; Mr. James Gelfand, Senior Vice President, Health Policy,
The ERISA Industry Committee, Washington, DC; and Dr. Meiram
Bendat, Founder, Psych-Appeal, Santa Barbara, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 5, 2021--Hearing titled ``Lower Drug Costs Now: Expanding Access to
Affordable Health Care.''
Purpose: To explore the rising cost of prescription drugs
in the United States and the impact of high drug prices on
workers and businesses.
Witnesses: Dr. Mariana P. Socal, Assistant Scientist, Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD; Mr.
David Mitchell, Founder, Patients for Affordable Drugs Now,
Bethesda, MD; Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, American
Action Forum, Washington, DC; and Mr. Frederick Isasi,
Executive Director, Families USA, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 23, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining Pathways to Build a Stronger,
More Inclusive Retirement System.''
Purpose: To examine the challenges facing retirement savers
and explore options for congressional action to increase access
to sustainable retirement income for categories of workers
historically excluded from participation in retirement savings
programs.
Witnesses: Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci, Irene and Bernard L.
Schwartz Professor of Economics and Policy Analysis, The New
School for Social Research, New York, NY; Dr. Nari Rhee,
Director, Retirement Security Program, University of California
at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Dr. Andrew Biggs, Resident Scholar,
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC; and Mr. David
Certner, Legislative Counsel and Legislative Policy Director,
AARP, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 20, 2021--Hearing titled ``Care for Our Communities: Investing in
the Direct Care Workforce'' (held jointly with the Subcommittee
on Higher Education and Workforce Investment).
Purpose: To examine the unmet need for direct care workers
as well as the difficulty in recruiting, retaining, supporting,
and training this critical and in-demand workforce; to discuss
issues related to wages, Medicaid reimbursement rates, and
working conditions; and to consider the role of the Direct CARE
Opportunity Act (H.R. 2999) in addressing the problems
identified.
Witnesses: Mr. Robert Espinoza, Vice President of Policy,
PHI, Bronx, NY; Ms. Zulma Torres, Home Health Aide, Cooperative
Home Care Associates, Waterbury, CT; Mr. Paul Burani, Head of
Business Development, North America Udacity, Inc., Mountain
View, CA; and the Honorable Jessica Fay, State Representative,
Maine House of Representatives, Raymond, ME.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 28, 2021--Hearing titled ``How to Save a Life: Successful
Models for Protecting Communities from COVID-19'' (held jointly
with the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services).
Purpose: To address barriers to COVID-19 vaccine and
testing access and highlight resources provided by the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to increase vaccination rates and make
testing more available in underserved communities.
Witnesses: Dr. Leana Wen, Research Professor, The George
Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health,
and Distinguished Fellow, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health
Workforce Equity, Washington, DC; Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi,
Director of Health Equity and Associate Professor, Department
of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke University School
of Medicine, Durham, NC; Mr. Avik Roy, President, The
Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, Washington, DC;
and Dr. Chris Pernell, Chief Strategic Integration and Health
Equity Officer, University Hospital, Newark, NJ.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 4, 2021--Hearing titled ``Closing the Courthouse Doors: The
Injustice of Forced Arbitration Agreements.''
Purpose: To examine the impacts of forced arbitration and
collective action waivers on workers' ability to enforce their
rights under federal employment laws and to consider H.R. 4841,
the Restoring Justice for Workers Act, a bill to make forced
arbitration provisions and collective action waivers
unenforceable in employment cases and to make the use of those
provisions unlawful under the National Labor Relation Act.
Witnesses: Dr. Alexander Colvin, Kenneth F. Kahn Dean and
Martin F. Scheinman Professor of Conflict Resolution, Cornell
University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Ithaca,
NY; Ms. Glenda Perez, former Implementation Set-Up
Representative, Cigna, Ruskin, FL; Mr. Roger King, Senior Labor
and Employment Counsel, HR Policy Association, Arlington, VA;
and Ms. Kalpana Kotagal, Partner, Cohen Milstein Sellers &
Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
February 17, 2022--Hearing titled ``Exploring Pathways to Affordable,
Universal Health Coverage.''
Purpose: To examine the need for and proposals to achieve
universal health coverage in the United States.
Witnesses: The Honorable Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's
Professor of Public Policy, University of California at
Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive
Director, American Public Health Association, Washington, DC;
Dr. Brian Blase, President, Paragon Health Institute, Ponte
Vedra, FL; and Ms. Katie Keith, Visiting Professor and Director
of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative, O'Neill Institute
for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law
Center, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 1, 2022--Hearing titled ``Improving Retirement Security and
Access to Mental Health Benefits.''
Purpose: To examine ways to strengthen access to retirement
security and mental health benefits.
Witnesses: Ms. Amy Matsui, Director of Income Security and
Senior Counsel, National Women's Law Center, Washington, DC;
Ms. Karen Handorf, Senior Counsel, Berger Montague, Alexandria,
VA; Mr. Andrew Biggs, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise
Institute, Washington, DC; and Mr. Aron Szapiro, Head of
Retirement Studies and Public Policy, Morningstar, Inc. and
Morningstar Investment Management LLC, Chicago, IL.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 21, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Administration of
the Unemployment Insurance System.''
Purpose: To hear testimony from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) about its findings related to the
U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) implementation of the
temporary pandemic unemployment insurance (UI) programs, GAO's
inclusion of the regular UI system on its High Risk List, and
steps DOL and Congress can take to make improvements to the
administration of the UI system.
Witnesses: Mr. Thomas Costa, Director, Education,
Workforce, and Income Security Team, U.S. Government
Accountability Office, Washington, DC; Ms. Rebecca Dixon,
Executive Director, National Employment Law Project,
Washington, DC: Mr. Matt Weidinger, Senior Fellow, American
Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC: and Ms. Veronica
Robinson, individual affected by one of the temporary pandemic
UI programs, Philadelphia, PA.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on
Workforce Protections
March 11, 2021--Hearing titled ``Clearing the Air: Science-Based
Strategies to Protect Workers from COVID-19 Infections.''
Purpose: To evaluate the best methods to protect workers
from airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that
causes COVID-19; to evaluate the need to strengthen
Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidance to protect
workers; and to establish a national strategy to measure the
health impact on workers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Witnesses: Dr. Linsey Marr, Professor of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, Blacksburg, VA; Ms. Pascaline Muhindura,
Registered Nurse, COVID Progressive Care Unit, Research Medical
Center, Kansas City, MO; Mr. Manesh Rath, Partner, Keller and
Heckman LLP, Washington, DC; and Dr. David Michaels, former
Assistant Secretary, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, and Professor of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, The George Washington University, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 18, 2021--Hearing titled ``Fighting for Fairness: Examining
Legislation to Confront Workplace Discrimination'' (held
jointly with the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human
Services).
Purpose: To consider three pieces of legislation to protect
the civil rights of workers in the workplace: H.R. 1065, the
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act; H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness
Act; and H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Workers Against
Discrimination Act.
Witnesses: Ms. Laurie McCann, Senior Attorney, AARP
Foundation, Washington, DC; Ms. Dina Bakst, Co-Founder and Co-
President, A Better Balance, New York, NY; Ms. Camille A.
Olson, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Chicago, IL; and Ms. Fatima
Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women's Law Center,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 3, 2021--Hearing titled ``From Excluded to Essential: Tracing the
Racist Exclusion of Farmworkers, Domestic Workers, and Tipped
Workers from the Fair Labor Standards Act.''
Purpose: To examine the negative economic and social
impacts of excluding farmworkers, domestic workers, and tipped
workers from the full protections of the Fair Labor Standards
Act, their exclusion having been rooted in the racist design of
the legislation, and to consider congressional action to remedy
the exclusion of these groups of workers.
Witnesses: Ms. Rebecca Dixon, Executive Director, National
Employment Law Project, Washington, DC; Mr. Paul DeCamp,
Member, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., Washington, DC; Ms.
Teresa Romero, President, United Farm Workers, Lancaster, CA;
and Ms. Haeyoung Yoon, Senior Policy Director, National
Domestic Workers Alliance, New York, NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 21, 2021--Hearing titled ``Phasing Out Subminimum Wages:
Supporting the Transition to Competitive Integrated Employment
for Workers with Disabilities'' (held jointly with the
Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services).
Purpose: To consider H.R. 2723, the Transformation to
Competitive Integrated Employment Act, a bill that would phase
out the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities and
authorize funding to states and employers to transition workers
with disabilities to competitive integrated employment.
Witnesses: Ms. Nantanee Koppstein, Member, New Jersey
Statewide Independent Living Council, Princeton Junction, NJ;
Mr. John Anton, Legislative Specialist, Massachusetts Down
Syndrome Congress, Haverhill, MA; Dr. Matthew Putts, CEO,
Employment Horizons, Inc., Cedar Knolls, NJ; and Mr. Anil
Lewis, Executive Director for Blindness Initiatives, National
Federation of the Blind, Baltimore, MD.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
October 26, 2021--Hearing titled ``Protecting Lives and Livelihoods:
Vaccine Requirements and Employee Accommodations'' (held
jointly with the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human
Services).
Purpose: To examine the civil rights and accommodations
issues regarding employer vaccination policies, and to assess
the policy issues related to the impending Occupational Safety
and Health Administration's Emergency Temporary Standard that
calls for employers with 100 or more employees to require
employees to receive vaccination against COVID-19 or undergo
routine testing.
Witnesses: Dr. Sidney Shapiro, Frank U. Fletcher Chair in
Administrative Law and Professor of Law, Wake Forest University
School of Law, Winston-Salem, NC; Ms. Richelle T. Luther,
Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer,
Columbia Sportswear Company, Portland, OR; Mr. Scott Hecker,
Senior Counsel, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Washington, DC; and Dr.
Doron Dorfman, Associate Professor of Law, Syracuse University
College of Law, Syracuse, NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
December 2, 2021--Hearing titled ``Strengthening the Safety Net for
Injured Workers.''
Purpose: To assess the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs;
to assess the need for management reforms to the black lung
benefits self-insurance program; and to consider four pieces of
legislation to strengthen federal workers' compensation
programs--H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act;
H.R. 3314, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' COVID-19
Compensation Act of 2021; H.R. 6102, the Black Lung Benefits
Improvement Act of 2021; and H.R. 6087, the Improving Access to
Workers' Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act.
Witnesses: Panel I--The Honorable Salud Carbajal, Member of
Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Santa Barbara, CA.
Panel II--Mr. Christopher Godfrey, Director, Office of Workers'
Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington,
DC; and Mr. Thomas Costa, Director, Education, Workforce, and
Income Security, U.S. Government Accountability Office,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 11, 2022--Hearing titled ``Standing Up for Workers: Preventing Wage
Theft and Recovering Stolen Wages.''
Purpose: To examine the negative impacts of wage theft on
workers and honest businesses as well as consider the Wage
Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act (H.R. 7701), which would
deter wage theft and help workers seek justice to recover lost
wages.
Witnesses: Ms. Karen Cacace, Labor Bureau Chief, The New
York State Office of the Attorney General, New York, NY; Mr.
Daniel Swenson-Klatt, Owner and Operator, Butter Bakery Cafe,
Minneapolis, MN; Ms. Tammy McCutcheon, Senior Affiliate,
Resolution Economics, Washington, DC; and Mr. Francisco
Esparza, Representative, United Brotherhood of Carpenters,
Upper Marlboro, MD.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 25, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Witnesses: The Honorable Douglas Parker, Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department
of Labor, Washington, DC; and Mr. Thomas Costa, Director,
Education, Workforce, and Income Security, U.S. Government
Accountability Office, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 20, 2022--Hearing titled ``Second Class Workers: Assessing H2 Visa
Programs'' Impact on Workers.''
Purpose: To examine the H-2A and H-2B visa programs and the
U.S. Department of Labor's role in enforcing the labor
standards in these programs.
Witnesses: Mr. Daniel Costa, Director of Immigration Law
and Policy Research, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, DC;
Ms. Teresa Romero, President, United Farm Workers, Keene, CA;
Mr. Leon Sequera, Attorney, Arlington, VA; and Mr. Ty Pinkins,
Consumer Protection Attorney, Mississippi Center for Justice,
Vicksburg, MS.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
July 28, 2022--Hearing titled ``Essential but Undervalued: Examining
Workplace Protections for Domestic Workers.''
Purpose: To examine the role domestic workers play in our
nation's households and economy and their exclusion from labor
law protections, and to consider the Domestic Workers Bill of
Rights Act (H.R. 4826), which would provide protections for
domestic workers.
Witnesses: Ms. Ai-Jen Poo, President, National Domestic
Workers Alliance, New York, NY; Dr. C. Nicole Mason, President
and CEO, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, DC;
Mr. Paul DeCamp, Member, Epstein Becker Green, Washington, DC;
and Ms. Dana Barnett, Washington State Organizer, Hand in Hand:
the Domestic Employers Network, Seattle, WA.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 7, 2022--Hearing titled ``Children at Risk: Examining
Workplace Protections for Child Farmworkers.''
Purpose: To examine workplace protections for child
farmworkers.
Witnesses: Ms. Margaret Wurth, Senior Children's Rights
Researcher, Human Rights Watch, Tarrytown, NY; Dr. Barbara Lee,
Director/Senior Research Scientist, National Children's Center
for Rural and Agriculture Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic
Research Institute, Marshfield, WI; Ms. Kristi Boswell,
Counsel, Alston & Bird LLP, Washington, DC; and Ms. Norma
Flores Lopez, Committee Chair, Child Labor Coalition, San Juan,
TX.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 17, 2022--Hearing entitled ``Unsafe and Untenable: Examining
Workplace Protections for Warehouse Workers.''
Purpose: To examine the workplace safety crisis in
warehouses and employers' responsibility to protect the health
and safety of workers.
Witnesses: Mr. Sheheryar Kaoosji, Executive Director,
Warehouse Workers Resource Center, Ontario, CA; Mr. Eric
Frumin, Director of Health and Safety, Strategic Organizing
Center, New York, NY; Mr. Manesh K. Rath, Partner, Keller &
Heckman, Washington, DC; and Ms. Janeth Caicedo, sister of
Edilberto Caicedo, a warehouse worker who died on the job,
Elizabeth, NJ.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services
March 18, 2021--Hearing titled ``Fighting for Fairness: Examining
Legislation to Confront Workplace Discrimination'' (held
jointly with the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections).
Purpose: To consider three pieces of legislation to protect
the civil rights of workers in the workplace: H.R. 1065, the
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act; H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness
Act; and H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Workers Against
Discrimination Act.
Witnesses: Ms. Laurie McCann, Senior Attorney, AARP
Foundation, Washington, DC; Ms. Dina Bakst, Co-Founder and Co-
President, A Better Balance, New York, NY; Ms. Camille A.
Olson, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Chicago, IL; and Ms. Fatima
Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women's Law Center,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 22, 2021--Hearing titled ``Ending the Cycle: Examining Ways to
Prevent Domestic Violence and Promote Healthy Communities.''
Purpose: To discuss ways to update and strengthen the
Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to prevent and
address intimate partner violence.
Witnesses: Mrs. Vanessa Timmons, Executive Director, Oregon
Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Portland, OR;
Ms. Wendy I. Schlater, Vice Chair, La Jolla Band of Luiseno
Indians, Pauma Valley, CA; Ms. Ami Novoryta, Chief Program
Officer, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago,
Chicago, IL; and Dr. Elizabeth Miller, Director, Adolescent and
Young Adult Medicine, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 12, 2021--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition
Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service as
conveyed in President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 as
they relate to federal child nutrition programs.
Witness: Ms. Stacy Dean, Deputy Under Secretary for Food,
Nutrition, and Consumer Services, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 10, 2021--Hearing titled ``Ending Child Hunger: Priorities for
Child Nutrition Reauthorization.''
Purpose: To examine legislative solutions to end child
hunger and discuss how Congress can bolster proven strategies
to feed hungry children.
Witnesses: Mr. Michael Wilson, Director, Maryland Hunger
Solutions, Baltimore, MD; Ms. Crystal Cooper, Executive
Director, Nutrition Support Services, Chicago Public Schools,
Chicago, IL; Mr. Brandon Lipps, Principal, Caprock Strategies,
Alexandria, VA; and Mr. Tom Colicchio, Chef and Owner, Crafted
Hospitality, New York, NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 21, 2021--Hearing titled ``Phasing Out Subminimum Wages:
Supporting the Transition to Competitive Integrated Employment
for Workers with Disabilities'' (held jointly with the
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections).
Purpose: To consider H.R. 2723, the Transformation to
Competitive Integrated Employment Act, a bill that would phase
out the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities and
authorize funding to states and employers to transition workers
with disabilities to competitive integrated employment.
Witnesses: Ms. Nantanee Koppstein, Member, New Jersey
Statewide Independent Living Council, Princeton Junction, NJ;
Mr. John Anton, Legislative Specialist, Massachusetts Down
Syndrome Congress, Haverhill, MA; Dr. Matthew Putts, CEO,
Employment Horizons, Inc., Cedar Knolls, NJ; and Mr. Anil
Lewis, Executive Director for Blindness Initiatives, National
Federation of the Blind, Baltimore, MD.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 28, 2021--Hearing titled ``Food for Thought: Examining Federal
Nutrition Programs for Young Children and Infants.''
Purpose: To examine federal child nutrition and related
programs that support young children and opportunities to
strengthen these laws.
Witnesses: Ms. Teresa L. Turner, Nutritionist, Child and
Youth Services, United States Army, Glen Burnie, MD; Ms. Paula
N. Garrett, Division Director, Division of Community Nutrition,
Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, VA; Mr. Trevor
Farrell, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer,
Americas, Schreiber Foods, Inc., Green Bay, WI; and Mrs.
Jessica Burris, North Carolina WIC Participant and
Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, WIC Department, Montgomery County
Department of Health, Troy, NC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 28, 2021--Hearing titled ``How to Save a Life: Successful
Models for Protecting Communities from COVID-19'' (held jointly
with the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and
Pensions).
Purpose: To address barriers to COVID-19 vaccine and
testing access and highlight resources provided by the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to increase vaccination rates and make
testing more available in underserved communities.
Witnesses: Dr. Leana Wen, Research Professor, The George
Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health,
and Distinguished Fellow, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health
Workforce Equity, Washington, DC; Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi,
Director of Health Equity and Associate Professor, Department
of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke University School
of Medicine, Durham, NC; Mr. Avik Roy, President, The
Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, Washington, DC;
and Dr. Chris Pernell, Chief Strategic Integration and Health
Equity Officer, University Hospital, Newark, NJ.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
October 26, 2021--Hearing titled ``Protecting Lives and Livelihoods:
Vaccine Requirements and Employee Accommodations'' (held
jointly with the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections).
Purpose: To examine the civil rights and accommodations
issues regarding employer vaccination policies, and to assess
the policy issues related to the impending Occupational Safety
and Health Administration's Emergency Temporary Standard that
calls for employers with 100 or more employees to require
employees to receive vaccination against COVID-19 or undergo
routine testing.
Witnesses: Dr. Sidney Shapiro, Frank U. Fletcher Chair in
Administrative Law and Professor of Law, Wake Forest University
School of Law, Winston-Salem, NC; Ms. Richelle T. Luther,
Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer,
Columbia Sportswear Company, Portland, OR; Mr. Scott Hecker,
Senior Counsel, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Washington, DC; and Dr.
Doron Dorfman, Associate Professor of Law, Syracuse University
College of Law, Syracuse, NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 3, 2021--Hearing titled ``A Call to Action: Modernizing the
Community Services Block Grant.''
Purpose: To examine reauthorization of the Community
Services Block Grant.
Witnesses: Mr. David Bradley, Chief Executive Officer,
National Community Action Foundation, Fredericksburg, VA; Ms.
Sharon Scott-Chandler, Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer, Action for Boston Community Development,
Inc., Natick, MA; Mr. Clarence Carter, Commissioner, Tennessee
Department of Human Services, Nashville, TN; and Ms. Katherine
King Galian, Director of Family and Community Resources,
Community Action, Hillsboro, OR.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 27, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities
of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office
of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and U.S. Department of
Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs as
conveyed in President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witnesses: The Honorable Charlotte Burrows, Chair, U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, DC; and
Ms. Jenny Yang, Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance
Programs, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 17, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining Ways to Improve the Juvenile
Justice System and Support America's Young People.''
Purpose: To examine the current state of the juvenile
justice and child welfare residential care systems by assessing
the risk factors that lead to out-of-home placement, exploring
treatment and service options for youth in these systems, and
evaluating the role of federal funding.
Witnesses: Ms. Lisette Burton, Chief Policy and Practice
Advisor, Association of Children's Residential and Community
Services (ACRC), Milwaukee, WI; Mr. A. Hasan Davis, Founder/
Director, Hasan Davis Solutions L.L.C., Lexington, KY; Mr. Alan
Loux, President and CEO, Rawhide Youth Services, New London,
WI; and Dr. Karen Kolivoski, Associate Professor, Howard
University School of Social Work, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
June 23, 2022--Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition
Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service as
conveyed in President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: Ms. Cindy Long, Administrator, Food and Nutrition
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 8, 2022--Hearing titled ``An Ounce of Prevention: Investments
in Juvenile Justice Programs.''
Purpose: To examine the links between sustained investments
in delinquency prevention and intervention programs and
improved outcomes for young people and their communities.
Witnesses: Dr. Stephanie Hawkins, Founding Director,
Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE), RTI
International, Research Triangle Park, NC; Ms. Naomi Smoot
Evans, Executive Director, Coalition for Juvenile Justice,
Washington, DC; Fr. Steven Boes, National Executive Director,
Boys Town, Boys Town, NE; and Mr. David Muhammad, Executive
Director, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform,
Oakland, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
Legislation Referred to the Committee That Passed
the House
H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. John
Sarbanes (MD), passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas
and 210 Nays on March 3, 2021.
H.R. 5, the Equality Act, sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline
(RI), passed the House by a vote of 224 Yeas and 206
Nays on February 25, 2021.
H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021, sponsored
by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), passed the House by
a vote of 228 Yeas and 197 Nays on March 18, 2021.
H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Rosa
DeLauro (CT), passed the House by a vote of 217 Yeas
and 210 Nays on April 15, 2021.
H.R. 447, the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021, sponsored by
Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), passed the House
by a vote of 247 Yeas and 173 Nays on February 5, 2021.
H.R. 485, the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment
Act, sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA),
passed the House by a vote of 345 Yeas and 73 Nays
under suspension of the rules on March 16, 2021.
H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021,
sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA),
passed the House by a vote of 225 Yeas and 206 Nays on
March 9, 2021.
H.R. 1065, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep.
Jerrold Nadler (NY), passed the House by a vote of 315
Yeas and 101 Nays on May 14, 2021.
H.R. 1195, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care
and Social Service Workers Act, sponsored by Rep. Joe
Courtney (CT), passed the House by a vote of 254 Yeas
and 166 Nays on April 16, 2021.
H.R. 1433, the Helen Keller National Center Reauthorization Act
of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Mark Pocan (WI), passed the
House under suspension of the rules pursuant to section
2 of H. Res. 1361, sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter
(CO), which passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and
205 Nays, and a motion offered by Rep. Steny Hoyer
(MD), on September 20, 2022.
H.R. 1456, the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. John Garamendi (CA), passed the House
by a vote of 290 Yeas and 125 Nays under suspension of
the rules on September 19, 2022.
H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021,
sponsored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA), passed the House by
a vote of 247 Yeas and 174 Nays on March 18, 2021.
H.R. 1620, the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act
of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX),
passed the House by a vote of 244 Yeas and 172 Nays on
March 17, 2021.
H.R. 1916, the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act, sponsored by Rep.
Anna Eshoo (CA), passed the House by a vote of 310 Yeas
and 110 Nays under suspension of the rules on April 4,
2022.
H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination
Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby''
Scott (VA), passed the House by a vote of 247 Yeas and
178 Nays on June 23, 2021.
H.R. 2116, the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural
Hair Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Bonnie Watson
Coleman (NJ), passed the House by a vote of 235 Yeas
and 189 Nays on March 18, 2022.
H.R. 2119, the Family Violence Prevention and Services
Improvement Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Lucy McBath
(GA), passed the House by a vote of 228 Yeas and 200
Nays on October 26, 2021.
H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA), passed the House
by a vote of 288 Yeas and 131 Nays on May 11, 2022.
H.R. 2954, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Richard Neal (MA), passed the House
by a vote of 414 Yeas and 5 Nays under suspension of
the rules on March 29, 2022.
H.R. 3110, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, sponsored by Rep.
Carolyn Maloney (NY), passed the House by a vote of 276
Yeas and 149 Nays on October 22, 2021.
H.R. 3617, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and
Expungement Act, sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY),
passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 204 Nays on
April 1, 2022.
H.R. 3992, the POJA Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Sylvia
Garcia (TX), passed the House by a vote of 224 Yeas and
200 Nays on November 4, 2021.
H.R. 4118, the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, sponsored by
Rep. Steven Horsford (NV), passed the House by a vote
of 220 Yeas and 207 Nays on September 22, 2022.
H.R. 4616, the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act of 2021,
sponsored by Rep. Brad Sherman (CA), passed the House
by a vote of 415 Yeas and 9 Nays under suspension of
the rules on December 8, 2021.
H.R. 5129, the Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act
of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR),
passed the House by a vote of 246 Yeas and 169 Nays on
May 13, 2022.
H.R. 5407, the Enhancing Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
Through Campus Planning Act, sponsored by Rep. Susan
Wild (PA), passed the House by a vote of 405 Yeas and
16 Nays under suspension of the rules on June 23, 2022.
H.R. 5715, To reauthorize the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L.
Udall Trust Fund, and for other purposes, sponsored by
Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ), passed the House by voice vote
under suspension of the rules on December 12, 2022.
H.R. 6087, the Improving Access to Workers' Compensation for
Injured Federal Workers Act, sponsored by Rep. Joe
Courtney (CT), passed the House by a vote of 325 Yeas
and 83 Nays under suspension of the rules on June 7,
2022.
H.R. 6493, the Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for
Students Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Teresa Leger
Fernandez (NM), passed the House by a vote of 371 Yeas
and 49 Nays under suspension of the rules on July 23,
2022.
H.R. 6552, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims
Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (NJ), passed the
House by a vote of 401 Yeas and 20 Nays under
suspension of the rules on July 26, 2022.
H.R. 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, sponsored by Rep.
Angie Craig (MN), passed the House by a vote of 232
Yeas and 193 Nays on March 31, 2022.
H.R. 6929, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Dan
Kildee (MI), passed the House by a vote of 254 Yeas and
175 Nays on July 27, 2022.
H.R. 7309, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of
2022, sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA),
passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 196 Nays on
May 17, 2022.
H.R. 7688, the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act,
sponsored by Rep. Kim Schrier (WA), passed the House by
a vote of 217 Yeas and 207 Nays on May 19, 2022.
H.R. 7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep.
Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022.
H.R. 7791, the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022, sponsored by
Rep. Jahana Hayes (CT), passed the House by a vote of
414 Yeas and 9 Nays under suspension of the rules on
May 18, 2022.
H. Con. Res. 70, Condemning threats of violence against
historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)
and reaffirming support for HBCUs and their students,
sponsored by Rep. Alma Adams (NC), passed the House by
a vote of 418 Yeas and 0 Nays under suspension of the
rules on March 8, 2022.
H. Res. 1096, Approving certain regulations to implement
provisions of the Congressional Accountability Act of
1995 relating to labor-management relations with
respect to employees of the House of Representatives
covered under section 220(e) of the Act, and for other
purposes, sponsored by Rep. Andy Levin (MI), pursuant
to H. Res. 1097, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD),
is considered passed by the House by a vote of 217 Yeas
and 202 Nays on May 10, 2022.
Legislation Referred to the Committee That Passed the House in Another
Measure
H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act,
sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ), as part of
H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, sponsored by Rep.
John Yarmuth (KY), passed the House by a vote of 217
Yeas and 105 Nays on November 19, 2021 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 447, the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021, sponsored by
Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), as part of H.R.
4521, the America Creating Opportunities for
Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic
Strength Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice
Johnson (TX), passed the House by a vote of 222 Yeas
and 210 Nays on February 4, 2022 (substantially similar
text was included).
H.R. 636, the Promoting Apprenticeship through Regional
Training Networks for Employers Required Skills
(PARTNERS) Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici (OR), as part of H.R. 4521, the America
Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence
in Technology, and Economic Strength Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), passed
the House by a vote of 222 Yeas and 210 Nays on
February 4, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included).
H.R. 1065, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep.
Jerrold Nadler (NY), as part of H.R. 2617, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored by
Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), on the motion to concur in
the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the
Senate amendment, passed the House by a vote of 225
Yeas, 201 Nays, and 1 Present on December 23, 2022
(substantially similar text was included).
H.R. 1364, the Parity Enforcement Act of 2021, sponsored by
Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ), as part of H.R. 5376, the
Build Back Better Act, sponsored by Rep. John Yarmuth
(KY), passed the House by a vote of 217 Yeas and 105
Nays on November 19, 2021 (substantially similar text
was included).
H.R. 1364, the Parity Enforcement Act of 2021, sponsored by
Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ), as part of H.R. 7780, the
Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark
DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas
and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 1814, the Civics Secures Democracy Act of 2021, sponsored
by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT), as part of H.R. 4521, the
America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-
Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act of
2022, sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX),
passed the House by a vote of 222 Yeas and 210 Nays on
February 4, 2022 (substantially similar text of some
provisions were included).
H.R. 2030, the College Transparency Act, sponsored by Rep. Raja
Krishnamoorthi (IL), as part of H.R. 4521, the America
Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence
in Technology, and Economic Strength Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), passed
the House by a vote of 222 Yeas and 210 Nays on
February 4, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included).
H.R. 2037, the Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students
Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Andy Levin (MI), as part
of H.R. 4521, the America Creating Opportunities for
Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic
Strength Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice
Johnson (TX), passed the House by a vote of 222 Yeas
and 210 Nays on February 4, 2022 (substantially similar
text was included).
H.R. 2459, the Building U.S. Infrastructure by Leveraging
Demands for Skills (BUILDS) Act, sponsored by Rep.
Suzanne Bonamici (OR), as part of H.R. 4521, the
America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-
Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act of
2022, sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX),
passed the House by a vote of 222 Yeas and 210 Nays on
February 4, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included).
H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA), as part of H.R.
7776, the James M. Inhofe National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, sponsored by
Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR), pursuant to H. Res. 1512,
sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith (WA), the House agreed to
the Senate amendment with an amendment, passed the
House by a vote of 350 Yeas and 80 Nays on December 8,
2022 (substantially similar text was included).
H.R. 2817, the Child Care for Working Families Act, sponsored
by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), as part of H.R.
5376, the Build Back Better Act, sponsored by Rep. John
Yarmuth (KY), passed the House by a vote of 217 Yeas
and 105 Nays on November 19, 2021 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 2940, the Advancing International and Foreign Language
Education Act, sponsored by Rep. David Price (NC), as
part of H.R. 4521, the America Creating Opportunities
for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and
Economic Strength Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Eddie
Bernice Johnson (TX), passed the House by a vote of 222
Yeas and 210 Nays on February 4, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 2954, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Richard Neal (MA), as part of H.R.
2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,
sponsored by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), on the motion
to concur in the Senate amendment to the House
amendment to the Senate amendment, passed the House by
a vote of 225 Yeas, 201 Nays, and 1 Present on December
23, 2022 (provisions were included).
H.R. 2999, the Direct Creation, Advancement, and Retention of
Employment (CARE) Opportunity Act, sponsored by Rep.
Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), as part of H.R. 5376,
the Build Back Better Act, sponsored by Rep. John
Yarmuth (KY), passed the House by a vote of 217 Yeas
and 105 Nays on November 19, 2021 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 3110, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, sponsored by Rep.
Carolyn Maloney (NY), as part of H.R. 2617, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored by
Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), on the motion to concur in
the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the
Senate amendment, passed the House by a vote of 225
Yeas, 201 Nays, and 1 Present on December 23, 2022
(provisions were included).
H.R. 3519, the Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep.
Mike Levin (CA), as part of H.R. 5376, the Build Back
Better Act, sponsored by Rep. John Yarmuth (KY), passed
the House by a vote of 217 Yeas and 105 Nays on
November 19, 2021 (provisions were included).
H.R. 3519, the Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep.
Mike Levin (CA), as part of H.R. 2617, the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored by Rep. Gerald
Connolly (VA), on the motion to concur in the Senate
amendment to the House amendment to the Senate
amendment, passed the House by a vote of 225 Yeas, 201
Nays, and 1 Present on December 23, 2022 (provisions
were included).
H.R. 3572, the Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools
Act, sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu (CA), as part of H.R.
7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep.
Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 3729, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa
College Access Act, sponsored by Rep. Gregorio Kilili
Camacho Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands), as part of
H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, sponsored by Rep.
John Yarmuth (KY), passed the House by a vote of 217
Yeas and 105 Nays on November 19, 2021 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 4379, the School Food Modernization Act, sponsored by Rep.
Mark DeSaulnier (CA), as part of H.R. 5376, the Build
Back Better Act, sponsored by Rep. John Yarmuth (KY),
passed the House by a vote of 217 Yeas and 105 Nays on
November 19, 2021 (provisions were included).
H.R. 4786, the RISE Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici (OR), as part of H.R. 7780, the Mental Health
Matters Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA),
passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 205 Nays on
September 29, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included).
H.R. 6214, the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act,
sponsored by Rep. Katherine Clark (MA), as part of H.R.
7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep.
Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 6509, the Early Childhood Mental Health Support Act,
sponsored by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA), as part of H.R.
7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep.
Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 6553, the AI Jobs Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Darren
Soto (FL), as part of H.R. 4521, the America Creating
Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in
Technology, and Economic Strength Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), passed
the House by a vote of 222 Yeas and 210 Nays on
February 4, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included).
H.R. 7310, the Protecting America's Retirement Security Act,
sponsored by Rep. Lucy McBath (GA), as part of H.R.
2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,
sponsored by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), on the motion
to concur in the Senate amendment to the House
amendment to the Senate amendment, passed the House by
a vote of 225 Yeas, 201 Nays, and 1 Present on December
23, 2022 (provisions were included).
H.R. 7318, the Navigating to Success Act, sponsored by Rep.
Joaquin Castro (TX), as part of H.R. 7309, the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA),
passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 196 Nays on
May 17, 2022 (substantially similar text was included).
H.R. 7342, the Diversifying Paths to Apprenticeships Act,
sponsored by Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ), as part of H.R.
7309, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of
2022, sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA),
passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 196 Nays on
May 17, 2022 (substantially similar text was included).
H.R. 7347, the Supporting Jobs through Evidence and Innovation
Act, sponsored by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ), as part of
H.R. 7309, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott
(VA), passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 196
Nays on May 17, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included).
H.R. 7370, the Student Mental Health Rights Act, sponsored by
Rep. Katie Porter (CA), as part of H.R. 7780, the
Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark
DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas
and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 7381, the YouthBuild for the Future Act, sponsored by Rep.
Jahana Hayes (CT), as part of H.R. 7309, the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022, sponsored by
Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), passed the House
by a vote of 220 Yeas and 196 Nays on May 17, 2022
(substantially similar text was included).
H.R. 7385, the TRAIN Act, sponsored by Rep. Lucy McBath (GA),
as part of H.R. 7309, the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Robert C.
``Bobby'' Scott (VA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 196 Nays on May 17, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 7390, the Expanding Labor Representation in the Workforce
System Act, sponsored by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ), as
part of H.R. 7309, the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Robert C.
``Bobby'' Scott (VA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 196 Nays on May 17, 2022 (substantially
similar text was included).
H.R. 7392, the Strengthening Job Corps Act of 2022, sponsored
by Frederica Wilson (FL), as part of H.R. 7309, the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA),
passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 196 Nays on
May 17, 2022 (substantially similar text was included).
H.R. 7740, the Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act of
2022, sponsored by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA), as part
of H.R. 7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored
by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a
vote of 220 Yeas and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022
(the text was included).
H.R. 7748, the Community-Based Workforce Development Act,
sponsored by Rep. Susie Lee (NV), as part of H.R. 7309,
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA),
passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 196 Nays on
May 17, 2022 (substantially similar text was included).
H.R. 7767, the Strengthening Behavioral Health Benefits Act,
sponsored by Rep. Joe Courtney (CT), as part of H.R.
7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep.
Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022 (provisions
were included).
H.R. 7784, the Supporting Trauma-Informed Education of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Jahana Hayes (CT), as part of H.R.
7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, sponsored by Rep.
Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the House by a vote of 220
Yeas and 205 Nays on September 29, 2022 (the text was
included).
H.R. 8150, the Keep Kids Fed Act, sponsored by Rep. Robert C.
``Bobby'' Scott (VA), as part of S. 2089, the Keep Kids
Fed Act of 2022, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH),
passed the House by a vote of 376 Yeas and 42 Nays on
June 23, 2022 (the text was included).
H.R. 8450, the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act, sponsored by
Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), as part of H.R.
2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,
sponsored by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), on the motion
to concur in the Senate amendment to the House
amendment to the Senate amendment, passed the House by
a vote of 225 Yeas, 201 Nays, and 1 Present on December
23, 2022 (provisions were included).
H.R. 8887, To direct the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health to establish an occupational research
program on mental health, sponsored by Rep. Frank Mrvan
(IN), as part of H.R. 7780, the Mental Health Matters
Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA), passed the
House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 205 Nays on September
29, 2022 (the text was included).
H.R. 9028, the 21st Century Assistive Technology Act, sponsored
by Rep. DeSaulnier (CA), as part of H.R. 7776, the
James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2023, sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR),
pursuant to H. Res. 1512, sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith
(WA), the House agreed to the Senate amendment with an
amendment, passed the House by a vote of 350 Yeas and
80 Nays on December 8, 2022 (substantially similar text
was included).
Legislation Within Committee Jurisdiction Not Referred to the Committee
That Passed the House
H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, sponsored by
Rep. John Yarmuth (KY), passed the House by a vote of
219 Yeas and 212 Nays on February 27, 2021. On a motion
to agree to the Senate amendment, H.R. 1319 passed the
House by a vote of 220 Yeas and 211 Nays on March 10,
2021.
H.R. 2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored
by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), passed the House by a
vote of 225 Yeas, 201 Nays, and 1 Present on December
23, 2022.
H.R. 4350, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for
Fiscal Year 2022, passed the House by a vote of 316
Yeas and 113 Nays on September 23, 2021.
H.R. 5305, the Extending Government Funding and Delivering
Emergency Assistance Act, sponsored by Rep. Rosa
DeLauro (CT), passed the House by a vote of 220 Yeas
and 211 Nays on September 21, 2021. On a motion to
agree to the Senate amendment, H.R. 5305 passed the
House by a vote of 254 Yeas and 175 Nays on September
30, 2021.
H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, sponsored by Rep. John
Yarmuth (KY), passed the House by a vote of 217 Yeas
and 105 Nays on November 19, 2021. On a motion to agree
to the Senate amendment, H.R. 5376, the Inflation
Reduction Act of 2022, passed the House by a vote of
220 Yeas and 207 Nays on August 12, 2022.
H.R. 7666, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being
Act of 2022, sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ),
passed the House by a vote of 402 Yeas and 20 Nays on
June 22, 2022.
H.R. 7776, the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2023, sponsored by Rep. Peter
DeFazio (OR), pursuant to H. Res. 1512, sponsored by
Rep. Adam Smith (WA), the House agreed to the Senate
amendment with an amendment, passed the House by a vote
of 350 Yeas and 80 Nays on December 8, 2022.
S. 848, the Consider Teachers Act of 2021, sponsored by Sen.
Mike Braun (IN), passed the House by a vote of 406 Yeas
and 16 Nays under suspension of the rules on September
28, 2021.
S. 989, the Native Language Resource Center Act of 2021,
sponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz (HI), passed the House
by a vote of 342 Yeas and 71 Nays under suspension of
the rules on December 22, 2022.
S. 1098, the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act, sponsored
by Sen. Mark Warner (VA), passed the House by a vote of
232 Yeas and 193 Nays on September 21, 2022.
S. 1402, the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of
2021, sponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz (HI), passed the
House by a vote of 337 Yeas and 79 Nays under
suspension of the rules on December 22, 2022.
S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2022, sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott (FL), passed the
House by a vote of 363 Yeas and 70 Nays on December 7,
2021.
S. 2089, the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022, sponsored by Sen.
Jeanne Shaheen (NH), passed the House by a vote of 376
Yeas and 42 Nays under suspension of the rules on June
23, 2022.
S. 2959, the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act, sponsored
by Sen. John Thune (SD), passed the House by a vote of
414 Yeas and 6 Nays under suspension of the rules on
January 18, 2022.
S. 3157, the Bridging the Gap for New Americans Act, sponsored
by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN), passed the House by a vote
of 363 Yeas and 52 Nays under suspension of the rules
on September 19, 2022.
S. 5329, A bill to amend the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food
Donation Act to improve the program, and for other
purposes, sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (CT),
passed the House by voice vote under suspension of the
rules on December 21, 2022.
S.J. Res. 13, Providing for congressional disapproval under
chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule
submitted by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission relating to ``Update of Commission's
Conciliation Procedures,'' passed the House by a vote
of 219 Yeas and 210 Nays on June 24, 2021.
Legislation Referred to the Committee Enacted Into Law
H.R. 7791, the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022, sponsored by
Rep. Jahana Hayes (CT), was enacted into law on May 21,
2022 (Public Law 117-129).
Legislation Referred to the Committee Enacted Into Law in Another
Measure
H.R. 1065, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep.
Jerrold Nadler (NY), as part of H.R. 2617, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored by
Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), was enacted into law on
December 29, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included) (Public Law 117-__).
H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA), as part of H.R.
7776, the James M. Inhofe National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, sponsored by
Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR), was enacted into law on
December 23, 2022 (substantially similar text was
included) (Public Law 117-263).
H.R. 2954, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022,
sponsored by Rep. Richard Neal (MA), as part of H.R.
2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,
sponsored by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), was enacted
into law on December 29, 2022 (provisions were
included) (Public Law 117-__).
H.R. 3110, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, sponsored by Rep.
Carolyn Maloney (NY), as part of H.R. 2617, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored by
Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), was enacted into law on
December 29, 2022 (provisions were included) (Public
Law 117-__).
H.R. 3519, the Stop Child Hunger Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep.
Mike Levin (CA), as part of H.R. 2617, the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored by Rep. Gerald
Connolly (VA), was enacted into law on December 29,
2022 (provisions were included) (Public Law 117-__).
H.R. 7310, the Protecting America's Retirement Security Act,
sponsored by Rep. Lucy McBath (GA), as part of H.R.
2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,
sponsored by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), was enacted
into law on December 29, 2022 (provisions were
included) (Public Law 117-__).
H.R. 8150, the Keep Kids Fed Act, sponsored by Rep. Robert C.
``Bobby'' Scott (VA), as part of S. 2089, the Keep Kids
Fed Act of 2022, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH),
was enacted into law on June 25, 2022 (the text was
included) (Public Law 117-158).
H.R. 8450, the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act, sponsored by
Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), as part of H.R.
2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023,
sponsored by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), was enacted
into law on December 29, 2022 (provisions were
included) (Public Law 117-__).
H.R. 9028, the 21st Century Assistive Technology Act, sponsored
by Rep. DeSaulnier (CA), as part of H.R. 7776, the
James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2023, sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR),
was enacted into law on December 23, 2022
(substantially similar text was included) (Public Law
117-263).
Legislation Within Committee Jurisdiction Not Referred to the Committee
Enacted Into Law
H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, sponsored by
Rep. John Yarmuth (KY), was enacted into law on March
11, 2021 (Public Law 117-2).
H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, sponsored
by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY), was enacted into law on
March 15, 2022 (Public Law 117-103).
H.R. 2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, sponsored
by Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA), was enacted into law on
December 29, 2022 (Public Law 117-__).
H.R. 5305, the Extending Government Funding and Delivering
Emergency Assistance Act, sponsored by Rep. Rosa
DeLauro (CT), was enacted into law on September 30,
2021 (Public Law 117-43).
H.R. 7776, the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2023, sponsored by Rep. Peter
DeFazio (OR), was enacted into law on December 23, 2022
(Public Law 117-263).
S. 848, the Consider Teachers Act of 2021, sponsored by Sen.
Mike Braun (IN), was enacted into law on October 13,
2021 (Public Law 117-49).
S. 1098, the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act, sponsored
by Sen. Mark Warner (VA), was enacted into law on
October 11, 2022 (Public Law 117-200).
S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for
Fiscal Year 2022, sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott (FL),
was enacted into law on December 27, 2021 (Public Law
117-81).
S. 2089, the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022, sponsored by Sen.
Jeanne Shaheen (NH), was enacted into law on June 25,
2022 (Public Law 117-158).
S. 2959, the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act, sponsored
by Sen. John Thune (SD), was enacted into law on
January 21, 2022 (Public Law 117-83).
S.J. Res. 13, Providing for congressional disapproval under
chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule
submitted by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission relating to ``Update of Commission's
Conciliation Procedures,'' sponsored by Sen. Patty
Murray (WA), was enacted into law on June 30, 2021
(Public Law 117-22).
Oversight Plan Summary and Activity
OVERSIGHT PLAN SUMMARY
The Committee adopted its oversight plan for the 117th
Congress at its organizational meeting on February 8, 2021. The
Committee outlined several priority areas for oversight in the
plan including, but not limited to:
COVID-19 Relief Funds
Civil Rights
Implementation of the Every Student Succeeds
Act
Restarting Student Loan Payments
Student Aid
For-Profit Institution Conversions
Borrower Defense
Students and Workers with Disabilities
Department of Labor's Workforce Development
Programs
Worker Wages
Workplace Safety and Health
Mine Safety and Health
Retirement Security and Pensions
International Labor Rights
Guestworker Programs
Collective Bargaining Rights
Child Nutrition
Health Care
Supporting Communities
ACTIONS TAKEN BASED ON OVERSIGHT PLAN
COVID-19 Relief Funds
Hearings--The Committee held multiple hearings
that addressed the U.S. Department of Education's (ED)
implementation and oversight of COVID-19 relief funds. These
included: (1) a hearing on June 24, 2021, with U.S. Department
of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona titled ``Examining the
Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education'';
(2) a hearing on November 17, 2021, titled ``Examining the
Implementation of COVID-19 Education Funds'' (held jointly by
the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary
Education and the Subcommittee on Higher Education and
Workforce Investment); and (3) a hearing on May 26, 2022, again
with Secretary Cardona titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education.''
Oversight of Education Stabilization Fund (ESF)--
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, over $200 billion in
funds was provided through ED to states and school districts to
help mitigate the harm to students' education through three
pieces of legislation: (1) the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security Act (CARES Act); (2) the Coronavirus Response
and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA); and (3) the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). These funds are
collectively known as the Education Stabilization Fund (ESF).
ED was tasked with distributing and monitoring the ESF. The
Committee held oversight meetings with ED to understand its
approval process for reviewing states' COVID-19 and ESF
implementation plans, amendments of those state plans, any
waivers ED provided to states and districts, and ED's routine
monitoring of these funds.
Oversight of Child Care Stabilization Grants--ARPA
included nearly $24 billion in Child Care Stabilization Grants
to be allocated to states, territories, and Tribes to provide
rapid financial relief to childcare providers to help them pay
for unexpected business costs they faced as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee engaged in meetings with the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct
oversight on the implementation of the Stabilization Grants.
Oversight of Occupational Safety and Health
Administration's (OSHA) ARPA Spending--The Committee held
meetings with OSHA to discuss OSHA's spending of the $100
million in ARPA funding appropriated to the agency for COVID-19
related activities. The Committee also held meetings with the
U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Inspector General
(OIG) to request an audit of OSHA's spending of the ARPA
funding.
Oversight of DOL's ARPA Spending--The Committee
has jurisdiction over the administration of DOL's programs,
which includes the administration of the UI system. In March
2021, ARPA provided $2 billion in funding to DOL for
Unemployment Insurance (UI) Modernization, ``aimed at
supporting the delivery of timely, accurate, and equitable UI
payments'' and addressing the many ``deep-seated barriers'' to
access to the UI system. In August 2021, DOL announced that it
would use this funding to award equity grants to the states.
The equity grants will enable states to carry out activities
that promote equitable access to UI programs, which include,
for example, improving claimant outreach and customer service
processes, improving access for lower-income claimants,
eliminating administrative barriers to benefit applications,
reducing state workload backlogs, improving timeliness of UI
payments to eligible individuals, and ensuring equity in fraud
prevention, detection, and recovery activities. The Committee
engaged in meetings with DOL to discuss the status of these
equity grant awards. The Committee also requested that DOL's
OIG include a review of the performance of these grants in its
annual audit; for FY 2023, one of DOL's OIG's discretionary
audits will focus on the ARPA equity grants and DOL's and the
states' effectiveness in addressing the potential racial and
ethnic disparities in the UI program.+
Oversight of DOL's Implementation of the UI CARES
Act Programs--In March 2020, Congress created temporary UI
programs to supplement and support the regular UI system
because of the widespread unemployment caused by the COVID-19
pandemic. The programs, created by the CARES Act, include: the
Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, the Pandemic
Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, and the Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance program. The CARES Act UI programs
successfully fulfilled their purpose by preventing the
country's economic collapse during the pandemic. However, the
U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) examination of
these pandemic UI programs found that DOL and the states
struggled to consistently administer the programs efficiently
and effectively. GAO also found that the implementation of
these temporary programs highlighted several long-standing
challenges in the regular UI system that need to be addressed
expeditiously, including, for example, preventing improper
payments and fraud, improving the modernization of states' UI
information technology (IT) systems, and advancing equitable
access to the UI system. Moreover, GAO concluded that because
these challenges pose a significant risk to UI service delivery
and expose the UI system to significant financial loss, the
agency determined that the UI system should be added to its
High Risk List--a designation that the program is vulnerable
and susceptible to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The
Committee engaged in meetings with DOL's Employment and
Training Administration (ETA) to discuss its oversight of, and
lessons learned from, DOL's implementation of these UI CARES
Act Programs.
Civil Rights
Discipline Disparities Guidance--The Committee
received a report from GAO after it examined students'
experiences with bullying, hate speech, hate crimes, and
victimization in K-12 schools. As a result of the report, the
Committee engaged with ED's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to
understand how ED is addressing student complaints of hostile
behavior by other students in schools that are inadequately
addressed by the schools. The Committee requested information
on how ED's OCR is processing complaints of violations of Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin,
as well as addressing a backlog of complaints dating back to
2014. Further, the Committee engaged with ED's OCR on the need
for ED to issue discipline disparities guidance and urged ED to
be mindful of guidance that may result in school hardening
measures, such as implementing surveillance cameras, metal
detectors, door-locking systems, and even introducing armed
guards and arming teachers in schools. School hardening
measures negatively impact students of color and students with
disabilities. ED's OCR has issued discipline guidance related
to students with disabilities. However, more general discipline
guidance is still pending and is being coordinated with the
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
United States v. Fordice Compliance--Since the
passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal
Educational Opportunities Act of 1974, ED's OCR has been
working to address racially segregated systems of higher
education in states. United States v. Fordice was a 1992 U.S.
Supreme Court decision that held that eight public universities
in Mississippi had not sufficiently integrated and ordered the
state to take action to address this issue in order to comply
with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which
mandates that individuals in similar situations be treated
equally under the law and has been interpreted by the Supreme
Court to help dismantle racial segregation under the law. In
Fordice, the Court found that while Mississippi had eliminated
explicit prohibitions on the admission of black students to
institutions, the state was still using discriminatory policies
to suppress the enrollment of black students at these eight
schools, known as de jure segregation. Since the Fordice
decision, between 1998 and 2009, eight states--Florida,
Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and
Virginia--entered into consent decrees and settlement
agreements with ED's OCR in order to remedy their states'
racially segregated systems of higher education. ED's OCR
closed the matter with two states, Virginia and Kentucky, in
January 2009. Due to concerns that the remaining agreements
expired or were no longer being enforced by ED's OCR under or
since the Trump Administration, the Committee engaged with OCR
on how ED is monitoring and ensuring the remaining six states'
compliance with the Fordice decision. Further, the Committee is
concerned about de facto segregation (segregation in fact as
compared with de jure segregation, which is segregation under
the law). Investigative reporting has found that de facto
racial segregation continues at state-operated colleges and
universities, where the number of Black or Hispanic students
attending the state institution is significantly fewer than the
Black or Hispanic student population of the state. As such, the
Committee also engaged with ED's OCR to inquire whether ED is
considering any investigations of de facto segregation in the
six states with ongoing Fordice settlement agreements or in any
other states.
Compliance with Brown v. Board of Education and
School Resegregation--The Committee received a report from GAO
after it examined the extent of student racial and economic
isolation in public schools. The Committee had requested this
report in order to understand patterns of racial and economic
segregation and isolation in K-12 public schools in the U.S.
The report concluded that even though the K-12 public school
student population has grown significantly more diverse since
2016 when GAO last examined this topic, schools remain divided
along racial, ethnic, and economic lines throughout the U.S.
Specifically, in the 2020-2021 school year, more than one-third
of students attended a predominantly same-race/ethnicity
school, defined as one where 75 percent or more of the student
population is of a single race/ethnicity. Fourteen percent of
students attended schools where 90 percent or more of the
students were of a single race/ethnicity. Further, the report
showed that cities and school districts engage in a process
called ``district secession,'' a process by which schools sever
governance ties from an existing district to form a new
district. Usually, the goal of district secession is for the
new district, which is often a smaller district, to achieve
greater control over funding and school resources. The GAO
report showed that between 2009 and 2020, 36 district
secessions occurred, which generally resulted in shifts in
racial/ethnic composition and wealth. Compared to remaining
districts, new districts had roughly triple the share of white
students, double the share of Asian students, two-thirds the
share of Hispanic students, and one-fifth the share of Black
students. Further, new districts were also generally wealthier
than remaining districts, when using the percentage of students
eligible for free or reduced price lunch as a proxy for
poverty. The Committee utilized the findings in this report in
the amicus curiae brief submitted on behalf of 65 Democratic
Members of the House of Representatives to the Supreme Court
for the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and
Fellows of Harvard College lawsuit. The report also highlights
the continued need for desegregation efforts, which are
reflected in two bills introduced by Chairman Scott: H.R. 729,
the Strength in Diversity Act, and H.R. 730, the Equity and
Inclusion Enforcement Act of 2021.
Title IX Work Requests to GAO--Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) is a landmark law
intended to ensure that no person is discriminated against on
the basis of sex in federally-funded education programs,
including opportunities to participate in intercollegiate
athletics. The Committee requested four Title IX related
studies from GAO.
The first study requested that GAO
examine ED's oversight of colleges' athletic programs
and sexual violence prevention activities within those
athletic programs. This study was requested due to the
number of high-profile cases related to sexual abuse in
college athletic programs, such as at the University of
Michigan and Pennsylvania State University.
Additionally, a recent survey found that more than one
in four current or former student athletes reported
being sexually assaulted or harassed by someone in a
position of power on campus, compared with one in ten
students in the general student population. The
Committee requested the study to better understand the
steps that ED is taking to protect student athletes
from sexual harassment, abuse, and violence.
The second study requested that GAO
examine whether institutions of higher education (IHEs)
provide equitable opportunities to participate in
intercollegiate athletics as well equitable
scholarships, facilities, equipment, supplies, and
other benefits, in compliance with Title IX. This study
was requested due to media reports of disparate
treatment of female athletes, such as female athletes
having substantially inferior practice facilities
compared to their male peers during the NCAA Division I
Basketball Championships in 2020. The Committee
requested the study to better understand the current
opportunities and resources available to female college
athletes.
The third study requested that GAO
examine how IHEs are providing protections for
individuals who are pregnant, have terminated a
pregnancy, or are parenting students in compliance with
Title IX. This study was requested due to the Supreme
Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health
Organization, which potentially endangers these Title
IX protections. The Committee requested the study to
better understand the current landscape of
institutions' compliance with Title IX protections for
individuals who are pregnant, have terminated a
pregnancy, or are parenting students.
The fourth study requested that GAO
examine how K-12 schools that host Junior Reserve
Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) programs ensure
compliance with Title IX protections to protect
students from sexual harassment, abuse, and violence.
This study was requested due to recent investigative
reporting that found that 33 JROTC instructors were
criminally charged with sexual misconduct involving
students, and that JROTC instructors were accused of
such misconduct at a far higher rate than the rate of
civilian high school teachers. The Committee requested
the study to better understand the current landscape of
JROTC programs and their compliance with Title IX
protections.
Section 504 Rulemaking (ED)--Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) ensures that
individuals with disabilities are not discriminated against in
programs that receive federal financial assistance. In May
2022, ED announced plans to gather public input on possible
amendments to Section 504 regulations in order to strengthen
and protect the rights of students with disabilities. The
Committee sent a letter to ED on August 25, 2022, to provide
recommendations for needed updates to Section 504 requirements.
Specifically, the Committee emphasized: (1) including
disability protections in childcare settings for children with
disabilities; (2) providing a clear framework for due process
rights families have to receive a free appropriate public
education (FAPE); (3) providing clear guidance on preventing
the use of harmful restraint, seclusion, and therapy practices
against students with disabilities; and (4) ensuring that
students with disabilities are able to receive the
accommodations they need in post-secondary education.
Section 504 Rulemaking (HHS)--Pursuant to Section
504, individuals with disabilities may not be discriminated
against in programs that receive federal financial assistance
in the delivery of health care services. The antidiscrimination
requirements in the regulations for Section 504 require that
health care providers that receive federal financial assistance
provide full and equal access to their health care services and
facilities. While many Americans can access health care
services without issue, individuals with physical disabilities
continue to face unique challenges receiving these services if
their health care provider does not have accessible medical
equipment such as examination tables, mammography equipment, x-
ray machines, and other equipment that is commonly used for
diagnostic purposes by health professionals. The Affordable
Care Act (ACA), enacted in 2010, required the Architectural and
Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) to
develop standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment
(ADME) within two years of the statute's enactment. After years
long delays, in January 2017, the Access Board finally
published these standards, but they were not adopted before the
transition to President Trump's Administration, which did not
fully adopt them. Therefore, on June 28, 2022, the Committee
sent a letter to HHS to encourage it to finally adopt the
Access Board's 2017 ADME standards through the agencies'
ongoing rulemaking. Adopting these standards will help to
ensure that health care providers that receive federal
financial assistance provide full and equal access to their
health care services and facilities.
Faith Based Regulations--In 2020, the Trump
Administration issued final rules by nine departments--Equal
Participation of Faith-Based Organizations in the Federal
Agencies' Programs and Activities. These final rules changed
the preexisting regulatory framework governing how the federal
government contracts with faith-based organizations. The 2020
rules included policies that threaten to undermine vulnerable
individuals' access to federally-funded social service programs
by allowing them to be subjected to religious discrimination
and coercion in some circumstances. On August 5, 2022, the
Committee sent a letter to President Biden expressing support
for the Administration's plans to engage in rulemaking
regarding the 2020 rules, urging President Biden's
Administration to revisit the Trump-era rules and restore and
strengthen protections against religious discrimination and
coercion in federal social service programs.
Section 1557 Rulemaking--The Committee, along with
the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways
and Means, shares primary jurisdiction over the ACA. On October
3, 2022, the three committees sent a joint letter to HHS in
support of the proposed rule, Nondiscrimination in Health
Programs and Activities. This proposed rule would effectuate
statutory text and congressional intent in enacting Section
1557 of the ACA to ensure that individuals' civil rights are
protected while receiving health care services. The proposed
rule would also rectify key gaps in prior iterations of the
rule that were inconsistent with the ACA's statutory mandate
and undermined the purpose of the law. Moreover, the proposed
rule reflects both evolving judicial precedent and
technological developments affecting patient access to care,
and it is particularly imperative given the continually growing
threats to reproductive health and LGBTQI+ health. In the joint
letter, the committees noted their strong support for the
proposed rule and urged HHS to swiftly finalize the rule
following the public comment period.
Diversity in Higher Education--The Committee sent
a letter to GAO requesting a review of faculty diversity at
IHEs. Specifically, the request asked GAO to examine the racial
composition of faculty at IHEs and to what extent ED, the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and DOJ's Civil
Rights Division (CRD) have taken steps to promote faculty
diversity and prevent racial discrimination in faculty hiring,
promotion, and compensation. The Committee is concerned about
faculty diversity because research reports showed that, while
the share of students of color among all undergraduate students
increased from approximately 30 percent to approximately 45
percent between 1996 and 2016, only approximately 17 percent of
full-time professors are people of color. Relatedly, studies
have shown that students benefit from having teachers who look
like them, especially nonwhite students. The Committee sent
this request to better understand the current state of faculty
diversity as well as steps ED, EEOC, and DOJ are taking to
promote diversity and protect minority faculty from
discrimination.
Workplace Accommodations and Vaccination
Requirements--On October 26, 2021, the Subcommittee on
Workforce Protections and the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and
Human Services held a joint hearing titled ``Protecting Lives
and Livelihoods: Vaccine Requirements and Employee
Accommodations,'' during which the Members and witnesses
discussed the interplay between COVID-19 vaccine requirements
in the private employment sector and an employer's
responsibility to provide modifications and/or accommodations
to such requirements based on religion, disability, and/or
pregnancy under federal civil rights laws.
EEOC and OFCCP Hearing--On April 27, 2022, the
Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services held a hearing
titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal
Contract Compliance Programs[OFCCP],'' to explore the EEOC's
and the OFCCP's civil rights enforcement activities. With
regard to the EEOC, the hearing addressed the agency's capacity
to combat racial injustice and systemic discrimination; its
enforcement of protections for LGBTQI+ workers; and its ability
to reduce its inventory of unprocessed charges, among other
issues. With regard to the OFCCP, the hearing addressed the
agency's efforts to increase its oversight of federal
contractors and subcontractors with new initiatives such as the
Mega Construction Project Program, a program designed to
provide proactive compliance assistance to contractors to help
expand access to jobs for historically underrepresented groups
on large construction contracts; its proposed rulemaking
related to its rescission of a Trump Administration-era
religious exemption rule for religious-based federal
contractors; and its efforts to address pay equity by issuing a
directive that reaffirms the agency's commitment to conducting
pay equity audits, among other issues.
EEOC Oversight--The Committee held meetings with
the EEOC to better understand its enforcement priorities, such
as its response to the report issued on July 28, 2022, by the
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,
which evaluated the integrity and utility of the pay data the
EEOC collected from private sector employers and certain
federal contractors during 2017 and 2018. The report found that
pay data collection is an important tool to address pay
discrimination and that the EEOC can use the pay data to
prioritize investigations and help the agency allocate
resources to identify potential pay discrimination. The report
also recommended that the agency take several steps to improve
its pay data collection efforts should the agency collect such
data in the future. The agency acknowledged that it has already
started to address some of the recommendations in the report
that will help with pay discrimination enforcement efforts but
stated that future pay data collections will need to be
carefully considered. Additionally, during these meetings,
agency officials discussed the agency's staffing challenges,
which include hiring more frontline staff to help the agency
process the approximately 250 charges it receives daily as well
as addressing the length of its intake process. Also discussed
during the meetings was the implementation of new initiatives
during the Biden Administration, such as Hiring Initiative to
Reimagine Equity (HIRE), which is a joint initiative with OFCCP
that aims to reimagine hiring and recruitment practices in ways
that will advance equal employment opportunity and help provide
access to good jobs for workers. Discussions also included the
agency's Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Fairness
Initiative, which the agency launched to ensure that employers'
use of software--including artificial intelligence (AI) machine
learning--and other emerging technologies in employment
decisions is done in ways that are consistent with requirements
under federal civil rights laws.
OFCCP Oversight--The Committee held meetings with
OFCCP to understand its role in the implementation of the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, also known as the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)). Under BIL, Congress
authorized significant investments in infrastructure projects,
which means that the number of federal contractors under
OFCCP's jurisdiction will significantly increase during the
next few years. The anticipated growth in the number of federal
contractors comes at a time when the agency has reached its
lowest staffing levels in decades. Therefore, the agency
discussed how it has been hiring additional staff during the
past fiscal year while also acknowledging that it will need
additional resources to adequately meet the demands of
overseeing a larger contractor community. Discussions also
included OFCCP's efforts to revamp its Mega Construction
Project Program, a program designed to provide proactive
compliance assistance to contractors to help expand access to
jobs for historically underrepresented groups on large
construction contracts, and its implementation of the
Affirmative Action Program--Verification Initiative (AAVI),
which requires contractors to annually verify that they are
compliant with affirmative action program (AAP) requirements.
Implementation of the AAVI is in response to a 2016 GAO report
that found that OFCCP's oversight was limited by reliance on
contractors' voluntary compliance with AAP requirements.
Therefore, AAVI seeks to improve contractor compliance with AAP
requirements. Additionally, the oversight meetings addressed
OFCCP's response to litigation filed in 2019 against DOL by the
Center for Investigative Reporting in which the organization is
seeking all EEO 1 Type 2 Reports filed by contractors from 2016
to 2020 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). OFCCP
discussed the steps it has taken to respond to this litigation,
including publishing notices in the Federal Register on August
19, 2022, and September 27, 2022, and informing contractors
that the agency has received a FOIA request from CIR for the
EEO 1 reports and that the contractors may submit an objection
to the disclosure of this information by October 19, 2022.
OFCCP sent out another notice on November 27, 2022, to
contractors who did not submit an objection by the October 19th
deadline to advise them that their EEO 1 reports may be subject
to a disclosure.
HHS Hearing--The Committee held a hearing on April
6, 2022, titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'' (April 6th
Hearing), which covered numerous issues including the
enforcement of civil rights protections by HHS' Office for
Civil Rights (OCR). For example, a Democratic Member asked U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier
Becerra whether HHS' OCR could withdraw the Trump-era waivers
issued to child welfare entities in South Carolina, Texas, and
Michigan allowing them to use the Religious Freedom and
Restoration Act (RFRA) to turn families away from participating
in federally-funded foster care programs based on their
religion or because of religious objections to the foster care
parents' sexual orientation or gender identity. Additionally,
in a Question for the Record (QFR) submitted after the hearing,
a Democratic Member asked Secretary Becerra about the impact of
his decision to rescind the Trump-era delegation of authority
to HHS' OCR for RFRA compliance. On May 4, 2017, President
Trump issued Executive Order 13798, Promoting Free Speech and
Religious Liberty (E.O. 13798), which established the
Administration's policy to protect and enforce religious
exercise and political speech to the greatest extent
practicable. In response to E.O. 13798, on October 6, 2017,
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the Guidance on Federal
Law Protections for Religious Liberty (Guidance) in which it
purported to interpret and clarify existing religious liberty
protections in federal law. Consistent with E.O. 13798 and the
Guidance, on January 19, 2018, HHS announced that the HHS
Secretary was delegating to HHS' OCR the authority over
implementation of and compliance with RFRA relating to programs
or activities funded, conducted, or administered by HHS.
Critics of the delegation of authority expressed concerns that
the delegation may have over-expanded HHS' OCR's authority;
prior to that delegation there had not been a division within
HHS that was singularly responsible for HHS' compliance with
RFRA or First Amendment issues. On November 23, 2021, HHS
announced the rescission of the Trump-era delegation of
authority. In response to the QFR asking about the impact of
the rescission, Secretary Becerra stated that the purpose of
the rescission was to restore HHS' long-standing practice of
allowing HHS components to determine ``how their programs must
be run to comply with the Free Exercise Clause and the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as well as RFRA.''
86 FR 67067 (Nov. 24, 2021). Secretary Becerra also stated that
HHS components have the greatest knowledge about their
respective programs and are the ones best positioned to engage
in RFRA analysis. Finally, Secretary Becerra concluded by
reaffirming that HHS takes its obligations to comply with the
law seriously, and it will continue to follow those and all
other applicable federal laws.
Implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
Implementation of ESSA--State education agencies
(SEAs) are required by the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA), as amended by ESSA, to submit state plans to ED
describing how SEAs have developed and are implementing
accountability systems to support all public elementary school
and secondary school students in meeting challenging state
academic standards. Due to the extraordinarily adverse effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic on K-12 education nationwide, ED
permitted SEAs to amend their state plans to revise components
of state accountability systems (known as an amendment). SEAs
could submit multiple amendments to their state plans, which
are collectively referred to as ``addenda.'' These addenda and
amendments are meant to be temporary changes to the SEAs'
previously approved plans. As of December 12, 2022, thirty-four
SEAs revised at least one of the four key components of their
accountability system through an approved addendum. As of
December 12, 2022, eight SEAs revised at least one of the four
key components of their accountability system through an
approved amendment. ED reviewed and approved these addenda and
amendments. The Committee conducted an in-depth analysis of
ED's review process and the approved addenda and amendments.
Based on the review, the Committee encouraged ED to take
further steps to ensure faithful implementation of
accountability systems it approved before the pandemic. The
Committee will continue to conduct oversight over ED to ensure
that low-performing schools are appropriately identified and
provided support.
Implementation of the ESSA One Percent Cap--ESSA
requires states to test students annually in several subjects.
However, ESSA allows states to administer alternative
assessments aligned with alternate academic achievement
standards for students with the most significant cognitive
disabilities, capping participation in alternative assessments
at one percent of tested students (known as the ``one percent
cap''). States are permitted to request waivers of the one
percent cap requirement one year at a time. The Committee held
oversight meetings with ED to understand its approval process
for reviewing states' applications for a waiver from the one
percent cap. Further, based on information provided to the
Committee from stakeholders in the disability education
community, the Committee requested clarifying guidance from ED
on the process through which states can request waivers from
the one percent cap. The Committee requested that states be
required to engage in a public comment period when a state
requests its initial waiver from the one percent cap as well as
when the state renews its waiver request for another year. In
response to the Committee's inquiries, ED has provided updated
guidance to states, which includes a requirement to engage in a
public comment period during both the initial waiver request
and a waiver extension request.
Restarting Student Loan Payments
In March 2020, ED used its authority under the Higher
Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES
Act) to pause interest accrual on ED-held federal loans,
suspend collections on defaulted loans, and allow borrowers to
request their loans be placed in forbearance for up to 60 days
(known as ``the payment pause''). Later that month, the CARES
Act was signed into law and included provisions to extend the
pause in interest accrual and collections and make the payment
pause automatic for all borrowers with ED-held federal loans
through September 30, 2020. ED extended these relief measures
three more times through January 31, 2022, using HEROES Act
authority. Most recently, ED extended these relief measures a
fourth time until ED is permitted to implement the one-time
debt relief program announced by the Biden Administration or
until the current litigation about the one-time debt relief
program is resolved, but no later than September 2023.
Hearing--The Committee held a hearing on
October 27, 2021, titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Office of Federal Student Aid,'' to
explore how ED's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA)
was preparing and communicating with student loan
servicers to restart student loan payments after the
payment pause is lifted.
Oversight--The Committee held oversight
meetings with ED to understand the processes ED was
putting into place to return to repayment after the
payment pause is lifted, as well as the communication
ED was providing to both student loan servicers and
borrowers about return to repayment. The Committee also
engaged with several student loan servicers to
understand how the servicers were preparing for return
to repayment. The Committee provided feedback and
recommendations to ED to help improve the process for
return to repayment to ensure that student borrowers
are provided clear, consistent information about their
repayment obligations.
Student Aid
Rulemaking--In 2021, ED announced its intention to
re-regulate several important student aid issues as part of a
negotiated rulemaking process, including total and permanent
disability discharge, closed school discharge, interest
capitalization, the public service loan forgiveness (PSLF)
program, borrower defense adjudication and recovery, pre-
dispute arbitration, income-driven repayment plans, false
certification discharge, gainful employment, and the 90/10
rule. ED conducted negotiated rulemaking sessions in October
2021 and January 2022. ED released two Notices of Proposed
Rulemaking (NPRMs) on these student aid issues, and the
Committee sent comment letters to ED in response to the NPRMs.
Hearing--The Committee held a hearing on October
27, 2021, titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the
Office of Federal Student Aid.'' FSA is the office within ED
responsible for the management of Title IV federal financial
aid programs provided under the Higher Education Act of 1965
(HEA), including Pell Grants, campus-based aid, and federal
student loans. FSA also plays a key role in overseeing IHEs and
enforcing compliance with the requirements for Title IV
participation. Title IV of HEA provides financial assistance to
students to assist them in obtaining a postsecondary education
at participating IHEs. The hearing covered the plans and
priorities of ED generally, and FSA specifically, related to
federal student loans, oversight of predatory for-profit
institutions, and protections for student loan borrowers.
Income Driven Repayment (IDR)--IDR plans were
created by the Congress to provide financial relief for student
loan borrowers who might otherwise be at risk of default as
they try to pay their student loans. There are several types of
IDR plans, but they all generally aim to decrease borrowers'
monthly payments (including down to zero), forgive a borrower's
loan after a certain period of consistent payment, or subsidize
interest on the borrower's student loan. The first IDR plan was
established in 1994 and required payment for 25 years before a
borrower's loan could be forgiven. As such, the first set of
student loans that could be forgiven under an IDR plan arose in
2019. To better understand ED's implementation of IDR plans and
whether eligible borrowers were receiving timely loan
forgiveness, the Committee requested a GAO study on IDR plans.
The Committee received a report based on an examination by GAO
of ED's implementation and oversight of the IDR plans. The
report found that there were long-standing flaws in ED's
implementation of the IDR plans, which left thousands of
student loan borrowers without the loan forgiveness for which
they may be eligible. The report found that at least 3,000
student loan borrowers who may be eligible for loan forgiveness
under their respective IDR plan have not received forgiveness
yet. If left unaddressed, by the year 2030, the number of
borrowers that might be left without forgiveness would balloon
to approximately 600,000 borrowers and approximately 1.5
million loans. According to the GAO report, the reason
borrowers were not receiving the loan forgiveness was due to
mismanagement of student loan repayment data, which caused loan
servicers and ED to miscount repayments and inaccurately track
borrowers' progress toward forgiveness (known as ``payment
counts''). The Committee met with ED to discuss GAO's findings.
In particular, the Committee was concerned about how the
miscounting of payment counts impacts the most vulnerable
borrowers such as those in default or sending $0 payments. The
Committee wrote a letter to ED on April 15, 2022, urging the
implementation of several changes to ED's implementation of IDR
plans to address the findings in the GAO report. On April 19,
2022, ED proposed several changes to address the findings. ED
announced that it will conduct a one-time revision of IDR
payment counts to address past inaccuracies for borrowers. ED
will also conduct a one-time account adjustment to count
certain long-term forbearances toward IDR. Historically, ED and
other regulatory agencies have found that borrowers who were
inappropriately placed into long-term forbearances (instead of
IDR) are unable to take advantage of forgiveness programs
(known as ``forbearance steering''). For borrowers who had
forbearances of more than 12 consecutive months and more than
36 cumulative months, ED will do a one-time correction to count
those months toward forgiveness under IDR. Borrowers who had
shorter-term forbearances will be able to seek individual
account reviews with the FSA Ombudsman. ED is also working to
permanently fix IDR payment counts by requiring FSA to track
payments and implementing borrower friendly reforms to help
borrowers track their payment counts to ensure accuracy. ED
committed to increase oversight of servicers' using forbearance
as an option for borrowers by conducting external reviews and
audits of forbearance use. Lastly, ED is working on an IDR
rulemaking, with the intent to simplify payment counts by
allowing more loan statuses, including certain types of
deferment and forbearance, to count toward IDR. The Committee
continues to engage with ED on the implementation of the
proposed changes.
Closed School Discharge GAO Work--HEA requires
ED to hold students harmless and discharge their student loan
debts if their colleges close. Students affected by college
closures have three options: (1) continue pursuing their
degrees either through teach-out plans offered by their own
institution or agreements with other institutions; (2) transfer
to another institution of their choice; or (3) apply for a
discharge of their federal student loans. ED is responsible for
coordinating with colleges, state agencies, and accreditors to
mitigate the impact of school closures. To ease the
bureaucratic burden on students based on findings that about
half of eligible borrowers do not apply for a discharge even
three years after their schools closed, in 2016 ED finalized
regulations that automatically discharged loans for students
who neither continued their education nor applied for discharge
within three years of their school closure if their school
closed on or after November 1, 2013. However, in September
2019, the Trump Administration reversed these regulations and
eliminated automatic loan discharge stating that ED was no
longer required to provide automatic discharges to students
whose institutions closed on or after July 1, 2020. At the
time, little was known about student outcomes following school
closures, related taxpayer liabilities, and ED's processes for
coordinating with relevant entities when a school closure is
announced. Accordingly, in 2019, the Committee requested GAO
investigate these topics. In September 2021, the Committee
received a report with the results of GAO's examination of ED's
implementation and oversight of the Closed School Discharge
program. The report found that ED has not been able to
implement this program in a way that helps student borrowers
receive the relief to which they are legally eligible when
their institution of higher education precipitously closes.
Further, the changing regulations between the Obama and Trump
Administrations was confusing to borrowers, who could not
easily determine what type of relief, if any, was applicable to
them.
Closed School Discharge Hearing--The Committee
held a hearing in the Subcommittee on Higher Education and
Workforce Investment titled ``Protecting Students and
Taxpayers: Improving the Closed School Discharge Process'' on
September 30, 2021, to hear testimony from GAO about its report
as well as from experts who proposed solutions that ED could
take into consideration as it undertook rulemaking on the
subject of closed school discharge.
Closed School Discharge Rulemaking--In July
2022, ED released a NPRM, which included new rules about the
Closed School Discharge program, aimed to address the problems
raised in the GAO report. ED proposed: (1) reinstituting the
automatic closed school discharge process one year after a
college's closure; (2) establishing a longer eligibility period
for students who withdrew before the college closed; (3)
expanding the list of examples of reasons why a student would
be eligible for a closed school discharge; and (4) removing the
requirement that a student affirm that they did not complete a
``comparable program'' at another school. The Committee sent a
letter with recommendations to ED as part of the rulemaking
process, encouraging ED to provide immediate relief to
borrowers once their school closes, regardless of their
transfer status, and without a one-year wait period. The
Committee's letter also encouraged ED to conduct more robust
oversight over the teach-out process, so that students who
could complete their degree at their current college or at
another college are able to do so with minimal disruption.
Next Generation Federal Student Aid (Next Gen
FSA)--In 2014, the Obama Administration began an effort--known
as Next Gen FSA--to streamline and simplify the student loan
repayment system, which is both confusing for borrowers to
navigate and expensive for ED to administer. Unfortunately, the
implementation of Next Gen FSA has been repeatedly delayed by
bid protests, which must be resolved before the procurement can
continue. Every solicitation between 2014 and 2021 by ED to
procure vendors to build and service the Next Gen FSA systems
has faced bid protests by the vendors competing for the
contract. In 2022, ED issued a solicitation for the Unified
Servicing and Data Solution (USDS), an important servicing
component of Next Gen FSA. The vendor that wins the USDS
solicitation will need to service student loans; process
special types of student loans (such as PSLF and IDR); perform
financial and operational reporting requirements under the law;
as well as build data integration systems with other, existing
FSA systems. ED hopes to finalize the solicitation and
contracting with a vendor for USDS by December 2023. The
Committee held meetings with ED to conduct oversight over the
USDS bid process, including how ED will avoid the solicitation
issues of the past and ensure that Next Gen FSA is implemented
quickly and properly with performance metrics that ensure that
the vendor is providing accurate information to borrowers and a
quality service to both borrowers and FSA.
Letters of Credit--Title IV of HEA provides
financial assistance to students to assist them in obtaining a
postsecondary education at IHEs. HEA requires IHEs to submit
financial statements to ED when applying to participate in
Title IV programs. HEA regulations establish general standards
of financial responsibility and provide rules for how ED
determines the financial responsibility of an IHE each year. If
ED determines that an IHE does not meet sufficient standards of
financial responsibility and/or does not comply with other
regulatory requirements under HEA, ED can require an IHE to
remit a letter of credit (LOC) to ED. An LOC is a financial
instrument issued by a financial institution (e.g., a bank) on
behalf of an IHE, which is generally secured by collateral held
by the bank. The LOC mitigates the monetary risk to ED and
students from IHEs that have insufficient standards of
financial responsibility or other regulatory issues. After
securing an LOC, ED can permit the IHE to continue Title IV
participation, while the IHE remediates its underlying
financial and regulatory issues. The bank will pay the LOC
funds to ED if ED initiates collection because the IHE fails to
remediate its underlying financial and regulatory issues and
causes ED to incur a financial liability (e.g., because the IHE
closes and ED is required to provide closed school discharges
to students or because the IHE misrepresents information to
students and ED is required to discharge students' loans
(called borrower defense discharge)). LOCs are issued for a
specific period of time, and they expire unless ED requires the
IHE to renew the LOC. Media reports have highlighted that ED
permitted LOCs to expire even though ED should have either
initiated collection of the LOC or required an extension of the
LOC due to ongoing financial and regulatory issues with the
IHE. Based on this reporting, the Committee requested ED's OIG
review how ED implements LOCs and monitors their use,
especially for IHEs that have a history of inappropriate
student recruitment practices and ongoing financial and
regulatory concerns.
For-Profit Institution Conversions
HEA includes regulatory requirements for for-profit
colleges, above and beyond those for non-profit and public
institutions, as a condition of becoming eligible for federal
student aid under Title IV of HEA. One such requirement, the
90/10 rule, requires for-profit institutions to derive at least
10 percent of their revenue from funds other than Title IV
program funds; non-profit institutions are not subject to the
90/10 rule. For-profit colleges are also generally ineligible
for institutional grant programs and subsidized lending
programs. For-profit colleges have begun to convert to non-
profit institutions to distance themselves from the fraud
associated with the for-profit sector; avoid heightened
regulatory scrutiny; and access additional Title IV funds,
grant aid, and tax benefits.
Hearing on GAO Report--GAO examined and
issued a report about how for-profit IHEs convert to
non-profit IHEs and ED's oversight of the conversion
process. The report found that while only a small
number of conversions involved insiders (owners or
executives controlling both the non-profit and for-
profit simultaneously), insider conversions accounted
for the vast majority of federal student loan aid
received by converted institutions (called ``converted
non-profits'' or ``covert for-profits''). GAO further
found that these converted non-profits perform worse
financially than converted IHEs that do not involve
insiders, putting students and taxpayers at risk, and
that existing regulations fail to prevent these
institutions from improperly channeling benefits to
insiders. After the release of GAO's report, the
Committee conducted a hearing titled ``For-Profit
College Conversions: Examining Ways to Improve
Accountability and Prevent Fraud'' on April 20, 2021.
The hearing provided an opportunity for Committee
members to better understand GAO's findings and
recommendations and hear from experts on how ED can
better regulate and conduct oversight of converted non-
profits.
Information and Data Sharing--The Committee
sent a letter to ED regarding ED's process for
reviewing, approving, and monitoring for-profit college
conversions to non-profit institutions. Specifically,
the letter identified several issues demonstrating that
ED and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must take
steps to reform their respective processes for
reviewing conversions and halt the approval of all
conversions until ED and the IRS finalize those
reforms. The letter requested responses to several
questions related to these issues.
Reconsideration of Conversions--The
Committee sent three letters related to specific for-
profit entities that converted to non-profit status.
Two letters were sent to the
IRS--one about University of Arizona Global
Campus and another about Grand Canyon
University. The letters requested the IRS
reconsider its previous approval of non-profit
status to each institution. The IRS can
reconsider an institution's non-profit status
based on information it receives about the
institution's relationships with for-profit
corporations.
The third letter was sent to ED
requesting its review of Everglades College's
non-profit status for the purposes of Title IV
funding and application of the 90/10 rule. In
the letter, the Committee outlined conduct by
Everglades College--which operates two
universities, Everglades University and Keiser
University--that raised questions as to whether
Everglades College qualifies as a nonprofit for
Title IV eligibility under HEA because the
institution's earnings seemed to benefit
private shareholders, individuals, and related
businesses, which contravenes the Title IV
definition of a nonprofit institution. ED can
reconsider an institution's non-profit status
when the institution's program participation
agreement (PPA)--which outlines the terms for
how the institution participates in Title IV
programs under HEA to access federal student
aid funds--is renewed.
Borrower Defense
Under HEA, borrowers can seek loan forgiveness of their
student loans if their IHE misled them or engaged in other
misconduct in violation of certain state laws. This is known as
``borrower defense to repayment'' or ``borrower defense.'' In
order to receive loan forgiveness, the borrower has to submit
an application to ED requesting forgiveness. ED then completes
a detailed investigation into the borrower's application, the
IHE, and the allegations of misconduct. During this
investigation process, the IHE is permitted to respond to the
allegations of misconduct. ED can review borrower defense
claims individually or as a group if a group of borrowers all
attended the same IHE and are alleging similar misconduct in
the same time period. The group claims, if approved, are called
``group discharges.'' Unfortunately, tens of thousands of
borrowers with borrower defense claims have been waiting years
to have their claims reviewed by ED. Borrowers and advocates
sued ED in a case titled Sweet v. Cardona (formerly Sweet v.
DeVos), arguing that under the Trump Administration ED
deliberately and illegally stopped processing borrower defense
claims and wrongfully denied other borrowers' claims without
considering the merits of their cases. The Biden Administration
has been working to review applications both individually and
for groups of students, and so far it has approved relief of
more than $2 billion for more than 100,000 borrowers.
Oversight--The Committee held oversight
meetings with ED to understand the processes ED was
putting into place to address borrower defense claims
from IHEs that have defrauded students and then closed
precipitously, including ED's process to review and
grant group discharges. The Committee continued to
press ED to hold owners, executives, and board members
of defunct for-profit and converted non-profit IHEs
individually responsible for liabilities of the
institution to the federal government, including those
arising from borrower defense claims. Pursuing personal
liability against these individuals could permit ED to
recoup taxpayer dollars that had been provided to the
IHE through Title IV student aid funds.
Sweet v. Cardona Settlement Agreement--On
June 22, 2022, ED and the plaintiffs reached a proposed
settlement in the Sweet v. Cardona case. The final
settlement was approved by a federal court order on
November 16, 2022. Under this settlement, $6 billion in
student loan debt discharges will be provided for
approximately 200,000 borrowers. Additionally, more
than 60,000 borrowers will have their fraud claims
reconsidered on the merits between six and 30 months,
depending on when the borrower filed their borrower
defense claim. The settlement identifies over 100 IHEs,
many of which are for-profit or converted non-profit
institutions, against whom these borrower defense
claims were initiated. Several of these IHEs remain
open, such as DeVry University, University of Phoenix,
Everglades University, and Keiser University. The
Committee wrote a letter to ED on August 09, 2022,
requesting information about how ED is going to recoup
funds from the IHEs that are included in this
settlement agreement and are still open, including
whether ED is considering holding the IHEs' executives
personally liable for the costs paid out by ED to
resolve the borrower defense claims.
Students and Workers with Disabilities
Work Request to GAO--The Committee commissioned
GAO to examine school districts' compliance with the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the
requirement to provide access to assistive technology (AT) as
part of a student's Individualized Education Program (IEP). The
Committee also requested a review of the compatibility of AT
with other technology that school districts have been using to
teach or work with students, including students with
disabilities, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report will
help the Committee understand the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on students with disabilities and how technology can
be used to help these students.
Work Request to GAO--Individuals with
disabilities face several barriers to employment, and their
employment rate has historically been far lower than that of
individuals without disabilities. The Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) made updates to the country's
primary employment and training programs, including the network
of one-stop centers that provide a variety of employment
training services. WIOA also prohibits disability
discrimination against people who apply to or participate in
DOL-supported programs. DOL has issued guidance to help states
and one-stop centers comply with this antidiscrimination
requirement; this guidance has, for example, addressed how one-
stop centers can adopt practices that promote inclusion and
effective services to ensure equal access for one-stop
participants with disabilities. In 2004, GAO completed a
comprehensive review of one stop centers' accessibility for
people with disabilities. The report found that the centers had
gaps in addressing accessibility issues and that DOL only
monitored a small fraction of the one stop centers nationwide
to determine whether they were complying with the disability
antidiscrimination requirement. Given that it has been close to
twenty years since GAO conducted a comprehensive assessment of
this issue, the Committee requested a review of the
accessibility of one-stop centers and WIOA services for
individuals with disabilities. This report will help the
Committee understand what efforts states and one-stop centers
have made since WIOA's enactment to reach out to individuals
with disabilities about the availability of WIOA services
delivered through one-stop centers, and what challenges states
have faced related to marketing and outreach to the disability
community. This report will also help the Committee understand
to what extent individuals with disabilities have sought and
been enrolled in WIOA services and their employment outcomes,
including job placements and average earnings.
U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Development Programs
Oversight of Job Corps Hearing--The Committee held
a hearing on June 14, 2022, titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the U.S. Department of Labor (June 14th
Hearing),'' which addressed, among several topics, DOL's
administrative action to exempt Job Corps from the McNamara-
O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA). The SCA applies to every
contract with the United States or the District of Columbia,
where the principal purpose of the contract is to furnish
services in the United States through the use of service
employees. Contractors and subcontractors performing on such
federal contracts must observe certain minimum wage standards
and provide certain fringe benefits to the service employees
unless an exemption applies. Until recently, DOL has
interpreted the SCA to exclude from coverage those contracts
between DOL and private firms that operate Job Corps
facilities. This exemption was reflected in DOL's Field Office
Handbook (FOH), which provides informal regulatory guidance on
the laws enforced by DOL. During the June 14th Hearing, a
Democratic Member of the Committee noted that due to the
exemption from the SCA, it is challenging to get high-quality
instructional staff at Job Corps Centers because local school
districts can pay more and draw away talent. The Member asked
U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Martin Walsh about DOL's
willingness to revisit this exemption so that Job Corps Centers
can recruit and retain high quality instructional staff. At the
time, Secretary Walsh responded by indicating that DOL is
looking to realign, reevaluate, and strengthen Job Corps, which
includes looking at the contracts to ensure that Job Corps
staff is being treated fairly and paid good wages.
Subsequently, on June 23, 2022, DOL announced that it deleted
the exemption under SCA for federal contracts to operate Job
Corps Centers by removing a section of the FOH. The effect of
the change is that covered contractors now must pay the minimum
wages and fringe benefits mandated by the SCA to all covered
workers, making the Job Corps Centers' wages and benefits more
competitive with other organizations in the local area.
Oversight of Job Corps' Annual Reporting
Requirement--The Committee requested information from ETA
regarding the Job Corps Annual Reports under WIOA. Under
Section 159 of WIOA, DOL's Secretary is required to conduct an
annual assessment of the performance of each Job Corps center
and based on the assessment, the Secretary is required to take
measures to continuously improve the performance of the Job
Corps program. DOL must annually submit this performance report
to the authorizing committees (the Committee on Education and
Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the U.S. Senate). In
2022, DOL submitted, for the first time, the performance
reports for 2017 through 2019. The Committee requested
additional information explaining the delay in the reporting
requirement, the status of the outstanding reports, and how Job
Corps obtained information for the performance reporting.
Oversight of Job Corps Minimum Wage--On April 27,
2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026 (E.O.
14026), Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors,
which, among other things, increased the minimum wage for
workers performing work on or in connection with covered
federal contracts to $15 per hour beginning January 30, 2022,
with annual adjustments for inflation thereafter as determined
by DOL's Secretary. The Committee requested information from
ETA: (1) about the reimbursements for Job Corps contractors to
increase the minimum wage; (2) to better understand how the
minimum wage increase is impacting Job Corps contractors; and
(3) what steps ETA is taking to address the potential negative
impacts of the wage increase, such as wage compression issues
and the increased costs of performing the Job Corps contract.
Apprenticeships--The June 14th Hearing addressed,
among several topics, expanding registered apprenticeships and
pre-apprenticeships to help underrepresented groups obtain more
opportunities in the workforce.
Worker Wages
Hearing--The June 14th Hearing addressed, among
several topics, increasing the staff of DOL's Wage and Hour
Division (WHD) to better safeguard workers' pay; recover back
wages to ensure that employers that have violated federal wage
laws make up the difference between what employees were paid
and the amount they should have been paid; and conduct
rulemaking regarding employee misclassification and independent
contractor issues.
Oversight--On September 30, 2021, DOL's OIG issued
a report titled ``COVID-19: The Pandemic Highlighted the Need
to Strengthen Wage and Hour Division's Enforcement Controls.''
In March 2020, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus
Response Act (FFCRA), which provided paid leave benefits for
workers for COVID-19 related reasons. WHD was responsible for
implementing and enforcing FFRCA's paid leave provisions. DOL's
OIG conducted an audit to determine whether WHD implemented
effective controls for enforcing FFCRA's paid leave provisions.
DOL's OIG found that even though WHD had existing controls that
the agency used when enforcing FFCRA's paid leave provisions,
these controls were not always effective and could have been
stronger. Specifically, WHD failed to fully consider how
different enforcement strategies may have been needed for the
pandemic-specific benefits. In addition, WHD did not require
staff to document all incoming inquires and did not implement
controls to ensure the proper handling of all complaints. The
Committee held meetings with WHD and conducted follow-up
regarding the findings in the report.
Work Request to GAO--On June 6, 2018, the
Committee requested that GAO evaluate WHD's practices, and,
where appropriate, conduct a forensic audit of WHD's
enforcement actions. In December 2020, GAO released a report
titled ``Fair Labor Standards Act: Tracking Additional
Complaint Data Could Improve DOL's Enforcement,'' which
addressed some, but not all, of the inquiries from the
Committee's 2018 request. GAO noted that while completing the
2020 report, its forensic audit of WHD's enforcement actions
was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the
Committee met with GAO to discuss the need to complete the
forensic audit, which is focused on the extent to which WHD
consistently applies its enforcement tools to process wage and
hour complaints.
Workplace Safety and Health
OSHA Hearing--On May 25, 2022, the Subcommittee on
Workforce Protections held a hearing titled ``Examining the
Policies and Priorities of the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration'' (May 25th Hearing). During the hearing,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Douglas Parker,
discussed the agency's current priorities, including proposed
rulemaking to address infectious diseases, occupational heat
illness, and protecting health care workers from workplace
violence. OSHA's priorities also include restoring the agency's
enforcement capacity by hiring more staff and continuing to
respond to the threat of COVID-19.
Oversight of OSHA's Rulemaking and Enforcement
Activities--The Committee held meetings with OSHA to discuss
the Trump Administration's failure to issue an Emergency
Temporary Standard (ETS) to protect workers from COVID-19, the
Biden Administration's efforts to develop an ETS, OSHA's
response to the reported increase in injuries in the
warehousing industry, and OSHA's oversight of correctional
facility workers and employers during the pandemic.
Oversight of OSHA's Recordkeeping Requirement--The
Committee met with GAO to discuss its February 2021 report
titled ``Workplace Safety and Health: Actions Needed to Improve
Reporting of Summary Injury and Illness Data.'' The report
detailed GAO's examination of: (1) how and why recordkeeping
violations changed from fiscal years 2005 to 2019; and (2) the
extent to which employers report summary injury and illness
data and how OSHA has taken steps to ensure compliance with
this requirement. GAO found that the number of recordkeeping
violations has fluctuated over the past 15 years and that
employers did not report any summary injury and illness data on
more than one-half of their establishments. Further, GAO
concluded that OSHA has limited procedures for encouraging
compliance with this reporting requirement and for penalizing
employers for non-compliance. As a result of the report, the
Committee met with GAO to discuss how and why OSHA needs to
increase oversight of employers' recordkeeping requirements.
During the May 25th Hearing, a Democratic Member of the
Committee asked Assistant Secretary Parker about OSHA's
capacity to enforce the recordkeeping requirement given that
the agency's current staffing levels only permit it to inspect
each workplace every 100 years. Assistant Secretary Parker
acknowledged the limitations of the agency's reliance on
employer-provided records and confirmed that the agency is
doing what it can to ensure that employers comply with the
recordkeeping requirement. He also indicated that the agency
needs to expand the type of data that it is collecting because
there is underutilized information that would be helpful to the
agency's enforcement efforts.
Oversight of Enforcement of Civil Rights
Protections for Warehouse Workers--There have been consistent
reports about worker safety issues in Amazon's warehouse
facilities, and recently the U.S. Attorney's Office in the
Southern District of New York and OSHA have initiated a joint
investigation to examine ``potential workplace hazards related,
among other things, to Amazon's required pace of work for its
warehouse employees.'' In October 2022, the Committee sent a
letter to the EEOC's New York District Office to request that
the office file a Commissioner's charge to investigate whether
the Amazon facilities within its jurisdiction are failing to
accommodate workers who may need a modification to their pace
requirements and/or to determine whether the facilities are
using such requirements in a way that disadvantages workers
with disabilities in violation of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990.
Work Request to GAO--Recent reports have raised
concerns that online retailers' use of certain workplace
surveillance tools, algorithmic systems, and/or robotics
programs to monitor and increase workers' productivity may be
connected to an increase in worker health and safety issues in
warehouses, fulfillment centers, and delivery systems. As a
result, the Committee sent a request to GAO to examine the
extent to which retailer-operated warehouses, fulfillment
centers, and delivery systems are using surveillance tools,
algorithm-based performance tracking systems, and/or robotics
programs to track and increase worker productivity and whether
the use of such tools has any link to worker injuries in these
environments. The request asked GAO to also examine the extent
to which OSHA's enforcement efforts have addressed the
connection between the use of these workplace tools and the
impact on worker health and safety.
Mine Safety and Health
Oversight of MSHA's Personnel Issues--The
Committee met with stakeholders to discuss operational issues
at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) within DOL
that may impact the agency's short and long-term ability to
fulfill its mission, such as the aging inspectorate workforce,
the lengthy hiring process for new inspectors, and the nearly
two-year process for inspectors to obtain their Authorized
Representative Status credentials (AR cards), which authorizes
the right of entry to any coal or other mine.
DOL Hearing--The June 14th Hearing addressed,
among several topics, President Biden's Fiscal Year (FY) 2023
proposed budget for MSHA. The funding is necessary to restore
MSHA's enforcement capabilities to help ensure miners' health
and safety amid an expected increase in their workload due to
BIL, which will likely cause an increase in production at, or
an expansion of, existing mines and facilities. After the
hearing, Chairman Scott submitted additional Questions for the
Record regarding the agency's plans to streamline its hiring
practices for its inspectorate workforce. In response, U.S.
Department of Labor Secretary Martin Walsh explained some of
the process improvements DOL has implemented to streamline the
hiring process, including waiving the pre-employment physical
requirement for certain employees for up to a year to avoid the
delays associated with scheduling the physical, reducing the
number of employees on the hiring panels while also increasing
the number of hiring panels to make scheduling interviews
easier, and assigning dedicated staff to perform different
aspects of the hiring process.
DOL's OIG--The Committee held a meeting with DOL's
OIG to discuss its FY 2023 Audit Workplan. DOL's OIG prepares
the Audit Workplan to inform DOL agencies and Congress of
audits and reviews that will be initiated or completed each
year. During the meeting, the Committee requested an audit of
MSHA's hiring policies and/or procedures for new inspectors to
determine whether there are ways to streamline the hiring
process.
Retirement Security and Pensions
DOL Hearing--The June 14th Hearing addressed,
among several topics, the Employment Benefits Security
Administration's (EBSA) recovery of over $2.5 billion in
retirement savings and health care benefits owed to workers in
2021. The hearing also addressed how President Biden's FY 2023
proposed budget for EBSA would allow the agency to restore
front-line enforcement and regulatory staff to help ensure the
security of retirement benefits. The enforcement staff
enforces, among other laws, the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which ensures the integrity of
the country's private employee benefit plan system. The
agency's oversight authority includes nearly 734,000 retirement
plans, 2 million health plans, and 662,000 other welfare
benefits plans, such as life and disability insurance. The
enforcement staff also investigates benefit plan violations
under ERISA, such as financial misconduct in retirement plans
and medical claims that have been incorrectly denied. EBSA's
regulatory staff carries out the agency's interpretive
activities concerning the provisions of ERISA and related
statutes by issuing advisory opinions, field assistance
bulletins, guidance, and regulations. In addition, during the
June 14th Hearing, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Martin
Walsh discussed how ARPA authorized a Special Financial
Assistance Program (SFA) through the Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation (PBGC) to help save severely underfunded
multiemployer plans that enabled over three million
participants and beneficiaries to continue to receive their
pension benefits now and in the future.
Work Requests to GAO--In May 2021, GAO released a
report titled ``Employee Benefits Security Administration:
Enforcement Efforts to Protect Participants' Rights in
Employer-Sponsored Retirement and Health Benefit Plans.'' After
the release of the report, the Committee held meetings with GAO
to discuss the remaining evaluative questions outlined in the
Committee's March 2019 letter to the Comptroller General at GAO
about EBSA's enforcement efforts. As a result of these
discussions, GAO agreed it will complete and release a second
part to the report, which will focus on how EBSA's resources
and responsibilities have changed over time, and it will
include recommendations so that EBSA can be more effective in
protecting the health and retirement benefits of American
workers.
International Labor Rights
DOL Hearing--The June 14th Hearing addressed DOL's
Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), which works to
ensure dignity at work in the U.S. and abroad. In his testimony
to the Committee, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Martin
Walsh discussed ILAB's role in supporting the first independent
union elections at the General Motors plant in Silao, Mexico,
and the Tridonex auto parts facility in Matamoros, Mexico.
During the hearing, questions were posed about a legislative
proposal to statutorily establish ILAB within DOL--where it
already exists but is not codified in statute--and authorize
the agency to carry out its work. Additionally, questions were
asked about the steps DOL has taken to support the enforcement
of Mexico's new labor laws and what DOL is doing to protect the
rights of independent workers.
Guestworker Programs
DOL Hearing--DOL's WHD administers various
provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
(INA), as amended, which authorizes the establishment of the H-
2A and H-2B visa categories (the guest worker program) allowing
employers to bring nonimmigrant workers to the United States to
perform temporary, agricultural and non-agricultural work or
services. The June 14th Hearing addressed DOL's June 2022 joint
guidance with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency
for International Development titled ``Guidance on Fair
Recruitment Practices for Temporary Migrant Workers,'' which
discusses how to prevent abusive recruitment practices of
prospective workers in the H-2A and H-2B visa programs. The
agencies wanted the guidance to highlight and promote
implementation of key best practices by governments in
countries seeking to increase participation in the H-2 visa
programs and by employers relying on these programs. During the
hearing, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Martin Walsh was
asked whether DOL plans to include H-2 visa reform in its
regulatory agenda. In response, Secretary Walsh stated that DOL
is in the processing of reviewing the H-2 programs and noted
that DOL had already strengthened some of the worker
protections in the H-2B worker requirements.
Collective Bargaining Rights
Oversight--The Committee engaged in meetings with
the National Relations Labor Board (NLRB) to discuss several
issues, including the status of cases in which former NLRB
Board Member William J. Emanuel participated while he had a
financial conflict of interest that the NLRB's Designed Agency
Ethics Official determined should have disqualified him from
participation in those cases. The NLRB also provided updates on
the prosecution of an NLRB employee who was charged with honest
services fraud and bribery for engaging in a scheme in which
she provided nonpublic NLRB documents to a co-conspirator in
exchange for the regular payment of cash bribes. Additionally,
the NLRB provided a detailed overview of the internal
administrative error that resulted in the delay of the
commencement of NLRB Board Member David Prouty's term with the
agency as well as the agency's response to correct the error to
avoid future lapses. The NLRB also described the challenges
associated with the flat funding of the agency for the past 8
years; this flat funding has negatively impacted the agency's
ability to increase staff capacity during a time in which the
agency has experienced a surge in the volume of cases.
Additionally, the Committee asked the NLRB to explain its
management's ongoing dispute with one of the agency's unions
regarding telework issues; in the past, the agency has sought
to reduce the number of telework days for field staff while the
union is trying to maintain or increase the number of telework
days for field staff. The NLRB also discussed new agency
initiatives such as the joint initiative with DOL and the EEOC
to combat employer retaliation under the federal laws each
agency enforces. Pursuant to this initiative, the agencies plan
to coordinate efforts to investigate and litigate against
employers that engage in retaliatory conduct. The agencies also
hope that this initiative will encourage workers who fear
employer retaliation to come forward to express their concerns
about workplace violations.
Meetings with NLRB's OIG--The Committee met with
the NLRB's OIG to discuss the status of investigations that may
impact the agency's operations such as the financial conflict-
of-interest investigation of former NLRB Board Member Emanuel,
the delay associated with NLRB Board Member Prouty's status
with the agency, the criminal investigation of an employee who
sold confidential agency information to an outside consultant,
and a request from an employer that NLRB's OIG investigate
whether NLRB employees engaged in misconduct related to a mail-
in ballot election.
Stakeholder Outreach--The Committee engaged in
outreach with relevant stakeholders to discuss operational and
personnel issues within the NLRB such as how the agency plans
to address, and whether it will bargain with the union
regarding, the centralization of compliance work. This work
involves NLRB staff securing compliance with NLRB Board orders,
court judgments, and informal settlement agreements and had
usually been handled by staff in several Regional Offices. In
2020, however, the former General Counsel centralized this work
without bargaining with the union. Stakeholders expressed
concerns that the centralization of this work has meant that
staff without relevant experience have been performing this
work. Another ongoing personnel issue discussed with
stakeholders was the staffing levels at the agency, which are
the lowest they have been in a half century. This impacts the
agency's ability to effectively execute its mission to protect
the rights of workers to organize and seek better working
conditions. Additionally, the agency has experienced internal
disagreements with field staff over the ability to telework;
the stakeholders believe that further limitations on telework
will have a long-term negative impact on the agency's ability
to recruit and retain qualified employees.
Child Nutrition and Related Issues
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Hearing--On
June 23, 2022, the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human
Services held a hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and
Nutrition Service'' to explore President Biden's FY 2023
proposed budget for infant and child nutrition programs under
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the Biden
Administration's priorities regarding federal child nutrition
programs.
Oversight of FNS' Data Collection Methods--USDA
enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI)
among its federally assisted programs, including the Child and
Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service
Program (SFSP). Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis
of race, color, and national origin. FNS, state and local
agencies, and other subrecipients of federal financial
assistance must maintain a system to collect the racial and
ethnicity data consistent with FNS policy. These data are used
to determine how effectively FNS programs are reaching
potential eligible persons and beneficiaries, identify areas
where additional outreach is needed, assist in the selection of
locations for civil rights compliance reviews, and complete
reports as required. These data are also used to analyze the
impact of policy changes on participants and for investigating
program discrimination complaints. In previous FNS Guidance
describing the data collection and reporting requirements, the
Guidance stated that ``visual identification may be used by
institutions/sponsors to determine a beneficiary's racial or
ethnic category.'' This data collection method was consistent
with 1997 Guidance issued by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), which also stated that visual observer
identification for racial and ethnicity data may be more
practical in certain circumstances. Upon further review of this
issue, however, USDA concluded that the 1997 OMB policy was
inapplicable to CACFP and SFSP programs and that the use of
visual observation and identification by CACFP institutions and
facilities and SFSP sponsors is not an appropriate method for
collecting race or ethnicity data in these programs. Therefore,
in May 2021, FNS, FNS' Child Nutrition Programs, and FNS' Civil
Rights Division, issued a memorandum to provide guidance to
state agencies and program operators on removing visual
observation and identification as an allowable practice in
obtaining race and ethnicity data from the participants in
CACFP and SFSP. Instead, state agencies and program operators
have been directed to use data collection methods based on
self-identification and self-reporting. The Committee engaged
in meetings with FNS to discuss the implications of this
memorandum such as whether it will have a negative impact on
the collection of the data, alternative sources that may be
available for this kind of data, and guidance that FNS is
providing to state agencies and program operators as they
adjust to the removal of the visual observer data collection
method. The Committee also discussed with FNS the supplemental
memorandum the agency issued in June 2022 to provide
clarification on questions related to the May 2021 memorandum
such as the purpose of the requirement to collect racial and
ethnicity data, which programs are covered by the change in the
data collection, and how program operators should respond if
they are unable to collect this data for all participants.
Oversight of FNS' Role in Responding to the
Formula Shortage--Between September 2021 and January 2022, the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received information
about four cases of illness or death in infants who had
consumed powered infant formula. After investigating and
learning that each of these infants had consumed powered
formula manufactured at Abbott Nutrition's (Abbott) formula
production facility in Sturgis, Michigan, and that there were
unsanitary conditions at the facility, on February 17, 2022,
the FDA warned consumers not to use certain Abbott powdered
infant formula products from the Sturgis facility. That same
day, Abbott voluntarily ceased production of formula products
at the Sturgis facility and initiated a voluntary recall of
certain formula products. Although the recall and temporary
pause in formula production was a necessary public health
measure, it further exacerbated supply chain issues impacting
the availability of formula products due to the COVID-19
pandemic. As a result, within weeks of the recall announcement,
members of the public around the country expressed difficulty
finding sufficient formula in retail stores and in online
marketplaces. FNS oversees the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides
federal grants to states for, among other things, supplemental
foods for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-
breastfeeding postpartum women and to infants and children up
to age 5. WIC serves about half of all infants born in the
United States, which means that the disruption to the formula
supply directly impacted many WIC participants. Because WIC
state agencies have rebate contracts with infant formula
manufacturers, shortly after Abbott announced the recall of
certain powered formulas, FNS issued waivers to the WIC state
agencies to give them the flexibility they needed to increase
access to infant formula for WIC participants. The Committee
engaged in meetings with FNS to discuss the implementation of
the waivers, the technical assistance FNS was providing to
state agencies related to the waiver process, whether the
waivers would be extended, and how the waivers were helping WIC
participants obtain more access to infant formula given the
ongoing supply shortages in certain areas of the country.
Oversight of USDA's Response to the Formula
Shortage--Abbott's February 2022 voluntary recall of certain
formula products and temporary pause in the production of those
products created a ripple effect that resulted in a supply
shortage of formula products across the country. This shortage
caused many families, particularly rural and low-income
families, to manage their children's formula needs without
reliable, alternative sources of quality formula. As a result,
on June 2, 2022, the Committee sent a letter to U.S. Department
of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack requesting that USDA
coordinate with HHS to conduct a feasibility study to consider
whether additional measures can be taken by the manufacturers
who contract with WIC or the USDA to ensure the availability of
a continuous 30-day supply of formula products, including
specialty formula products consumed by individuals with
metabolic or gastrointestinal disorders, in case of future
emergencies such as another formula recall event, a public
health emergency or disaster, or a supply chain disruption.
Oversight of Infant Formula Price Gouging--During
the past few months, media reports have shown that unscrupulous
third-party vendors on online marketplaces are selling infant
formula at significantly higher prices, advertising fake
products, and employing other deceptive tactics to scam
consumers during the infant formula shortage. On June 13, 2022,
the Committee sent a joint letter with the Committee on Energy
and Commerce to Chair Lina Khan of the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) to request that the agency take swift action to prevent
and deter exploitative and deceptive practices by third-party
vendors that use online marketplaces to sell infant formula.
Health Care
HHS Hearing--The April 6th Hearing explored
President Biden's FY 2023 proposed budget for HHS that included
investments to improve the affordability of health coverage,
cut the costs of prescription drugs, address the mental health
and substance abuse crises, and advance health equity, among
other priorities.
Vaccine Requirement Implementation--In Questions
for the Record submitted after the April 6th Hearing, a
Democratic Member of the Committee requested information
regarding compliance with, and enforcement of, the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) rule requiring health
care providers participating in Medicare and Medicaid to ensure
that 100 percent of their staff are vaccinated against COVID-
19, unless they are exempt for medical or religious reasons. In
response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Secretary Xavier Becerra stated that the implementation of the
rule will help save lives. Secretary Becerra also stated that
CMS believes that the vaccination rule helps stabilize the
health care system and eliminate potential incentives for staff
to migrate to different care settings or across state lines.
CMS also believes that the vaccination rule will ensure that a
significant number of health care staff are vaccinated across
settings, reducing staff quarantines and improving safety no
matter where patients seek care. Finally, Secretary Becerra
indicated that CMS will be conducting surveys to assess
facilities' compliance with the vaccination rule, and it will
take additional steps, as needed, to ensure compliance.
No Surprise Act Implementation--The Committee
played a leading role in the development of the No Surprises
Act (NSA) during the 116th Congress to protect consumers in
situations in which they receive unexpected and expensive
medical bills for out-of-network care. On November 19, 2021,
the Committee sent a letter to DOL, HHS, and the U.S.
Department of the Treasury (jointly, the Departments) to
express support for the Departments' rulemaking to implement
the NSA--this rule established an independent dispute
resolution process that will help protect patients from
surprise medical bills and allow providers and health plans to
resolve payment disputes, subject to key guardrails that
encourage negotiation and ensure a fair payment amount is
achieved. On January 1, 2022, a nationwide ban on surprise
billing took effect, eliminating many of the most egregious
billing practices and providing peace of mind for tens of
millions of consumers so that they will not be subject to
devastating out-of-network bills. The NSA included $500 million
in total appropriations for FY 2021 through FY 2024. Congress
appropriated these funds to the Departments to implement the
NSA. The Committee engaged in meetings with DOL, HHS, and OMB
to discuss the allocation of the $500 million appropriation
between the Departments and how each has been using the
appropriated funds to implement the requirements under the NSA.
The Committee also engaged in meetings with HHS to discuss the
implementation of provisions in the NSA, such as the
requirement that the Departments establish an advisory
committee for reviewing options to improve disclosure of
charges and fees for ground ambulance services, inform
consumers of insurance options for such services, and protect
consumers from surprise billing. The Departments have taken
some steps to set up this advisory committee but have not
established the committee to date. On December 9, 2022, the
Committee sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to urge him to take immediate
action to establish the advisory committee as required by the
NSA.
Formula Shortage--Abbott's February 2022 voluntary
recall of certain formula products and temporary pause in the
production of those products created a ripple effect that
resulted in a supply shortage of formula products across the
country. This shortage caused many families, particularly rural
and low-income families, to face difficult choices regarding
their formula needs. As a result, on June 2, 2022, the
Committee sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting that HHS
coordinate with USDA to conduct a feasibility study to consider
whether additional measures can be taken by HHS to ensure the
availability of a continuous 30-day supply of infant formula
products, including specialty formula products consumed by
individuals with metabolic or gastrointestinal disorders, in
case of future emergencies such as another formula recall
event, a public health emergency or disaster, or a supply chain
disruption.
Formula Recall--The Committee engaged in several
meetings with the FDA to discuss the agency's oversight of
Abbott's formula recall and how the agency plans to mitigate
the collateral impact of the recall on members of the public
who have been experiencing issues with obtaining access to
reliable sources of formula. The Committee also met with HHS'
OIG to discuss the audit of FDA's oversight of formula
manufacturers.
Work Request to GAO--The ACA instituted crucial
consumer protections that have made health coverage more
reliable and affordable for consumers. These reforms include:
prohibitions on preexisting condition exclusions and
discrimination based on health status; requiring plans to cover
essential health benefits; and allowing dependents to stay on
their parents' coverage until age 26. However, in contrast to
ACA plans, plans such as those offered by Farm Bureaus and
health care sharing ministries may be able to avoid the law's
consumer protections and therefore could pose a risk to those
who purchase such offerings. As a result, the Committee
requested that GAO study the impact of health care offerings by
state Farm Bureaus, health care sharing ministries, and other
arrangements that are exempt from certain federal and state
requirements for health insurance to help federal policymakers
develop a better understanding of how such plans operate and
how they impact the regulated markets.
Work Request to GAO--Students in higher education
face economic challenges that can impact their ability to
afford and complete a college degree or credential. One of
these challenges is navigating the process of finding and
enrolling in health insurance and then paying for health care.
The ACA and ARPA increased the number of affordable--and often
free--coverage options available to students and their
families. The Committee is interested in understanding the
extent to which students in higher education have successfully
enrolled in health insurance and what opportunities may exist
to increase health care coverage and lower costs. As such, the
Committee sent a request to GAO to study college students'
access to health insurance.
Oversight--The Committee engaged in meetings with
HHS to discuss, among other topics, HHS' response to the
Committee's June 2022 request that HHS coordinate with USDA to
conduct a feasibility study regarding a stockpile of formula
products in the event of future emergencies. Discussions also
included HHS' implementation of the Bipartisan Safer
Communities Act such as the provisions that require that: (1)
HHS provide technical assistance and issue guidance to states
on improving access to Medicaid and CHIP telehealth services;
(2) HHS issue updated school-based services guidance; and (3)
HHS and ED establish a Technical Assistance Center to support
the delivery of Medicaid-covered school-based services.
Contraception Coverage--On October 6, 2021, the
Committee joined with the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the
Committee on Ways and Means, and the Committee on Oversight and
Reform (jointly, the Committees) to send a letter to HHS, DOL,
and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (jointly, the
Departments) expressing concerns because the Committees were
receiving information regarding numerous denials of coverage
and extensive medical management requirements that have limited
individuals' access to the full range of U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA)-approved contraceptives. The Committees
expressed that these denials and medical management
requirements appear to violate the ACA's regulations, which
mandate that group health plans and all issuers of group or
individual health insurance coverage (other than grandfathered
health plans) cover without cost-sharing the full range of FDA-
approved contraceptives. The Committees requested the
Departments' assistance in ensuring appropriate consumer access
to the full range of FDA-approved contraceptives as required by
law and that the Departments determine whether additional
enforcement actions or issuance of additional guidance may be
necessary to address this issue.
Supporting Communities
AmeriCorps--The Committee held two hearings about
the Corporation for National and Community Service
(AmeriCorps): (1) on December 1, 2021, titled ``Examining the
Policies and Priorities of the Corporation for National and
Community Service''; and (2) on December 14, 2022, titled
``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Corporation for
National and Community Service.'' Both hearings examined the
financial management concerns identified by the AmeriCorps'
external auditors and AmeriCorps' OIG. These hearings satisfied
the requirement under Rule XI, clause 2(o) of the Rules of the
U.S. House of Representatives that each committee hold a
hearing when an agency under its jurisdiction has received a
disclaimed financial audit. In addition to the hearing, the
Committee held quarterly meetings with AmeriCorps leadership
and AmeriCorps' OIG to ensure that progress was being made by
the agency to implement the recommendations of the external
auditors.
ADDITIONAL OVERSIGHT ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE
K-12 Education
Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)--The Committee
held a hearing on June 28, 2022, titled ``Examining the
Policies and Priorities of the Bureau of Indian Education,'' to
examine the financial management concerns identified by GAO's
placement of BIE on GAO's High Risk List. Since 2013, GAO has
issued reports on significant concerns at BIE schools and
placed them on the High Risk List in 2017. GAO's findings
include: lack of management and accountability of BIE in
managing and using federal funds; lack of clear roles and
coordination between BIE and the Board of Indian Affairs (BIA);
inadequate internal procedures and controls; lack of leadership
team members, staff, and personnel, with high turnover of
personnel, especially in rural areas; inadequate oversight of
school spending, especially as it relates to education
facilities and school construction projects; and insufficient
support for students with disabilities. This hearing satisfied
the requirement under Rule XI, Clause 2(p) of the Rules of the
U.S. House of Representatives that each committee hold a
hearing on issues under its jurisdiction that are included on
GAO's High Risk List.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Compliance--The Committee conducted oversight related to
information sharing between Pasco County School District in
Florida and local law enforcement agencies. Investigative
reporting showed that the school district was sharing
information with local law enforcement to identify potential
``at-risk'' youth, but this resulted in law enforcement
harassing those students and their families. As a result, the
Committee sent two letters to ED relating to compliance with
FERPA, which is a federal law that affords parents the right to
have access to their children's education records, the right to
seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some
control over the disclosure of personally identifiable
information from the education records. In the first letter,
the Committee requested ED's OIG follow up on its 2018 audit of
ED's implementation of FERPA and conduct another audit to
assess ED's implementation of FERPA and ED's enforcement and
monitoring process of states' and school districts' compliance
with FERPA. In the second letter, the Committee recommended
changes to ED's implementation of FERPA, including the guidance
ED provides to states and school districts on compliance with
FERPA. Specifically, the Committee requested ED issue guidance
related to how school districts should assess data sharing
agreements with law enforcement agencies such as the one in
Pasco County.
Higher Education
Online Program Managers--The Committee received a
GAO report based on its examination of ED's oversight of Online
Program Managers (OPMs). OPMs are third-party entities that are
contracted by IHEs to handle the management and operations of a
variety of online education programs and support services.
OPMs' contracted duties often include the recruitment of
students. In the 1992 reauthorization of HEA, Congress included
what is known as the ``incentive compensation ban'' to ensure
that postsecondary recruiters and admissions counselors are not
incentivized based on per-student enrollment quotas. OPMs are
exempted from the incentive compensation ban but are subject to
safeguards required of OPMs and other third parties pursuant to
a guidance from ED called the ``bundled services exception.''
ED is tasked with ensuring compliance with the incentive
compensation ban and the safeguards of the bundled services
exception. In its investigation, GAO found that ED uses two
tools to monitor IHEs and OPMs and their compliance with the
incentive compensation ban and the bundled services exception,
respectively--independent compliance audits by external
auditors and program compliance reviews by ED--and that these
tools are most likely not effective. The Committee sent a
letter to ED on December 2, 2022, supporting ED's decision to
implement GAO's recommendations to better enforce the incentive
compensation ban and requesting that ED conduct a review of the
bundled services exception.
Personal Liability--The Committee wrote two
letters to ED, on August 16, 2021, and August 9, 2022,
requesting that ED use its existing authority under HEA to hold
owners, executives, and board members of defunct for-profit and
converted non-profit colleges individually responsible for
liabilities of the institution to the federal government. In
January 2022, ED announced a new policy requiring private
colleges and companies with at least a 50 percent ownership
interest in them to sign Program Participation Agreements
(PPAs). According to ED, this new policy will ensure that
companies that own IHEs are held responsible for funds owed to
the federal government, including liabilities arising from
closed school loan discharges and borrower defense to repayment
claims, even if the IHE closes.
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
(JJDPA) Compliance--The Committee held oversight meetings with
DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(OJJDP) on their monitoring of states' compliance with Title II
of JJDPA. Title II requires states to establish plans for the
administration of juvenile justice in their states and submit
annual reports to OJJDP concerning their progress in
implementing the plans in order to receive grant funding from
OJJDP. According to OJJDP, no states were in compliance with
the requirements of Title II, mostly because previous
administrations were not reviewing compliance strictly and
states were providing vague information for review. As a
result, OJJDP withheld grants to all states until they were in
compliance with the Title II requirements. The Committee
requested that OJJDP keep the Committee informed of OJJDP's
activities to hold states accountable to Title II requirements.
The Committee urged OJDDP to provide additional guidance and
technical assistance to states on how states can become
compliant with the Title II requirements. OJJDP has engaged
with and provided technical assistance to states; OJJDP has
also reviewed and approved states' revised compliance plans and
released grant funding.
COVID-19 in Juvenile Justice Facilities--The
Committee wrote a letter to OJJDP on November 18, 2021, about
states' compliance with JJDPA requirements during the COVID-19
pandemic. The Committee was concerned that due to policies and
practices implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, OJJDP and
state oversight agencies were not able to properly monitor
juvenile facilities to review: (1) whether basic safety
measures were being implemented; (2) whether the facilities
were in compliance with the core protections found in JJDPA;
and (3) whether the facilities' practices to combat COVID-19
resulted in harm to the juveniles in the facilities, such as
increased use of solitary confinement, juveniles having limited
contact with their families, suspension of education classes,
and lack of access to hygiene products and personal protective
equipment (PPE). Prior to the Committee's letter, OJJDP issued
two guidance documents to assist juvenile justice facilities
during the pandemic: (1) OJJDP Guidance for Juvenile Justice
Facilities During COVID-19 Pandemic, and (2) Detection and
Mitigation of COVID-19 in Confinement Facilities Guidance. In
response to the Committee's letter, OJJDP highlighted guidance
they provided to states in May 2020 about designating
compliance monitors as essential workers and providing them
vaccinations and PPE so that these compliance monitors could
conduct monitoring activities at juvenile facilities.
Additionally, OJJDP held four regional meetings between October
and November 2021 in order to train state juvenile justice
agencies about JJDPA requirements.
Youth PROMISE Act and Prevention Programs--The
Committee conducted oversight of how OJJDP was providing grants
to juvenile justice prevention programs and whether the grants
were in compliance with congressional intent pursuant to the
Youth PROMISE Act passed as part of the Juvenile Justice Reform
Act in 2018.
Child Care
Maltreatment of Youth in Residential Facilities--
The Committee received a GAO report after it examined the
maltreatment of youth in residential facilities and identified
a lack of oversight by two federal agencies with primary
responsibility over such facilities: HHS and ED. As a result of
the report, the Committee engaged with both HHS and ED to urge
the agencies to provide better guidance to states and
facilities regarding proper treatment of youth in their care as
well as to facilitate information sharing among states on
practices for preventing and addressing maltreatment in
residential facilities.
Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and
Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Oversight--The Committee
engaged in meetings with HHS on CCDBG and CCDF, which is
authorized under CCDBG. Administered by states, territories,
and Tribes, CCDF is federal funding that provides financial
assistance to low-income families to access childcare. Under
CCDBG, states are required to annually submit a CCDF state plan
to HHS. These state plans must show how the state is allocating
CCDF dollars and how the state is complying with the health and
safety requirements under CCDBG. States are permitted to
request waivers from certain CCDBG requirements as part of the
state plan review process. The Committee conducted oversight of
how HHS was reviewing states' requests for such waivers. The
Committee also requested that HHS' OIG include a comprehensive
review of HHS' state plan waiver review process in its audit
plans.
Unemployment Insurance (UI)
UI Hearing--On September 21, 2022, the
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions held a
hearing titled ``Examining the Administration of the
Unemployment Insurance System.'' This hearing focused on GAO's
recent reports examining the implementation of the temporary UI
CARES Act programs, which addressed long-standing challenges in
the UI system exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as
meeting the needs of unemployed workers and mitigating
financial loss. The hearing also addressed why GAO included the
UI system on its High Risk List in June 2022. Other testimony
during the hearing discussed how the pandemic UI programs
helped marginalized workers and communities, the need for
structural reforms in the UI system, and personal experiences
when applying for and receiving pandemic benefits from one of
the UI CARES Act programs.
DOL's OIG's UI Report--The Committee met with
DOL's OIG to discuss the findings from its September 2022 Alert
Memorandum titled ``Potentially Fraudulent Unemployment
Insurance Payments in High-Risk Areas Increased to $45.6
Billion.'' The report found that between March 2020 and April
2022, there has been $45.6 billion in potentially fraudulent UI
benefits paid in four specific high-risk areas to individuals
with Social Security numbers: (1) filed in multiple states; (2)
of deceased persons; (3) used to file UI claims with suspicious
email accounts; and (4) of federal prisoners. The report also
found that ETA has not taken sufficient action to control
fraud, and notes that ETA has failed to implement DOL's OIG's
prior recommendations with respect to fraud, including
establishing effective controls in collaboration with state
workforce agencies (SWAs) and working with Congress to
establish legislation requiring SWAs to cross-match high-risk
areas. Moreover, the report states that despite DOL's OIG's
continued efforts to identify potentially fraudulent payments
to ineligible claimants, it continues to experience delays in
obtaining the needed UI data because DOL interprets its UI
regulations as prohibiting ETA from informing SWAs that they
are required to provide UI data to DOL's OIG for both audit and
investigative purposes.
Response to DOL's OIG's UI Report--The Committee
held a meeting with ETA to discuss the agency's response to
DOL's OIG's UI report. During the meeting, ETA described the
agency's ongoing and evolving efforts to combat fraud within
the UI system and confirmed that the agency and DOL's OIG
disagree on the requirements for disclosure of SWA UI data to
DOL's OIG. ETA indicated that the agency plans to address the
disagreement over the disclosure requirement by updating the
agency's regulations but also acknowledged that the agency will
need, and is planning to provide, an interim solution for this
issue since the proposed rules may not be finalized before
early 2025.
Workplace Surveillance Tools
Work Request to GAO--The shift to remote work
during the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a rise in employers'
digital surveillance of workers through the use of surveillance
technology or ``bossware'' in both telework and office
settings. The use of this kind of technology has implications
for workers' privacy rights and civil rights. Therefore, the
Committee requested that GAO assess employers' use of bossware
to monitor workers in telework and office settings and how the
use of the technology impacts workers. Additionally, the
Committee requested that GAO examine the extent to which the
enforcement efforts of federal labor and employment agencies
such as DOL, the NLRB, and the EEOC, have addressed the
connection between employers' use of bossware and the impact on
workers' rights.
Oversight of Civil Rights Protections--Employers
are increasingly using sophisticated automated technology
systems and artificial intelligence (AI) to assess and monitor
job candidates and workers. These systems can, for example,
track workers' locations, activate webcams and microphones on
workers' devices, use facial recognition to assess workers'
attention to their computer screens, and store sensitive data
about workers. Employers' use of these systems and technology
to make employment decisions implicates federal
antidiscrimination protections, including, for example, those
under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).
Therefore, in December 2022, the Committee sent a letter to the
EEOC to request that the agency issue guidance discussing the
ways in which employers' use of these systems and AI technology
can impact workers' rights under Title VII. The EEOC has
already issued similar guidance to explain how employers' use
of AI can impact workers' rights under the ADA.
Committee-Initiated Correspondence
January 11, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Russell Vought,
Director, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Mr.
Jeffrey Rosen, Acting Attorney General, U.S. Department of
Justice (DOJ), expressing concern regarding a draft final
rule titled Amendment of the Title VI Regulations and
requesting that OMB provide the text of the draft final
rule as well as any justification DOJ has articulated for
bypassing the normal notice and comment period. This was a
joint letter with House Committee on the Judiciary Chair
Jerrold Nadler and House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform Chair Carolyn Maloney.
January 11, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting to join as an
addressee on any current or future studies of labor and
worker protection issues that GAO conducts in response to
section 19010 of Title IX of Public Law 116-136, the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
January 19, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Mitchell Zais, Acting
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, raising concerns
regarding reports that a public-school district is
transmitting student education records to a local sheriff's
office so that the sheriff's office can develop a list of
students ``destined for a life of crime.''
March 1, 2021--Letter to Mr. Jeffrey Zients, Coordinator and
Counselor to the President of the United States, Executive
Office of the President; Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and Mr.
Al Stewart, Acting Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor
(DOL), urging the CDC and DOL to adequately address the
risk of aerosol transmission of COVID-19 in guidance and
regulations. This was a joint letter with House Committee
on Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, House Energy and
Commerce Chair Frank Pallone, Jr., House Committee on
Oversight and Reform's Select Subcommittee on the
Coronavirus Chair James Clyburn, and House Committee on
Education and Labor's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Chair Alma Adams.
March 25, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Martin Walsh,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor, urging the Department
to adjust the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime salary
test threshold to its historical high point to ensure
salaried workers receive adequate overtime protections.
This was a joint letter with Rep. Mark Takano (CA), Rep.
Alma Adams (NC), and Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH).
April 6, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
encouraging the Department to announce the availability of
a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for qualified eligible
individuals following the conclusion of the American Rescue
Plan Act of 2021's premium support program for job-based
coverage. This was a joint letter with House Committee on
Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone, Jr., House
Committee on Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal, Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair
Patty Murray, and Senate Committee on Finance Chair Ron
Wyden.
April 12, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Martin Walsh,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor, supporting the
Department's proposal to withdraw the January 2021 final
interpretive rule entitled Independent Contractor Status
under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This was a joint letter
with 79 other Members of the House of Representatives.
April 12, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Martin Walsh,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor, supporting the
Department's proposal to withdraw the January 2020 final
interpretative rule entitled Joint Employer Status Under
the Fair Labor Standards Act. This was a joint letter with
84 other Members of the House of Representatives.
April 16, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gloria Steele, Acting
Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), requesting that the agency suspend all pending
actions related to the restructuring and redesign of
USAID's Global Labor Program. This was a joint letter with
House Committee on Foreign Relations Chair Gregory Meeks,
House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal, and
House Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on State
and Foreign Operations Chair Barbara Lee.
April 19, 2021--Letter to the Honorable JooYeun Chang, Acting
Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and
Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
regarding congressional intent of Section 2204(c) of the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which provides resources
for ``culturally specific community-based organizations.''
This was a joint letter with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA).
May 6, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro, Comptroller
General, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO),
requesting GAO review target date funds to determine if
these retirement investments to which millions of families
now entrust their financial futures are working as
advertised and providing the retirement security promised.
This was a joint letter with Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair Patty Murray.
May 12, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), urging the Department to revoke harmful waivers that
have promoted discrimination and to expeditiously re-
regulate to restore the full antidiscrimination protections
for HHS programs.
June 2, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, requesting
responses to outstanding questions for the record from the
116th congressional session.
June 2, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Martin Walsh, Secretary,
U.S. Department of Labor, regarding the Department's
implementation of President Biden's January 21, 2021,
Executive Order 13999, Protecting Worker Health and Safety,
requesting information concerning the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration's consideration of an Emergency
Temporary Standard to protect workers from COVID-19.
June 2, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Sandra Bruce, Deputy
Inspector General Delegated the Duties of Inspector
General, U.S. Department of Education, requesting the
Office of Inspector General follow up its 2018 audit of the
Department's implementation of the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
June 2, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Sandra Bruce, Deputy
Inspector General Delegated the Duties of Inspector
General, U.S. Department of Education, requesting the
Office of Inspector General provide information underlying
its May 13, 2021, analysis that demonstrated that the
Department improperly awarded nearly $5,000,000 in Higher
Education Emergency Relief Fund Grants.
June 3, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, regarding the
Department's process for reviewing, approving, and
monitoring for-profit college conversions to non-profit
institutions; raising several issues demonstrating that the
Department and the Internal Revenue Service must take steps
to reform their processes and halt the approval of all
conversions until they finalize those reforms; and
requesting responses to several questions related to these
issues.
June 7, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro, Comptroller
General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO examine
the extent of college student food insecurity, enrollment
in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
among eligible college students, and how college students
were affected by the removal of certain eligibility
restrictions to SNAP for college students during the COVID-
19 national emergency. The letter also requests that GAO
assess the considerations and implications of extending
this policy after the COVID-19 emergency ends. This was a
joint letter with House Agriculture Committee Chair David
Scott.
June 25, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro, Comptroller
General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a review of faculty
diversity at institutions of higher education (IHEs).
Specifically, the letter requested GAO examine what is
known about the racial composition of faculty at IHEs and
to what extent the U.S. Department of Education and the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have taken
steps to promote faculty diversity and prevent racial
discrimination in faculty hiring, promotion, and
compensation.
June 30, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
President of the United States, regarding an extension on
the pause on federally-held student loan payments,
interest, and collections through early 2022. This was a
joint letter with Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Chair Patty Murray.
July 27, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro, Comptroller
General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting GAO examine how the
2020 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have been
promoted and implemented within federal agencies. This was
a joint letter with House Committee on Agriculture Chair
David Scott.
August 9, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, recommending
changes in the Department's implementation of the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act, especially when
considering data sharing agreements with law enforcement
agencies.
August 11, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Charles Rettig,
Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, requesting a review
of the non-profit tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code of Grand Canyon University,
which is a former for-profit that converted to become a
non-profit institution of higher education.
August 11, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Charles Rettig,
Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, requesting a review
of the non-profit tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code of University of Arizona
Global Campus, which is former for-profit that converted to
become a non-profit institution of higher education.
August 16, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, requesting a
review of the authority granted under the Higher Education
Act that permits the Secretary to pursue personal liability
for debts owed by institutions against the owners and
executives of those institutions.
August 23, 2021--Letter to Dr. Michale McComis, Executive
Director, Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and
Colleges (ACCSC), requesting information about ACCSC's
reported accreditation of two institutions--University of
Northern New Jersey and University of Farmington--as part
of two sting operations run by the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security.
August 23, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Martin Walsh,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor, submitting comments
supporting the Department's proposed rule published June
23, 2021, regarding use of the tip credit for workers
performing ``dual jobs'' under the Fair Labor Standards
Act. This was a joint letter with House Committee on
Education and Labor's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Chair Alma Adams and Reps. Mark Takano (CA), Suzanne
Bonamici (OR), and Pramila Jayapal (WA).
September 15, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that Chairman Scott
be added as a co-requestor of GAO's study concerning
performance information in Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act programs. This study was originally
requested by Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions Chair Patty Murray.
September 29, 2021--Letter to Ms. Lori Ketcham, Associate
General Counsel and Designated Agency Ethics Official,
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), requesting a
document related to the NLRB Office of the Inspector
General's investigation of former NLRB Board Member William
Emanuel.
September 29, 2021--Letter to Ms. Lori Ketcham, Associate
General Counsel and Designated Agency Ethics Official,
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), requesting the
production of former NLRB Member William Emanuel's Public
Financial Disclosure Reports. These reports served as the
basis of the NLRB Office of the Inspector General's May
2021 investigation into former Member Emanuel's conflicts
of interest.
October 1, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, regarding states'
compliance with policies derived from the United States v.
Fordice decision and their impacts on Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This was a joint letter
with House Committee on Education and Labor's Subcommittee
on Higher Education and Workforce Investment Chair
Frederica Wilson.
October 6, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
the Honorable Martin Walsh, Secretary, U.S. Department of
Labor, and the Honorable Janet Yellen, Secretary, U.S.
Department of the Treasury, urging strong enforcement of
the Affordable Care Act's requirements that ensure
consumers have access to the full range of U.S. Food and
Drug Administration-approved contraceptives without any
cost-sharing. This was a joint letter with House Committee
on Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone, Jr. and House
Committee on Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal.
October 14, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO study the
impact of health care offerings by state Farm Bureaus,
health care sharing ministries, and other health care
arrangements that are exempt from certain federal and state
requirements for health insurance. This was a joint letter
with House Committee on Education and Labor's Subcommittee
on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Chair Mark
DeSaulnier.
October 15, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a GAO study on the
implementation and enforcement of Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 in athletics at the collegiate level.
This was a joint letter with House Committee on Education
and Labor's Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services
Chair Suzanne Bonamici.
November 4, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting Chairman Scott be
added as a co-requestor of GAO's review of how the federal
government's equal opportunity complaint process and anti-
harassment programs can better prevent and remedy unlawful
employment discrimination and advance equal opportunity in
the workplace.
November 18, 2021--Letter to Ms. Chyrl Jones, Acting
Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, regarding the
office's oversight of juvenile detention centers during
COVID-19, balancing compliance with the Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), and navigating the
realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
November 19, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Martin Walsh,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor, the Honorable Xavier
Becerra, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, and the Honorable Janet Yellen, Secretary, U.S.
Department of the Treasury, expressing support for the
recent Interim Final Rule entitled Requirements Related to
Surprise Billing; Part II. This was a joint letter with
Ranking Member Virginia Foxx.
December 8, 2021--Letter to Ms. Tina Williams, Director,
Division of Policy and Program Development, Office of
Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of
Labor, expressing support for the agency's Proposal to
Rescind Rule Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the
Equal Opportunity Clause's Religious Exemption.
December 14, 2021--Letter to the Honorable Doug Parker,
Assistant Secretary, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, requesting
information about the decision to publish a final COVID-19
standard to protect health care workers.
January 26, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
and the Honorable Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, expressing strong
support for the policies included in the proposed Notice of
Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2023. This was a joint
letter with House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair
Frank Pallone, Jr., House Committee on Ways and Means Chair
Richard Neal, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions Chair Patty Murray, and Senate Committee on
Finance Chair Ron Wyden.
January 31, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, requesting a
review of the nonprofit status of Everglades College for
the purpose of Title IV funding eligibility of a converted
non-profit institution of higher education under the Higher
Education Act of 1965.
February 3, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO study how
state agencies are using state administrative expense funds
to support the administration of federal child nutrition
programs for schools and institutions. This was a joint
letter with Ranking Member Virginia Foxx.
February 15, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden,
Jr., President of the United States, requesting that the
presidential budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023
include $355 million for the National Labor Relations
Board, a level that would restore the agency's funding to
its FY 2010 level when adjusted for inflation. This was a
joint letter with House Committee on Education and Labor's
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Chair Mark DeSaulnier.
February 22, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting underlying
documents and workpapers that GAO reviewed as part of a
study on income-based repayment.
March 10, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, providing comments
to the Department's negotiated rulemaking proposals as they
relate to holding executives of for-profit colleges
personally liable.
April 11, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Thomas Vilsack,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture, providing
comments to the transitional rule entitled Child Nutrition
Programs: Transitional Standards for Milk, Whole Grains,
and Sodium published in the Federal Register on February 7,
2022. This was a joint letter with 17 Democratic Members of
the Committee.
April 12, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO study
minors under 18 years of age serving as a primary or
secondary caregiver for a family member, known as
caregiving youth, and how the federal government can
support this growing population. This was a joint letter
with Reps. Barbara Lee (CA) and Lois Frankel (FL).
April 13, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO study one-
stop centers' accessibility for job seekers with
disabilities.
April 15, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, requesting that
the Department make changes needed to fix the income-driven
repayment program. This was a joint letter with Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair
Patty Murray.
April 29, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a GAO study on the
utilization of Assistive Technology (AT) by K-12 schools in
order to support students with disabilities, including the
compatibility of AT with other technology used by schools
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 13, 2022--Letter to Ms. Linda Khan, Chair, Federal Trade
Commission (FTC), requesting the agency issue a public
advisory to encourage online marketplaces to implement
measures to detect and prevent exploitative and deceptive
practices by third-party vendors selling formula, and to
continue to highlight that the FTC can and will use its
authority to enforce federal consumer protection laws in
order prevent fraud, deception, and unfair business
practices.
June 28, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
expressing support for the Department's efforts to pursue
rulemaking to adopt the Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board's 2017 Standards for Accessible
Medical Diagnostic Equipment.
July 8, 2022--Letter to Mr. Ali Khawar, Acting Assistant
Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S.
Department of Labor, requesting clarification regarding
enforcement processes of the Employee Benefits Security
Administration. This was a joint letter with House
Committee on Education and Labor's Subcommittee on Health,
Employment, Labor, and Pensions Chair Mark DeSaulnier.
August 4, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting GAO study the
factors that impact access to health insurance coverage for
college students. This was a joint letter with Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair
Patty Murray.
August 5, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
President of the United States, supporting the
Administration's plans to engage in rulemaking with regard
to the Equal Participation of Faith-Based Organizations in
the Federal Agencies' Programs and Activities final rules
for nine departments and agencies.
August 9, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, requesting
additional information about the actions the Department is
taking to hold owners, executives, and board members of
for-profit and converted non-profit institutions
accountable and personally liable, and specifically about
institutions that have had borrower defense claims approved
by the Department--including in the Sweet v. Cardona
settlement--and continue to operate.
August 10, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, providing comments
to a Notice for Proposed Rulemaking on seven topics:
borrower defense to repayment, pre-dispute arbitration and
class action waivers, interest capitalization, closed
school discharge, total and permanent disability discharge,
false certification discharge, and public service loan
forgiveness.
August 25, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, providing comments
to a Notice for Proposed Rulemaking on three topics: prison
education programs, closing the 90/10 loophole, and
institutional conversions.
September 12, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, providing comments
to a Notice for Proposed Rulemaking on Title IX of the
Educational Amendments of 1972.
October 3, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
commenting on the proposed rule, Nondiscrimination in
Health Programs and Activities, implementing Section 1557
of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This was
a joint letter with House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Chair Frank Pallone, Jr. and House Committee on Ways and
Means Chair Richard Neal.
October 3, 2022--Letter to Timothy Riera, Acting District
Director for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission's New York District Office, requesting that the
office file a Commissioner's Charge to determine whether
the Amazon facilities within its jurisdiction that have
been using surveillance tools and productivity requirements
have been complying with the reasonable accommodation
requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990, as amended.
October 5, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a GAO study on
employers' increasing use of digital surveillance in and
outside of the workplace.
October 7, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a GAO study on the
implementation and enforcement of Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 by institutions of higher education,
focusing on the pregnancy and parenting protections
provided by Title IX. This was a joint letter with House
Committee on Education and Labor's Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services Chair Suzanne Bonamici.
October 7, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a GAO study on how
state and local education agencies identify students that
are English Language Learners and students with
disabilities and the effectiveness of guidance provided by
the U.S. Department of Education to state and local
education agencies on how to best identify these students.
This was a joint letter with Reps. Raul Grijalva (AZ) and
Adriano Espaillat (NY).
October 27, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, requesting
information about the Federal Work Study Experimental Site.
October 27, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a GAO study on
students' access to sexual and reproductive health care and
how the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
decision impacted access to such care.
November 3, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO provide a
comprehensive assessment of the COBRA premium assistance
program established by the American Rescue Plan Act of
2021.
December 2, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, requesting a
review of the bundled services exception guidance to the
incentive compensation ban as well as information about the
Department's plans to conduct more robust oversight over
institutions of higher education and their relationships
with online program managers (OPMs). This was a joint
letter with House Committee on Appropriations Chair Rosa
DeLauro, Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and
Pensions Chair Patty Murray, and Senators Elizabeth Warren
(MA) and Tina Smith (MN).
December 7, 2022--Letter to Ms. Roxanne Rothschild, Executive
Secretary, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB),
expressing support for the NLRB's proposed rule that would
return to the traditional standard for determining when
employees have joint employers under the National Labor
Relations Act. This was a joint letter with 52 other
Members of the House of Representatives.
December 7, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO review
school districts that host the Junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps (JROTC) program and these school districts'
compliance with the requirements of Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972. This was a joint letter with
House Committee on Education and Labor's Subcommittee on
Civil Rights and Human Services Chair Suzanne Bonamici.
December 9, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
urging establishment of the Advisory Committee on Ground
Ambulance and Patient Billing. This was a joint letter with
Ranking Member Virginia Foxx.
December 14, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Lisa Gomez,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, encouraging the
issuance of guidance to clarify the application of
compensation disclosure requirements with respect to group
health plan service providers. This was a joint letter with
Ranking Member Virginia Foxx.
December 19, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Miguel Cardona,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, providing informal
comment on the nonregulatory guidance document Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ) issued in support of the Stronger
Connections Grant Program.
December 20, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting GAO study the need
for federal data privacy laws for retirement plans. This
was a joint letter with Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair Patty Murray.
December 21, 2022--Letter to the Honorable Gene Dodaro,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), requesting that GAO conduct a
study on Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE)-funded
programs, which are programs funded by the U.S. government
that teach abstinence only until marriage (AOUM) education.
This request asks GAO to study the effectiveness and
medical accuracy of SRAE-funded programs, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services' ability to
effectively conduct oversight of these programs, and
whether these programs are in compliance with federal anti-
discrimination law.
Official Committee Proceedings Conducted Entirely Remotely or With
Remote Participation
February 8, 2021--Full Committee Organizational Meeting to introduce
new Members of the Committee; consider and adopt the Rules of
the Committee for the 117th Congress; approve the Subcommittee
Chairs and Ranking Members as well as approve the assignment of
Members to Subcommittees; and share the Committee Oversight
Plan for the 117th Congress.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via Cisco Webex
Meetings.
February 9, 2021--Full Committee Markup of Committee Print to comply
with the reconciliation directive included in section 2001(b)
of S. Con. Res. 5, the concurrent resolution setting forth the
congressional budget for the United States Government for
fiscal year 2021 and setting forth the appropriate budgeting
levels for fiscal years 2022 through 2030.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: The Committee Print was ordered to be
favorably transmitted to the House Committee on the Budget, as
amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: Transmitted on February 16, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via Cisco Webex
Meetings.
March 11, 2021--Full Committee Meeting to approve new Subcommittee
assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 11, 2021--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``Clearing the Air: Science-Based Strategies to Protect Workers
from COVID-19 Infections.''
Purpose: To evaluate the best methods to protect workers
from airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that
causes COVID-19; to evaluate the need to strengthen
Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidance to protect
workers; and to establish a national strategy to measure the
health impact on workers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Witnesses: Dr. Linsey Marr, Professor of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, Blacksburg, VA; Ms. Pascaline Muhindura,
Registered Nurse, COVID Progressive Care Unit, Research Medical
Center, Kansas City, MO; Mr. Manesh Rath, Partner, Keller and
Heckman LLP, Washington, DC; and Dr. David Michaels, former
Assistant Secretary, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, and Professor of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, The George Washington University, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 17, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Rising to the Challenge: The Future
of Higher Education Post COVID-19.''
Purpose: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
institutions of higher education and students and to highlight
the need for additional Administration and congressional
action.
Witnesses: Mr. Keith Thornton, Jr., Student, Florida
International University, Miami, FL; Mr. Eloy Ortiz Oakley,
Chancellor, California Community Colleges, Corona Del Mar, CA;
Dr. Lindsey Burke, Director, Center for Education Policy, and
Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Education, The Heritage
Foundation, Washington, DC; and Mr. Daniel Zibel, Vice
President and Chief Counsel, National Student Legal Defense
Network, Takoma Park, MD.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 18, 2021--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services and
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Joint Hearing titled
``Fighting for Fairness: Examining Legislation to Confront
Workplace Discrimination.''
Purpose: To consider three pieces of legislation to protect
the civil rights of workers in the workplace: H.R. 1065, the
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act; H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness
Act; and H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Workers Against
Discrimination Act.
Witnesses: Ms. Laurie McCann, Senior Attorney, AARP
Foundation, Washington, DC; Ms. Dina Bakst, Co-Founder and Co-
President, A Better Balance, New York, NY; Ms. Camille A.
Olson, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Chicago, IL; and Ms. Fatima
Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women's Law Center,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 22, 2021--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Hearing
titled ``Ending the Cycle: Examining Ways to Prevent Domestic
Violence and Promote Healthy Communities.''
Purpose: To discuss ways to update and strengthen the
Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to prevent and
address intimate partner violence.
Witnesses: Mrs. Vanessa Timmons, Executive Director, Oregon
Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Portland, OR;
Ms. Wendy I. Schlater, Vice Chair, La Jolla Band of Luiseno
Indians, Pauma Valley, CA; Ms. Ami Novoryta, Chief Program
Officer, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago,
Chicago, IL; and Dr. Elizabeth Miller, Director, Adolescent and
Young Adult Medicine, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 24, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness
Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 7 was ordered to be favorably reported to
the House, as amended, by a vote of 25 Yeas and 22 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-13 was filed on April 5,
2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 24, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 1065, the Pregnant
Workers Fairness Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY)
Disposition: H.R. 1065 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 30 Yeas and 17 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-27 (Part I) was filed on
May 4, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 24, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 1195, the Workplace
Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers
Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Courtney (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 1195 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 20 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-14 (Part I) was filed on
April 5, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 25, 2021--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education Hearing titled ``Lessons Learned: Charting
the Path to Educational Equity Post-COVID-19.''
Purpose: To examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted
communities and discuss the most effective methods of ensuring
the nation's public schools reopen and recover equitably.
Witnesses: Mr. Mark H. Morial, President and CEO, National
Urban League, New York, NY; Mrs. Jennifer Dale, Parent, Lake
Oswego, OR; Ms. Selene A. Almazan, Esq., Legal Director,
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc., Towson, MD;
and Mr. Alberto M. Carvalho, Superintendent of Schools, Miami-
Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 15, 2021--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Hearing titled ``Meeting the Moment: Improving Access to
Behavioral and Mental Health Care.''
Purpose: To address barriers to access to behavioral health
care, particularly limited coverage of mental health and
substance use disorder treatment, and the importance of
improving enforcement of mental health parity laws.
Witnesses: Dr. Brian Smedley, Chief of Psychology in the
Public Interest, American Psychological Association,
Washington, DC; Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, Chief Medical
Officer, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, New York,
NY; Mr. James Gelfand, Senior Vice President, Health Policy,
The ERISA Industry Committee, Washington, DC; and Dr. Meiram
Bendat, Founder, Psych-Appeal, Santa Barbara, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 20, 2021--Full Committee Meeting to approve new Subcommittee
assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 20, 2021--Full Committee Hearing titled ``For-Profit College
Conversions: Examining Ways to Improve Accountability and
Prevent Fraud.''
Purpose: To provide Committee members the opportunity to
better understand the findings in a U.S. Government
Accountability Office report on for-profit college conversions
and the harm ``covert for-profits'' cause students and
taxpayers.
Witnesses: Ms. Melissa Emrey-Arras, Director of Higher
Education, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Boston, MA;
Ms. Yan Cao, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation, New York,
NY; Mr. Brian Galle, Professor of Law, Georgetown University
Law Center, Washington, DC; and Dr. Andrew Gillen, Senior
Policy Analyst, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Austin, TX.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 22, 2021--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Members Day Hearing:
Committee on Education and Labor.''
Purpose: To provide an opportunity for non-Committee
Members to inform the Committee of their interests and
priorities as they relate to the Committee's jurisdiction
pursuant to Rule X of the Rules of the House of
Representatives.
Witnesses: Oral testimony provided by the Honorable Mary
Gay Scanlon, Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives,
Swarthmore, PA; and the Honorable James Langevin, Member of
Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Warwick, RI. Written
testimony provided by the Honorable J. French Hill, Member of
Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Little Rock, AR; the
Honorable Brenda Lawrence, Member of Congress, U.S. House of
Representatives, Southfield, MI; the Honorable Angie Craig,
Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Eagan, MN;
the Honorable Matt Cartwright, Member of Congress, U.S. House
of Representatives, Moosic, PA; and the Honorable Steve Cohen,
Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Memphis, TN.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
April 28, 2021--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Building Back Better:
Investing in Improving Schools, Creating Jobs, and
Strengthening Families and our Economy.''
Purpose: To examine President Biden's American Jobs Plan
(AJP) and American Families Plan (AFP), proposals which
encompass a multi-year plan to transform the economy through
infrastructure investment, job training, and addressing climate
change. The hearing received testimony on proposals to expand
child care, rebuild unsafe school buildings in areas of
greatest need, help workers develop in-demand skills to prepare
for rewarding careers, and update community college
infrastructure.
Witnesses: Mr. Rasheed Malik, Senior Policy Analyst, Center
for American Progress, Washington, DC; Dr. Neal McCluskey,
Director, Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom,
Washington, DC; Mr. Mark Mitsui, President, Portland Community
College; Portland, OR; Mr. Bob Lanter, Executive Director,
California Workforce Association, Sacramento, CA; Mr. Brian
Riedl, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, New York, NY; and
Ms. Mary Filardo, Executive Director, 21st Century School Fund,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 3, 2021--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``From Excluded to Essential: Tracing the Racist Exclusion of
Farmworkers, Domestic Workers, and Tipped Workers from the Fair
Labor Standards Act.''
Purpose: To examine the negative economic and social
impacts of excluding farmworkers, domestic workers, and tipped
workers from the full protections of the Fair Labor Standards
Act, their exclusion having been rooted in the racist design of
the legislation, and to consider congressional action to remedy
the exclusion of these groups of workers.
Witnesses: Ms. Rebecca Dixon, Executive Director, National
Employment Law Project, Washington, DC; Mr. Paul DeCamp,
Member, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., Washington, DC; Ms.
Teresa Romero, President, United Farm Workers, Lancaster, CA;
and Ms. Haeyoung Yoon, Senior Policy Director, National
Domestic Workers Alliance, New York, NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 5, 2021--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Hearing titled ``Lower Drug Costs Now: Expanding Access to
Affordable Health Care.''
Purpose: To explore the rising cost of prescription drugs
in the United States and the impact of high drug prices on
workers and businesses.
Witnesses: Dr. Mariana P. Socal, Assistant Scientist, Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD; Mr.
David Mitchell, Founder, Patients for Affordable Drugs Now,
Bethesda, MD; Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, American
Action Forum, Washington, DC; and Mr. Frederick Isasi,
Executive Director, Families USA, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 6, 2021--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary
Education Hearing titled ``Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on
Students with Disabilities.''
Purpose: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
students with disabilities and needed steps to support their
educational recovery, life skills development, and social-
emotional well-being.
Witnesses: Mr. Ronald M. Hager, Managing Attorney, National
Disability Rights Network, Washington, DC; Ms. Kanika A.
Littleton, Project Director, Michigan Alliance for Families,
Lansing, MI; Mr. Reade Bush, Parent, Arlington, VA; and Dr.
Danielle M. Kovach, Special Education Teacher, Tulsa Trail
Elementary School, Hopatcong Board of Education, Hopatcong, NJ.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 12, 2021--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Hearing
titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service as
conveyed in President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 as
they relate to federal child nutrition programs.
Witness: Ms. Stacy Dean, Deputy Under Secretary for Food,
Nutrition, and Consumer Services, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 13, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Hearing titled ``Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Reauthorization: Creating Opportunities for Youth Employment.''
Purpose: To examine how the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA) currently serves the needs of in-school
and out-of-school youth and what changes are needed to improve
WOIA's youth services as part of reauthorization.
Witnesses: Ms. Chekemma Townsend, President and CEO,
Philadelphia Youth Network, Philadelphia, PA; Mr. Thomas
Showalter, Senior Advisor, National Youth Employment Coalition,
Washington, DC; Ms. Deb Lindner, Human Resources Manager,
Precor, Whitsett, NC; and Mr. Byron Garret, President and CEO,
National Job Corps Association, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 19, 2021--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education Hearing titled ``Picking up the Pieces:
Strengthening Connections with Students Experiencing
Homelessness and Children in Foster Care.''
Purpose: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
the educational experiences of children and students
experiencing homelessness and children and students in foster
care and the ways in which the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
will support these populations.
Witnesses: Ms. Jennifer Erb-Downward, MPH, Senior Research
Associate, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, MI; Ms. Michelle Linder-Coates, Executive Director,
School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; Ms. Gretchen
Davis, foster parent, Arlington, VA; and Dr. James F. Lane,
Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction, Virginia
Department of Education, Richmond, VA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 26, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 3110, the Providing Urgent
Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY)
Disposition: H.R. 3110 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-102 was filed on July
22, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 26, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older
Workers Against Discrimination Act of 2021 (POWADA).
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 2062 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 29 Yeas and 18 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-63 was filed on June 17,
2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 27, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Hearing titled ``Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Reauthorization: Creating Employment Pathways for Dislocated
Workers.''
Purpose: To examine how the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA) currently serves the needs of dislocated
workers and to consider improvements to improve outcomes for
dislocated workers through the reauthorization of WIOA.
Witnesses: Mr. Joseph Barela, Executive Director, Colorado
Department of Labor and Employment, Denver, CO; Mr. PJ McGrew,
Executive Director, Indiana Governor's Workforce Cabinet,
Indianapolis, IN; Mr. Matt Sigelman, Chief Executive Officer,
Burning Glass Technologies, Boston, MA; and Ms. Portia Wu,
Managing Director, U.S. Public Policy, U.S. Government Affairs,
Microsoft Corporation, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 9, 2021--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies
and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Labor.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Labor as conveyed in President Biden's Budget for
Fiscal Year 2022.
Witness: The Honorable Martin Walsh, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Labor, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 10, 2021--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Hearing
titled ``Ending Child Hunger: Priorities for Child Nutrition
Reauthorization.''
Purpose: To examine legislative solutions to end child
hunger and discuss how Congress can bolster proven strategies
to feed hungry children.
Witnesses: Mr. Michael Wilson, Director, Maryland Hunger
Solutions, Baltimore, MD; Ms. Crystal Cooper, Executive
Director, Nutrition Support Services, Chicago Public Schools,
Chicago, IL; Mr. Brandon Lipps, Principal, Caprock Strategies,
Alexandria, VA; and Mr. Tom Colicchio, Chef and Owner, Crafted
Hospitality, New York, NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 15, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act Reauthorization: Examining Successful Models of
Employment for Justice-Involved Individuals.''
Purpose: To examine how the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA) currently serves the needs of justice-
involved individuals and what changes are needed to improve the
scope and effectiveness of the U.S. Department of Labor's
Reentry Opportunities Program through the reauthorization of
WIOA.
Witnesses: Ms. Traci Scott, Vice President of Workforce
Development Division, National Urban League, New York, NY; Mr.
Gregg Keesling, President, DBA Recycle Force Workforce, Inc.,
Indianapolis, IN; Dr. Pamela Lattimore, Senior Director for
Research Development, Division for Applied Justice Research,
RTI International, Durham, NC; and Ms. Wendi Safstrom,
Executive Director, SHRM Foundation, Alexandria, VA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 16, 2021--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies
and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services as conveyed in
President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2022.
Witness: The Honorable Xavier Becerra, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 23, 2021--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Hearing titled ``Examining Pathways to Build a Stronger, More
Inclusive Retirement System.''
Purpose: To examine the challenges facing retirement savers
and explore options for congressional action to increase access
to sustainable retirement income for categories of workers
historically excluded from participation in retirement savings
programs.
Witnesses: Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci, Irene and Bernard L.
Schwartz Professor of Economics and Policy Analysis, The New
School for Social Research, New York, NY; Dr. Nari Rhee,
Director, Retirement Security Program, University of California
at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Dr. Andrew Biggs, Resident Scholar,
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC; and Mr. David
Certner, Legislative Counsel and Legislative Policy Director,
AARP, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 24, 2021--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies
and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Education as conveyed in President Biden's Budget
for Fiscal Year 2022.
Witness: The Honorable Miguel Cardona, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 2119, the Family Violence
Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Lucy McBath (GA)
Disposition: H.R. 2119 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 26 Yeas and 20 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-126 was filed on
September 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 3992, the Protect Older
Job Applicants (POJA) Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX)
Disposition: H.R. 3992 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 26 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-127 was filed on
September 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 729, the Strength in
Diversity Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 729 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-176 was filed on
November 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 15, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 730, the Equity and
Inclusion Enforcement Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 730 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-177 (Part I) was filed
on November 23, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 20, 2021--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
and Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Joint Hearing titled ``Care for Our Communities: Investing in
the Direct Care Workforce.''
Purpose: To examine the unmet need for direct care workers
as well as the difficulty in recruiting, retaining, supporting,
and training this critical and in-demand workforce; to discuss
issues related to wages, Medicaid reimbursement rates, and
working conditions; and to consider the role of the Direct CARE
Opportunity Act (H.R. 2999) in addressing the problems
identified.
Witnesses: Mr. Robert Espinoza, Vice President of Policy,
PHI, Bronx, NY; Ms. Zulma Torres, Home Health Aide, Cooperative
Home Care Associates, Waterbury, CT; Mr. Paul Burani, Head of
Business Development, North America Udacity, Inc., Mountain
View, CA; and the Honorable Jessica Fay, State Representative,
Maine House of Representatives, Raymond, ME.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 21, 2021--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and Subcommittee
on Civil Rights and Human Services Joint Hearing titled
``Phasing Out Subminimum Wages: Supporting the Transition to
Competitive Integrated Employment for Workers with
Disabilities.''
Purpose: To consider H.R. 2723, the Transformation to
Competitive Integrated Employment Act, a bill that would phase
out the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities and
authorize funding to states and employers to transition workers
with disabilities to competitive integrated employment.
Witnesses: Ms. Nantanee Koppstein, Member, New Jersey
Statewide Independent Living Council, Princeton Junction, NJ;
Mr. John Anton, Legislative Specialist, Massachusetts Down
Syndrome Congress, Haverhill, MA; Dr. Matthew Putts, CEO,
Employment Horizons, Inc., Cedar Knolls, NJ; and Mr. Anil
Lewis, Executive Director for Blindness Initiatives, National
Federation of the Blind, Baltimore, MD.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 28, 2021--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Hearing
titled ``Food for Thought: Examining Federal Nutrition Programs
for Young Children and Infants.''
Purpose: To examine federal child nutrition and related
programs that support young children and opportunities to
strengthen these laws.
Witnesses: Ms. Teresa L. Turner, Nutritionist, Child and
Youth Services, United States Army, Glen Burnie, MD; Ms. Paula
N. Garrett, Division Director, Division of Community Nutrition,
Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, VA; Mr. Trevor
Farrell, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer,
Americas, Schreiber Foods, Inc., Green Bay, WI; and Mrs.
Jessica Burris, North Carolina WIC Participant and
Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, WIC Department, Montgomery County
Department of Health, Troy, NC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 29, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Keeping the Pell Grant Promise:
Increasing Enrollment, Supporting Success.''
Purpose: To examine trends related to low enrollment of
Pell Grant eligible students at four-year public institutions,
best institutional and research-based practices to increase
enrollment and success, and how proposed federal policies will
support and advance these efforts.
Witnesses: Dr. Justin Ortagus, Associate Professor, Higher
Education Administration and Policy, and Director, Institute of
Higher Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Dr.
Robert Jones, Chancellor, University of Illinois Urbana-
Champaign, Champaign, IL; Dr. Michael Poliakoff, President,
American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Washington, DC; and
Ms. Darleny Suriel, Student, City College of New York, Bronx,
NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 9, 2021--Full Committee Markup of Committee Print to comply
with reconciliation directive included in section 2002(b) of S.
Con. Res. 14, a concurrent resolution setting forth the
congressional budget for the United States Government for
fiscal year 2022 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary
levels for fiscal years 2023 through 2031.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: The Committee Print was ordered to be
favorably transmitted to the House Committee on the Budget, as
amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 22 Nays.
Committee Report: Transmitted on September 14, 2021.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 28, 2021--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services and
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Joint
Hearing titled ``How to Save a Life: Successful Models for
Protecting Communities from COVID-19.''
Purpose: To address barriers to COVID-19 vaccine and
testing access and highlight resources provided by the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to increase vaccination rates and make
testing more available in underserved communities.
Witnesses: Dr. Leana Wen, Research Professor, The George
Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health,
and Distinguished Fellow, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health
Workforce Equity, Washington, DC; Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi,
Director of Health Equity and Associate Professor, Department
of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke University School
of Medicine, Durham, NC; Mr. Avik Roy, President, The
Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, Washington, DC;
and Dr. Chris Pernell, Chief Strategic Integration and Health
Equity Officer, University Hospital, Newark, NJ.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 29, 2021--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education Hearing titled ``Back to School:
Highlighting Best Practices for Safely Reopening School.''
Purpose: To examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted
the return to school for the 2021-2022 school year.
Witnesses: Dr. Jesus Jara, Superintendent of Schools, Clark
County School District, Las Vegas, NV; Ms. Denise Forte,
Interim Chief Executive Officer, The Education Trust,
Washington, DC; Mr. David Zweig, Freelance Journalist, New
York, NY; and Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean and Professor of Health
Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University School of
Public Health, Providence, RI.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 30, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Protecting Students and Taxpayers:
Improving the Closed School Discharge Process.''
Purpose: To hear testimony from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office about its findings related to the closed
school discharge process and to provide Committee members the
opportunity to better understand potential improvements to the
closed school discharge process to protect students harmed by
school closures.
Witnesses: Ms. Melissa Emrey-Arras, Director of Higher
Education, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Boston, MA;
Ms. Karyn Rhodes, Student Borrower, Torrance, CA; Mr. Preston
Cooper, Research Fellow, Foundation for Research on Equal
Opportunity, Washington, DC; and Ms. Robyn Smith, Senior
Attorney, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
October 6, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Homecoming: The Historical Roots
and Continued Contributions of HBCUs.''
Purpose: To explore the important and unique role that
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) play in
the higher education landscape, the historical background that
sets these institutions apart, challenges created by systemic
underfunding of the sector, and the ongoing need for federal
support.
Witnesses: Dr. Lezli Baskerville, President and CEO,
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education,
Washington, DC; Dr. Glenda Glover, President, Tennessee State
University, Nashville, TN; Mrs. Angela Sailor, Vice President,
The Edwin J. FeulnerInstitute, The Heritage Foundation,
Washington, DC; and Dr. Andre Perry, Senior Fellow, The
Brookings Institute, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
October 26, 2021--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and
Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Joint Hearing
titled ``Protecting Lives and Livelihoods: Vaccine Requirements
and Employee Accommodations.''
Purpose: To examine the civil rights and accommodations
issues regarding employer vaccination policies, and to assess
the policy issues related to the impending Occupational Safety
and Health Administration's Emergency Temporary Standard that
calls for employers with 100 or more employees to require
employees to receive vaccination against COVID-19 or undergo
routine testing.
Witnesses: Dr. Sidney Shapiro, Frank U. Fletcher Chair in
Administrative Law and Professor of Law, Wake Forest University
School of Law, Winston-Salem, NC; Ms. Richelle T. Luther,
Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer,
Columbia Sportswear Company, Portland, OR; Mr. Scott Hecker,
Senior Counsel, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Washington, DC; and Dr.
Doron Dorfman, Associate Professor of Law, Syracuse University
College of Law, Syracuse, NY.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
October 27, 2021--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Office of Federal Student Aid.''
Purpose: To explore the plans of the Office of Federal
Student Aid within the U.S. Department of Education in
overseeing institutions of higher education and enforcing
compliance with the requirements for participation in programs
authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Witness: The Honorable Richard Cordray, Chief Operating
Officer, Office of Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of
Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 3, 2021--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services
Hearing titled ``A Call to Action: Modernizing the Community
Services Block Grant.''
Purpose: To examine reauthorization of the Community
Services Block Grant.
Witnesses: Mr. David Bradley, Chief Executive Officer,
National Community Action Foundation, Fredericksburg, VA; Ms.
Sharon Scott-Chandler, Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer, Action for Boston Community Development,
Inc., Natick, MA; Mr. Clarence Carter, Commissioner, Tennessee
Department of Human Services, Nashville, TN; and Ms. Katherine
King Galian, Director of Family and Community Resources,
Community Action, Hillsboro, OR.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 4, 2021--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and
Pensions Hearing titled ``Closing the Courthouse Doors: The
Injustice of Forced Arbitration Agreements.''
Purpose: To examine the impacts of forced arbitration and
collective action waivers on workers' ability to enforce their
rights under federal employment laws and to consider H.R. 4841,
the Restoring Justice for Workers Act, a bill to make forced
arbitration provisions and collective action waivers
unenforceable in employment cases and to make the use of those
provisions unlawful under the National Labor Relation Act.
Witnesses: Dr. Alexander Colvin, Kenneth F. Kahn Dean and
Martin F. Scheinman Professor of Conflict Resolution, Cornell
University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Ithaca,
NY; Ms. Glenda Perez, former Implementation Set-Up
Representative, Cigna, Ruskin, FL; Mr. Roger King, Senior Labor
and Employment Counsel, HR Policy Association, Arlington, VA;
and Ms. Kalpana Kotagal, Partner, Cohen Milstein Sellers &
Toll, PLLC, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 10, 2021--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 5891, the Retirement
Improvement and Savings Enhancement (RISE) Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 5891 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: House Report 117-250 (Part I) was filed
on February 25, 2022.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
November 17, 2021--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education and Subcommittee on Higher Education and
Workforce Investment Joint Hearing titled ``Examining the
Implementation of COVID-19 Education Funds.''
Purpose: To hear from senior U.S. Department of Education
officials about the management and oversight of the Education
Stabilization Fund (ESF).
Witnesses: Ms. Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, DC; and Mr. James Kvaal,
Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
December 1, 2021--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Examining the
Policies and Priorities of the Corporation for National and
Community Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, including
financial management concerns identified by the agency's
auditors.
Witnesses: The Honorable Deborah Jeffrey, Inspector
General, Corporation for National and Community Service,
Washington, DC; and Mr. Malcolm Coles, Acting Chief Executive
Officer, Corporation for National and Community Service,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
December 2, 2021--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``Strengthening the Safety Net for Injured Workers.''
Purpose: To assess the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs;
to assess the need for management reforms to the black lung
benefits self-insurance program; and to consider four pieces of
legislation to strengthen federal workers' compensation
programs--H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act;
H.R. 3314, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' COVID-19
Compensation Act of 2021; H.R. 6102, the Black Lung Benefits
Improvement Act of 2021; and H.R. 6087, the Improving Access to
Workers' Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act.
Witnesses: Panel I--The Honorable Salud Carbajal, Member of
Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Santa Barbara, CA.
Panel II--Mr. Christopher Godfrey, Director, Office of Workers'
Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington,
DC; and Mr. Thomas Costa, Director, Education, Workforce, and
Income Security, U.S. Government Accountability Office,
Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
February 16, 2022--Full Committee Meeting to approve new Subcommittee
assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
February 16, 2022--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education Hearing titled ``Serving All Students:
Promoting a Healthier, More Supportive School Environment.''
Purpose: To examine outdated discipline practices and to
highlight evidence-based practices that schools can implement
to create healthy school environments that support students'
social, emotional, and academic development.
Witnesses: Mr. Guy Stephens, Founder and Executive
Director, Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint, Lusby, MD;
Ms. Morgan Craven, National Director of Policy, Advocacy, and
Community Engagement, Intercultural Development Research
Association, San Antonio, TX; Mr. Max Eden, Research Fellow,
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC; and Ms. Kristen
Harper, Vice President for Public Policy and Engagement, Child
Trends, Laurel, MD.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
February 17, 2022--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and
Pensions Hearing titled ``Exploring Pathways to Affordable,
Universal Health Coverage.''
Purpose: To examine the need for and proposals to achieve
universal health coverage in the United States.
Witnesses: The Honorable Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's
Professor of Public Policy, University of California at
Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive
Director, American Public Health Association, Washington, DC;
Dr. Brian Blase, President, Paragon Health Institute, Ponte
Vedra, FL; and Ms. Katie Keith, Visiting Professor and Director
of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative, O'Neill Institute
for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law
Center, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 1, 2022--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Hearing titled ``Improving Retirement Security and Access to
Mental Health Benefits.''
Purpose: To examine ways to strengthen access to retirement
security and mental health benefits.
Witnesses: Ms. Amy Matsui, Director of Income Security and
Senior Counsel, National Women's Law Center, Washington, DC;
Ms. Karen Handorf, Senior Counsel, Berger Montague, Alexandria,
VA; Mr. Andrew Biggs, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise
Institute, Washington, DC; and Mr. Aron Szapiro, Head of
Retirement Studies and Public Policy, Morningstar, Inc. and
Morningstar Investment Management LLC, Chicago, IL.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 2, 2022--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Investing in Economic Mobility: The
Important Role of Hispanic Serving Institutions and Other
Minority Serving Institutions.''
Purpose: To explore the important role that Minority
Serving Institutions play in higher education, their ongoing
need for federal support, and their implementation of
federally-funded grant activities.
Witnesses: Dr. Jose Luis Cruz Rivera, President, Northern
Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ; Dr. Patricia Ramsey,
President, Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, NY; Dr. Janine
Davidson, President, Metropolitan State University of Denver,
Denver, CO; and Dr. Robert Teranishi, Professor of Education
and Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American
Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Full Committee Meeting to approve new Subcommittee
assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 6102, the Black Lung
Benefits Improvement Act of 2021.
Sponsor: Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA)
Disposition: H.R. 6102 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 22 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-589 (Part I) was filed
on December 2, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 5129, the Community
Services Block Grant Modernization Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR)
Disposition: H.R. 5129 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 35 Yeas and 14 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-311 was filed on May 6,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 2499, the Federal Fire
Fighters Fairness Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA)
Disposition: H.R. 2499 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 31 Yeas and 18 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-306 was filed on May 6,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 5428, the School Shooting
Safety and Preparedness Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)
Disposition: H.R. 5428 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-307 was filed on May 6,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 3114, the Longshore and
Harbor Workers' COVID-19 Compensation Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Frank Mrvan (IN)
Disposition: H.R. 6102 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-526 was filed on
September 29, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
March 16, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 6087, the Improving
Access to Workers' Compensation for Injured Federal Workers
Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Joe Courtney (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 6087 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: No Committee Report filed.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
April 5, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 7309, the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 7309 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 29 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-321 was filed on May 12,
2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
April 5, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 7310, the Protecting
America's Retirement Security Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Lucy McBath (GA)
Disposition: H.R. 7310 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 29 Yeas and 21 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-557 (Part I) was filed
on November 14, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
April 6, 2022--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies
and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services as conveyed in
President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: The Honorable Xavier Becerra, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
April 27, 2022--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Hearing
titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal
Contract Compliance Programs.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and U.S. Department of
Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs as
conveyed in President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witnesses: The Honorable Charlotte Burrows, Chair, U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, DC; and
Ms. Jenny Yang, Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance
Programs, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 11, 2022--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``Standing Up for Workers: Preventing Wage Theft and Recovering
Stolen Wages.''
Purpose: To examine the negative impacts of wage theft on
workers and honest businesses as well as consider the Wage
Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act (H.R. 7701), which would
deter wage theft and help workers seek justice to recover lost
wages.
Witnesses: Ms. Karen Cacace, Labor Bureau Chief, The New
York State Office of the Attorney General, New York, NY; Mr.
Daniel Swenson-Klatt, Owner and Operator, Butter Bakery Cafe,
Minneapolis, MN; Ms. Tammy McCutcheon, Senior Affiliate,
Resolution Economics, Washington, DC; and Mr. Francisco
Esparza, Representative, United Brotherhood of Carpenters,
Upper Marlboro, MD.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 17, 2022--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Hearing
titled ``Examining Ways to Improve the Juvenile Justice System
and Support America's Young People.''
Purpose: To examine the current state of the juvenile
justice and child welfare residential care systems by assessing
the risk factors that lead to out-of-home placement, exploring
treatment and service options for youth in these systems, and
evaluating the role of federal funding.
Witnesses: Ms. Lisette Burton, Chief Policy and Practice
Advisor, Association of Children's Residential and Community
Services (ACRC), Milwaukee, WI; Mr. A. Hasan Davis, Founder/
Director, Hasan Davis Solutions L.L.C., Lexington, KY; Mr. Alan
Loux, President and CEO, Rawhide Youth Services, New London,
WI; and Dr. Karen Kolivoski, Associate Professor, Howard
University School of Social Work, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 604, the Rebuild America's
Schools Act (RASA) of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 604 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-607 (Part I) was filed
on December 7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 7701, the Wage Theft
Prevention and Wage Recovery Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT)
Disposition: H.R. 7701 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-540 was filed on October
7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 5407, the Enhancing Mental
Health and Suicide Prevention Through Campus Planning Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Susan Wild (PA)
Disposition: H.R. 5407 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: House Report 117-383 was filed on June
23, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 6493, the Campus Prevention
and Recovery Services for Students Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM)
Disposition: H.R. 6493 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by voice vote.
Committee Report: House Report 117-384 was filed on June
23, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 18, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 7780, the Mental Health
Matters Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA)
Disposition: H.R. 7780 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 26 Yeas 18 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-484 was filed on
September 22, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
May 24, 2022--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Bureau of Indian Education'' (held jointly
with the Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee for
Indigenous People of the United States) (hearing was adjourned
before witness testimony or Member questions due to technical
difficulties; subcommittees agreed to conduct a second hearing
and include an additional witness).
Purpose: To examine the role of the Bureau of Indian
Education in serving American Indian and Alaskan Native
students.
Witness: Mr. Tony Dearman, Director, Bureau of Indian
Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 25, 2022--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Witnesses: The Honorable Douglas Parker, Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department
of Labor, Washington, DC; and Mr. Thomas Costa, Director,
Education, Workforce, and Income Security, U.S. Government
Accountability Office, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
May 26, 2022--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies
and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Education as conveyed in President Biden's Budget
for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: The Honorable Miguel Cardona, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
June 14, 2022--Full Committee Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies
and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Labor.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Labor as conveyed in President Biden's Budget for
Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: The Honorable Martin Walsh, Secretary, U.S.
Department of Labor, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
June 23, 2022--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Hearing
titled ``Examining the Policies and Priorities of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service as
conveyed in President Biden's Budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
Witness: Ms. Cindy Long, Administrator, Food and Nutrition
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
June 28, 2022--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Bureau of Indian Education'' (held jointly
with the Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee for
Indigenous People of the United States) (this hearing was a
follow-up to the hearing on May 24, 2022, above).
Purpose: To examine the role of the Bureau of Indian
Education in serving American Indian and Alaskan Native
students.
Witnesses: Ms. Beth Sirois, Assistant Director, U.S.
Government Accountability Office, Washington, DC; and Mr. Tony
Dearman, Director, Bureau of Indian Education, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
July 19, 2022--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``The History and Continued
Contributions of Tribal Colleges and Universities.''
Purpose: The purpose of this hearing is to explore the
important and unique role that Tribal Colleges and Universities
(TCUs) play in the higher education landscape, including the
historical background that sets these institutions apart from a
policy standpoint, their accomplishments, the important role
these institutions play in their communities, and their ongoing
need for federal support.
Witnesses: Ms. Carrie Billy, President and CEO, American
Indian Higher Education Consortium, Alexandria, VA; Dr. Cynthia
Lindquist, President, Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Fort
Totten, ND; Dr. Beth Akers, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise
Institute, Washington, DC; and Dr. Sandra Boham, President,
Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, MT. (Dr. Lindquist was unable
to provide oral testimony, but her written statement was made
part of the hearing record via unanimous consent.)
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
July 20, 2022--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``Second Class Workers: Assessing H2 Visa Programs' Impact on
Workers.''
Purpose: To examine the H-2A and H-2B visa programs and the
U.S. Department of Labor's role in enforcing the labor
standards in these programs.
Witnesses: Mr. Daniel Costa, Director of Immigration Law
and Policy Research, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, DC;
Ms. Teresa Romero, President, United Farm Workers, Keene, CA;
Mr. Leon Sequera, Attorney, Arlington, VA; and Mr. Ty Pinkins,
Consumer Protection Attorney, Mississippi Center for Justice,
Vicksburg, MS.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
July 27, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 2193, the Asuncion
Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act of 2022.
Sponsor: Rep. Judy Chu (CA)
Disposition: H.R. 2193 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 19 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-547 was filed on
November 7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
July 27, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H.R. 8450, the Healthy Meals,
Healthy Kids Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA)
Disposition: H.R. 8450 was ordered to be favorably reported
to the House, as amended, by a vote of 27 Yeas and 20 Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-548 was filed on
November 7, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
July 28, 2022--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``Essential but Undervalued: Examining Workplace Protections
for Domestic Workers.''
Purpose: To examine the role domestic workers play in our
nation's households and economy and their exclusion from labor
law protections, and to consider the Domestic Workers Bill of
Rights Act (H.R. 4826), which would provide protections for
domestic workers.
Witnesses: Ms. Ai-Jen Poo, President, National Domestic
Workers Alliance, New York, NY; Dr. C. Nicole Mason, President
and CEO, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, DC;
Mr. Paul DeCamp, Member, Epstein Becker Green, Washington, DC;
and Ms. Dana Barnett, Washington State Organizer, Hand in Hand:
the Domestic Employers Network, Seattle, WA.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 7, 2022--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing titled
``Children at Risk: Examining Workplace Protections for Child
Farmworkers.''
Purpose: To examine workplace protections for child
farmworkers.
Witnesses: Ms. Margaret Wurth, Senior Children's Rights
Researcher, Human Rights Watch, Tarrytown, NY; Dr. Barbara Lee,
Director/Senior Research Scientist, National Children's Center
for Rural and Agriculture Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic
Research Institute, Marshfield, WI; Ms. Kristi Boswell,
Counsel, Alston & Bird LLP, Washington, DC; and Ms. Norma
Flores Lopez, Committee Chair, Child Labor Coalition, San Juan,
TX.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 8, 2022--Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services
Hearing titled ``An Ounce of Prevention: Investments in
Juvenile Justice Programs.''
Purpose: To examine the links between sustained investments
in delinquency prevention and intervention programs and
improved outcomes for young people and their communities.
Witnesses: Dr. Stephanie Hawkins, Founding Director,
Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE), RTI
International, Research Triangle Park, NC; Ms. Naomi Smoot
Evans, Executive Director, Coalition for Juvenile Justice,
Washington, DC; Fr. Steven Boes, National Executive Director,
Boys Town, Boys Town, NE; and Mr. David Muhammad, Executive
Director, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform,
Oakland, CA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 14, 2022--Full Committee Hearing titled ``In Solidarity:
Removing Barriers to Organizing.''
Purpose: To examine the increase in worker organizing
activity across the country, the factors driving this activity,
the need to increase funding for the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) to handle the spike in this activity, and the need
to enact the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R.
842).
Witnesses: Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner, Director of Labor
Education Research and Senior Lecturer, Cornell University
School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Ithaca, NY; Mr. Mark
Pearce, Visiting Professor and Executive Director of the
Workers' Rights Institute, Georgetown University, Washington,
DC; Mr. Roger King, Senior Labor and Employment Policy Counsel,
HR Policy Association, Arlington, VA; and Ms. Michelle Eisen,
Barista, Starbucks, Buffalo, NY.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Full Committee Meeting to approve new Subcommittee
assignments.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H. Res. 1295, Of inquiry
directing the Secretary of Education to transmit certain
documents to the House of Representatives relating to the
Department of Education's cost estimates for the Secretary's
waivers related to public service loan forgiveness and income-
driven repayment.
Sponsor: Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC)
Disposition: H. Res. 1295 was ordered to be reported
adversely to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 21
Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-549 was filed on
November 10, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H. Res. 1296, Of inquiry
requesting the President and directing the Secretary of
Education to transmit, respectively, certain documents to the
House of Representatives relating to the legal authority to
forgive Federal student loan debt.
Sponsor: Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC)
Disposition: H. Res. 1296 was ordered to be reported
adversely to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 21
Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-550 was filed on
November 10, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 15, 2022--Full Committee Markup of H. Res. 1273, Of inquiry
directing the President to provide certain documents in the
President's possession to the House of Representatives relating
to communication between the executive branch and the American
Federation of Teachers regarding reopening schools and
supporting safe, in-person learning.
Sponsor: Rep. John Joyce (PA)
Disposition: H. Res. 1273 was ordered to be reported
adversely to the House, as amended, by a vote of 28 Yeas and 21
Nays.
Committee Report: House Report 117-539 was filed on
September 30, 2022.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 20, 2022--Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education Hearing titled ``Back to School: Meeting
Students'' Academic, Social, and Emotional Needs.''
Purpose: To examine how states and school districts are
approaching pandemic recovery this school year, including
efforts to leverage evidence-based interventions to close
achievement gaps exacerbated by the pandemic, as well as meet
students' social and emotional needs.
Witnesses: Ms. Phyllis Jordan, Associate Director,
FutureEd, Washington, DC; Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, President and
CEO, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional
Learning, Fairfax Station, VA; Dr. Penny Shinny, Tennessee
Commissioner of Education, Tennessee Department of Education,
Nashville, TN; and Dr. Matthew Blomstedt, Commissioner of
Education, Nebraska Department of Education, Lincoln, NE.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
September 21, 2022--Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and
Pensions Hearing titled ``Examining the Administration of the
Unemployment Insurance System.''
Purpose: To hear testimony from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) about its findings related to the
U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) implementation of the
temporary pandemic unemployment insurance (UI) programs, GAO's
inclusion of the regular UI system on its High Risk List, and
steps DOL and Congress can take to make improvements to the
administration of the UI system.
Witnesses: Mr. Thomas Costa, Director, Education,
Workforce, and Income Security Team, U.S. Government
Accountability Office, Washington, DC; Ms. Rebecca Dixon,
Executive Director, National Employment Law Project,
Washington, DC; Mr. Matt Weidinger, Senior Fellow, American
Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC; and Ms. Veronica
Robinson, individual affected by one of the temporary pandemic
UI programs, Philadelphia, PA.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
November 17, 2022--Full Committee Meeting to approve new Subcommittee
assignments.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
November 17, 2022--Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Hearing
entitled ``Unsafe and Untenable: Examining Workplace
Protections for Warehouse Workers.''
Purpose: To examine the workplace safety crisis in
warehouses and employers' responsibility to protect the health
and safety of workers.
Witnesses: Mr. Sheheryar Kaoosji, Executive Director,
Warehouse Workers Resource Center, Ontario, CA; Mr. Eric
Frumin, Director of Health and Safety, Strategic Organizing
Center, New York, NY; Mr. Manesh K. Rath, Partner, Keller &
Heckman, Washington, DC; and Ms. Janeth Caicedo, sister of
Edilberto Caicedo, a warehouse worker who died on the job,
Elizabeth, NJ.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
December 14, 2022--Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce
Investment Hearing titled ``Examining the Policies and
Priorities of the Corporation for National and Community
Service.''
Purpose: To examine the policies and priorities of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, including
financial management concerns identified by the agency's
auditors.
Witnesses: The Honorable Deborah Jeffrey, Inspector
General, Corporation for National and Community Service,
Washington, DC; and Mr. Michael Smith, Chief Executive Officer,
Corporation for National and Community Service, Washington, DC.
Platform: Conducted in person in 2175 Rayburn HOB with
remote participation via ZoomGov.
Other Committee Activity (Briefing) Conducted Entirely Remotely or With
Remote Participation
April 21, 2021--Full Committee Bipartisan Briefing titled ``Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act Reauthorization.''
Purpose: To provide Committee Members with a briefing on
the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act.
Experts: Dr. David Bradley, Analyst in Labor Economics,
Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC; Ms. Dawn Locke,
Acting Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security,
U.S. Government Accountability Office, Washington, DC; Mr. Ron
Painter, President and CEO, National Association of Workforce
Boards, Washington, DC; and Ms. Maria Flynn, President and CEO,
Jobs for the Future, Boston, MA.
Platform: Conducted entirely remotely via ZoomGov.
Conference Reports Filed With Committee Members Appointed as Conferees
No Committee Members were named as conferees to any
conference reports in the 117th Congress.
Committee Review of Draft Codification of Law Proposed by the Office of
the Law Revision Counsel
The Office of the Law Revision Counsel prepared a draft of
a bill to enact certain laws relating to territories and
insular possessions as new positive law title 48, ``Territories
and Insular Possessions'', of the United States Code. Upon
request by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel, the
Committee reviewed the draft. The Committee had no comments.
Issue Reports Written by the Committee
June 10, 2022--Report analyzing the economic benefits of unions
for workers and families. This report was released with the
Joint Economic Committee.
September 29, 2022--Report highlighting the importance of the
Affordable Care Act's requirement for health plans to
provide preventive care without cost-sharing. The report
details the Committee's concerns with attempts to erode
access to preventive care.
Amicus Briefs Supported by the Committee
January 24, 2022--Brief submitted to the National Labor
Relations Board in support of reinstating a policy under
the Specialty Healthcare precedent to prevent employers
from gerrymandering union representation elections. This
brief was led by Chairman Scott and signed by 13 additional
Members of the House of Representatives.
April 1, 2022--Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in
Joseph A. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, urging the
Supreme Court to uphold First Amendment protections by
reaffirming limitations on the ability of school staff to
lead students in, or pressure students into participating
in, school prayer or other religious activity. This brief
was signed by Chairman Scott and ten other Members of the
House of Representatives.
August 1, 2022--Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in
Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows
of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc.
v. University of North Carolina, et. al., supporting
institutions of higher education considering race and
ethnicity as one narrowly tailored factor among many when
making admissions decisions. This brief was led by Chairman
Scott and signed by 64 additional Members of the House of
Representatives.
August 19, 2022--Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in
303 Creative LLC, et al., v. Aubrey Elenis, et al., in
support of antidiscrimination laws that fulfill the
government's compelling interest in eliminating
discrimination to ensure that everyone can participate
freely in all aspects of public life, including accessing
goods and services without discriminatory barriers. This
brief was signed by Chairman Scott, 122 other Members of
the House of Representatives, and 14 Members of the Senate.
September 26, 2022--Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court
in the case of Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County
v. Talevski, in support of the ability of individuals to
use federal courts to enforce the requirements of certain
federal programs, including Medicaid, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program, Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Fair Housing Assistance
Program, the Children's Health Insurance Program, Head
Start, and the Veterans Rehabilitation program. This brief
was signed by Chairman Scott, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Majority Whip
James Clyburn, House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair
Frank Pallone, Jr., House Committee on Ways and Means Chair
Richard Neal, House Committee on Financial Services Chair
Maxine Waters, House Committee on the Judiciary Chair
Jerrold Nadler, House Committee on Agriculture Chair David
Scott, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chair Mark
Takano, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair Patty
Murray, Senate Committee on Finance Chair Ron Wyden, Senate
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chair
Sherrod Brown, and Senate Committee on Aging Chair Bob
Casey, Jr.
Committee Activity Statistics*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
*As of January 1, 2023.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Number of Bills and Resolutions Referred to the
Committee--1358
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Committee--61
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Full Committee--11
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education (including 3
joint hearings)--9
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Higher
Education and Workforce Investment (including 2 joint
hearings)--13
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Health,
Employment, Labor, and Pensions (including 2 joint
hearings)--9
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections (including 3 joint hearings)--12
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services (including 4 joint hearing)--13
Total Number of Field Hearings (Held by the Subcommittee on
Higher Education and Workforce Investment jointly with the
House Committee on Veterans' Affairs' Subcommittee on
Economic Opportunity)--0
Total Number of Markup Sessions Held by the Committee--11
Total Number of Markup Sessions Held by the Full Committee--11
Total Number of Legislation Ordered Reported (including Two
Transmissions to the Committee on the Budget to Comply with
Reconciliation Directives) by the Full Committee--30
Total Number of Committee Reports Filed for Legislation Ordered
Reported by the Full Committee--27
Total Number of Legislation Referred to the Committee that
Passed the House (including each time legislation passed)--
38
Total Number of Legislation Referred to the Committee that
Passed the House in Another Measure (including each time
legislation passed in another measure)--42
Total Number of Legislation Within Committee Jurisdiction Not
Referred to the Committee that Passed the House (including
each time legislation passed)--17
Total Number of Legislation Referred to the Committee Enacted
Into Law--1
Total Number of Legislation Referred to the Committee Enacted
Into Law in Another Measure--9
Total Number of Legislation Within Committee Jurisdiction Not
Referred to the Committee Enacted Into Law--11
Total Number of Committee-Initiated Correspondence--75
Total Number of Official Committee Proceedings Conducted
Entirely Remotely or with Remote Participation--79
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Committee Conducted
Entirely Remotely or with Remote Participation--61
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Full Committee Conducted
Entirely Remotely or with Remote Participation--11
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Conducted
Entirely Remotely or with Remote Participation--9
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Higher
Education and Workforce Investment Conducted Entirely
Remotely or with Remote Participation--13
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Health,
Employment, Labor, and Pensions Conducted Entirely Remotely
or with Remote Participation--9
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections Conducted Entirely Remotely or with Remote
Participation--12
Total Number of Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Civil
Rights and Human Services Conducted Entirely Remotely or
with Remote Participation--13
Total Number of Markup Sessions Held by the Full Committee
Conducted Entirely Remotely or with Remote Participation--
11
Total Number of Other Committee Activity (Briefing) Conducted
Entirely Remotely or with Remote Participation--1
Total Number of Conference Reports Filed with Committee Members
Appointed as Conferees--0
Total Number of Issue Reports Written by the Committee--2
Total Number of Amicus Briefs Supported by the Committee--5
MINORITY VIEWS
Introduction
Committee Republicans in the 117th Congress stood firm in
their efforts to oppose the destructive policies that defined
the Committee Democrats' legislative agenda. In stark contrast
to the hopeful words of bipartisanship the Chairman offered
when he assumed the gavel, Committee Democrats pushed through
radical, one-size-fits-all legislation benefiting left-wing
special interests, including Big Labor and trial lawyers. More
troubling, Democrats ceded legislating to the White House,
essentially abdicating their responsibility to the Executive
Branch. These Democrat-led efforts resulted in policies that
will stifle the American economy, reduce opportunities for
workers, punish small businesses, and hurt students. In stark
contrast, Committee Republicans offered pro-growth, pro-worker,
and pro-student reforms so that all Americans have the
opportunity to succeed.
Policy Goals
EDUCATION
Committee Republicans worked to promote access to high-
quality education and lifelong learning in order to prepare
students to compete in the 21st century economy.
Fighting for K-12 Students
In the 117th Congress, Democrats consistently put the
interests of teachers unions above students. During Committee
hearings on K-12 issues, Republicans highlighted the harm done
to students by school closures championed by Democrats and
their union allies. On May 6, 2021, the Early Childhood,
Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee held a hearing
titled ``Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Students with
Disabilities.'' One witness highlighted the harm done to his
son, saying:
``Our son is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
and ADHD. Before school closed due to the pandemic, he
was a very happy boy who loved school, especially being
around his friends. But things changed quickly after
schools closed. The lack of social contact and the
routine of a normal school day, which are incredibly
important to children with Autism, caused him to create
an imaginary world [in the] Spring [of 2020] with ``52
friends,'' as he told us. By summer, his imaginary
world had become so real to him that he struggled to
differentiate real from the pretend, causing him to
have visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations which
became so bothersome that on his [ninth] birthday, he
asked me, `Daddy, can I die for my birthday?'. . . The
doctors told us that his symptoms were from a massive
deterioration of his Autism due to the social
isolation.''\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\https://republicans-edlabor.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
congressional_testimony_reade.pdf.
Learning loss data also demonstrates the profound academic
harm caused by Democrats' policies. Results on the National
Assessment of Educational Progress showed historic declines in
math and reading achievement during the pandemic. Nine-year-
olds suffered the first ever decline in math scores and the
largest decline in reading scores in 30 years.\2\ These
declines could cause lifelong harm to students. Harvard's
Center for Education Policy Research estimated such declines
would represent a $43,800 loss in expected lifetime earnings
for each student affected.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/.
\3\https://www.the74million.org/article/analysis-pandemic-learning-
loss-could-cost-u-s-students-2-trillion-in-lifetime-earnings-what-
states-schools-can-do-to-avert-this-crisis/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, Democrats rejected Republican proposals to
get students back in the classroom. During consideration of the
Committee's portion of what would become the American Rescue
Plan Act, Republicans offered the following five proposals to
ensure that funds would be used to get students back in school
or to provide families choices to meet students' needs:
1. Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA) offered an amendment to require
school districts accepting COVID aid to offer in-person
instruction.
2. Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) offered an amendment to require
school districts accepting COVID aid to offer in-person
instruction to high-risk students.
3. Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) offered an amendment
requiring school districts to reopen once all teachers had
access to the COVID vaccine.
4. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) offered an amendment requiring
school districts that did not offer in-person instruction to
place COVID aid in education savings accounts for parents to
use for private school tuition or other educational expenses
such as technology or tutoring.
5. Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) offered an amendment to require
school districts to document in writing and make public all
negotiations between the district and the teachers union
regarding school reopening.
Unfortunately, Democrats rejected each of these proposals.
Democrats' unwillingness to put families first was a trend
throughout the 117th Congress. Families are growing
increasingly frustrated that too many schools are focused more
on left-wing indoctrination than on academic instruction. In
response, Republicans introduced H.R. 6056, the Parents Bill of
Rights Act. This bill would require school districts to be
transparent with parents about curriculum and how taxpayer
funds are spent and would strengthen protections for student
privacy and parental access to information about their
children's well-being. Democrats refused to consider this bill.
Democrats also rejected greater educational freedom for
families. A high-quality education is the path out of poverty
for millions and provides students with the tools and skills
they need to build a successful life. Every child should have
access to an excellent education. No child should be limited by
circumstances out of their control, such as where they live.
Rather than respond to families' overwhelming desire for
better educational options, Democrats provided a rubber stamp
for the Biden administration's illegal actions to shut down
charter schools, which are providing a high-quality education
to millions of students, mostly low-income and minority
students, who would otherwise be trapped in failing traditional
public schools. This is shameful. Equally shameful is
Democrats' refusal to consider proposals that would expand
families' access to all educational options.
Fighting for Better Postsecondary Education
The need for reform to our nation's postsecondary education
system is more necessary now than it ever has been. During the
first Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee
hearing of the 117th Congress, former Ranking Member Greg
Murphy (R-NC) encapsulated the issue and Committee Republicans
goals, saying:
``Four in ten baccalaureate-degree recipients are
underemployed in their first jobs after school. Roughly
60 percent of students complete their degree program
within six years . . . With these unprecedented levels
of taxpayer money being funneled into educational
institutions, combined with valid concerns about return
on investment, it is imperative that Congress take a
close look at how the Department of Education and
institutions of higher learning spent hard-earned
taxpayer dollars, and consider necessary structural
reforms to the Higher Education Act to serve students
better . . . any conversation surrounding postsecondary
education must aim to reduce the cost of attendance and
boost graduation rates, while also supporting students
to pursue the type of education that works for them--
whether it be seeking a baccalaureate degree or
pursuing equally valuable, skills-based
alternatives.''\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\https://republicans-edlabor.house.gov/news/
documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=407303.
In contrast, Democrats did not hold hearings focused on
foundational and innovative reforms to the Higher Education
Act, but instead reexamined support for issues that many on the
Committee already agree upon. Democrats also missed the
opportunity to convene hearings regarding rising college costs
and essential reforms to the loan and repayment program so
institutions of higher education no longer have an incentive to
saddle students with excessive debt for degrees that provide
little to no return on investment. Instead, Democrats conceded
policymaking to the Biden administration and did not join with
Committee Republicans in calls for oversight as the
administration took unilateral action to push unlawful
expansions of loan forgiveness programs.
Over the 117th Congress, the Biden administration refused
to resume student loan repayment, costing taxpayers
approximately $4.3 billion per month, for a total of over $100
billion. The administration also enacted illegal waivers
rewriting the rules far beyond congressional intent for the
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and Income Drive
Repayment (IDR) plan, resulting in immediate loan cancellation
available for over 3 million borrowers holding as much as $145
billion in loans through these changes to PSLF and $211 billion
in loans under IDR. The Department of Education embarked on
regulatory overhauls to the Borrower Defense to Repayment
process, permanent changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness
and other areas regarding federal student loans that are
estimated to cost at least $85 billion. The mounting costs of
the Executive branch's actions were all detailed in Ranking
Member Virginia Foxx's ``Letter to America.''\5\ The
administration has yet to release the full details of its new
income-driven repayment plan, but from what has been previewed,
it is clear the administration is attempting to provide
backdoor ``free'' college through the loan program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\https://republicans-edlabor.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
7.20.22_letter_to_america_final.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The unprecedented cost of these executive changes is
exacerbated by the July 2022 Government Accountability Office's
(GAO) report which found the Department of Education has
significantly underestimated the true cost of the Direct Loan
program for decades.\6\ GAO's analysis concluded that the
Department of Education's budget estimate was off by $311
billion between 1997 and 2021 and that over half of the error
was due to inaccurate and faulty assumptions about
borrowers.\7\ In light of the administration's inaccurate
understanding of the cost of the loan program and unfettered
willingness to discharge loans through program changes and mass
debt cancellation, Ranking Member Virginia Foxx, (R-NC) Rep.
Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced H.R.
8655, the Responsible Education Assistance through Loan (REAL)
Reforms Act. This legislation ends uncapped borrowing in the
Grad PLUS program and institutes reasonable loan limits, gives
institutions the flexibility to adjust borrowing limits,
eliminates regressive loan forgiveness, provides targeted
relief for borrowers in the most need, and creates the
Workforce Pell Grant which will allow the Pell Grant to be used
for short-term, career-focused programs that provide valuable
credentials for in-demand jobs. Committee Democrats offered no
legislation to address the failure of the student loan program,
but introduced H.R. 8872, the Lowering Obstacles to Achievement
Now (LOAN) Act, which would only double down on the failed
policies of the past that will exacerbate the problems of
rising costs and diminishing quality that plague our
postsecondary education system costing students, families, and
taxpayers billions in the process.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105365.
\7\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, on August 24, 2022, the Biden administration
announced their student loan bailout which would require 87
percent of adults who do not have loans to pay the student loan
debts of the 13 percent who chose to take on student loans. The
Congressional Budget Office estimated that debt cancellation
would cost $400 billion,\8\ while outside experts estimate
that, when combined with administration's new IDR plan, the
cost of the administration's student debt scheme could reach $1
trillion.\9\ This illegal action by the Executive branch
required examination by the legislative branch. On September 7,
2022, Committee Republicans sent a letter to Chairman Bobby
Scott (D-VA) requesting a hearing to examine the implementation
of the administration's reckless student loan bailout, stating,
``when the executive branch walks so far outside of its lane,
we can come together in Congress and demand
accountability.''\10\ The majority did not invite the
Department nor any administration officials to testify on these
unprecedented actions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-09/58494-Student-
Loans.pdf.
\9\https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2022/8/26/biden-
student-loan-forgiveness.
\10\https://republicans-edlabor.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
loanactionslettertorcs_final_.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee Republicans are focused on responsible policy
solutions that protect the interests of students and taxpayers
to reform our nation's postsecondary education system into a
driving force for the American economy.
Fighting for a Better Workforce Development System
Building a more resilient workforce development system has
long been a priority for Committee Republicans.
On May 13, 2021, Democrats brought H.R. 447, the National
Apprenticeship Act of 2021, to the floor. The Democrats' bill
will force job creators to deal with overly prescriptive
requirements and will close pathways to new innovative
apprenticeship models. Committee Republicans offered an
amendment that would create more pathways to work by giving job
creators the flexibility to innovate and develop high-quality
earn-and-learn programs without Washington overreach. Democrats
claimed their bill expanded apprenticeship opportunities while
maintaining a check on quality. However, giving unions what
they want, as the Democrat bill did, does not amount to
quality. In reality, their bill limits opportunities and
stifles innovation in the field. Alternatively, Republicans
offered a complete substitute amendment that could have been
signed into law and would have delivered on the promise of
expanding apprenticeship opportunities.
During the 117th Congress, Democrats also marked up H.R.
7309, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022, and
brought it to the Floor for a vote. This bill failed to make
critical reforms to the nation's public workforce system that
are needed to close the skills gap and connect job seekers with
family-sustaining jobs. Instead of modernizing an outdated
system to address current economic needs, the bill moved
backwards--increasing union involvement, Washington
bureaucracy, and burdens on employers.
Republicans offered a complete substitute amendment that
would inject needed innovation into the workforce system and
offer upward mobility for job seekers. With more than 10
million unfilled jobs and 6 million unemployed individuals,
steps need to be taken to connect unemployed or underemployed
individuals with new education and work opportunities. The
Republican substitute refocused WIOA on skills development,
rather than needless bureaucracy, so that job seekers can
receive the education needed to qualify for open jobs. The
substitute also encouraged innovative programs to participate
in WIOA and clarified that online programs can participate.
These programs offer lifelong learners flexibility to continue
upskilling while also caring for their family or working
another job.
Since competition drives better results, the Republican
substitute also encouraged programs with a proven track record
of successfully helping American workers succeed. The
Republican proposal used real outcomes to measures success and
encouraged states to focus on successful programs through pay-
for-performance funding.
While the Democrats' bill missed an opportunity to meet the
needs of job seekers and to rely on employers to determine the
kind of skills needed for in-demand jobs, the Republican
substitute offered American workers an opportunity to grow
their skills without crippling student debt and to quickly
enter the workforce equipped with the experience and knowledge
employers are looking for. The Republican proposal also added
important accountability mechanism to ensure taxpayer dollars
are being put to effective use and job seekers are able to
access programs with a track record of success.
Supporting Child Nutrition
Despite schools just beginning the return to regular
operation of the school meal programs, Democrats offered a
reauthorization proposal that would add significant complexity
and costs to the programs. Republicans opposed that bill,
believing it was the wrong time to reauthorize these programs.
The Democrats' bill largely legislates by looking backwards and
puts forward their policy wish list.
This bill dramatically increases costs and burdens by
unnecessarily expanding existing programs. The Committee did
not have a cost estimate for the bill prior to the markup, but
it is anticipated to add tens of billions of dollars to
taxpayers' debt. One program which the bill expands is
Community Eligibility. This expansion will increase costs for
taxpayers by providing more free meals to those families that
can afford to pay their fair share. Additionally, the bill
significantly expands the summer food service program by
expanding the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program. This
change is not accompanied by any off-setting cuts or changes to
the current summer program, creating significant integrity
concerns by potentially providing duplicate meals for many
children rather than working to provide meals to as many
children as possible.
The bill also expands the authority of the federal
government unnecessarily. The bill first does this by
overstepping the appropriate limits of the federal government
by requiring the Secretary of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to issue guidance on the school day
schedule, specifically the length of lunch. Scheduling the
school day is a local issue, not the concern of the USDA
Secretary. The bill also creates a new advisory committee on
unpaid meal debt. While unpaid debt certainly harms both
schools and students, a task force in D.C. is not going to
solve the problem.
The Democrats' bill also misses opportunities which could
in fact be addressed at this time. First, the bill fails to
simplify child nutrition programs, but instead requires
additional and overlapping regulations that will increase
program costs and complexity. Requiring new regulations on
additives and ``other potentially harmful substances''
increases complexity and costs, and it leaves schools and other
program providers unsure about what foods are allowable in the
program. Second, the bill fails to address significant and
long-time administrative issues in the programs. This includes
limiting unnecessary administrative reviews, preventing the
challenges created by the last school meal programs'
regulations, and removing onerous requirements like paid meal
equity. While Republicans did not offer a comprehensive
substitute, there were several amendments offered that would
improve the bill and the program overall if enacted. Those
include the following:
1. Reps. McClain (R-MI) and Fulcher (R-ID) offered--and
withdrew--an amendment to ensure potatoes remain allowable as
vegetable under the programs.
2. Rep. McClain offered an amendment to prohibit all new
changes from being enacted unless an independent study is
conducted to ensure the program won't increase inflation or the
changes can be implemented once inflation drops to 2 percent.
This amendment was defeated in a roll call vote.
3. Rep. Thompson (R-PA), along with Reps. Stefanik,
Fulcher, and Keller (R-PA), offered an amendment to address
whole milk and chocolate milk in school meals and allow greater
choice of milk in the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program.
This amendment was defeated by a voice vote.
4. Rep. Stefanik offered an amendment that would address
the infant formula contracting requirements in WIC by requiring
two manufacturers per state or state consortia. While it
received bipartisan support, the amendment failed by roll call
vote.
5. Reps. Good and Miller offered--and withdrew--an
amendment to require nutrition regulations promulgated under
the bill to make grain-based desserts eligible for
reimbursement.
6. Rep. Walberg (R-MI) offered an amendment to ensure food
substitutions for religious needs are allowed. This amendment
was adopted.
7. Reps. Miller and Good offered an amendment to eliminate
the change the Democrats made to the definition of woman and
therefore to re-define pregnant woman, breastfeeding woman, and
postpartum woman as a woman. This amendment was defeated on a
party line vote.
8. Reps. Grothman (R-WI) and Harshbarger (R-TN) offered an
amendment to prohibit enforcement of the May 5, 2022, memo on
Title IX enforcement as it relates to child nutrition programs.
This amendment was defeated on a partisan vote.
9. Rep. Harshbarger offered an amendment to require a
feasibility study before issuing new regulations. This study
would determine the cost increase these potential standards
would impose, the timeline for availability of food meeting
these standards, and the increase to plate waste these
standards might cause. This amendment was also defeated on a
party line vote.
Fighting to Protect Religious Organizations
Committee Democrats convened a markup of H.R. 5129, the
Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act of 2021, on
March 16, 2022, and brought it to the floor on May 13, 2022. In
this bill, Democrats sought to strip longstanding protections
for faith-based providers from the Community Services Block
Grant (CSBG) program. Over 19,000 faith-based organizations
participate in the CSBG program and provide critical services
to low-income Americans. Eliminating protections for these
providers flies in the face of the valuable work they do and
risks harming low-income Americans. Rep. Tim Walberg offered an
amendment to reinstate the current law protections, affirming
that any faith-based organization that participates in the CSBG
program can continue to live out their faith, in keeping with
the First Amendment. However, the Democrats continued their
attack on religious liberty and rejected the amendment. This
bill was not taken up by the Senate for consideration, so the
important protections for religious organizations sought by the
Walberg amendment remain in place.
Democrats also marked up H.R. 2119, the Family Violence
Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) this Congress and brought
the legislation to the floor for a vote. This bill strikes
longstanding non-discrimination provisions and replaces them
with a cross-reference to the Violence Against Women Act, a
provision that expands protected classes to include actual or
perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. Under this
change, religious organizations could be forced to hire
individuals who do not share their beliefs and/or be required
to jump through additional hoops to hire individuals of the
same faith. In response, Republicans offered a complete
substitute amendment that would have reauthorized FVPSA without
harming religious organizations. These organizations play a
vital role in serving individuals who have suffered from abuse,
and under the Republican substitute, they would be able to
continue offering services without compromising their faith.
WORKFORCE
Committee Republicans are committed to providing the best
outcomes for workers, small businesses, and job creators
through policies that will allow the workforce to flourish
without overly burdensome government intrusion.
Fighting to Protect Workers and Small Businesses
Democrats consistently pander to union bosses and other
special interests at the expense of American workers. This was
most apparent in their bill, H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right
to Organize Act, a sweeping and socialist backward-looking bill
that would harm the economy and provide a political gift to
self-interested labor-union leaders, while diminishing or
extinguishing the rights of workers and employers alike. This
bill included a far-reaching wish list of radical labor policy
changes which benefit union bosses and punish job creators,
including a card-check-style union-election voting scheme,
provisions undermining the privacy rights of employees,
nationwide adoption of California's unworkable and discredited
``ABC'' worker classification test, a repeal of 27 states'
right-to-work laws, and reinstatement of discredited, punitive
Obama-era regulations.
On September 14, 2022, the Committee held a hearing titled
``In Solidarity: Removing Barriers to Organizing.'' At the
hearing, the Democrats' distaste for worker freedom and free
enterprise was obvious. Their rhetoric during the hearing
pushed the tired narrative that Democrats believe all workers
want to unionize and that without union representation, workers
are exploited. Republicans countered these falsehoods by citing
survey data showing only 11 percent of non-union employees
describe themselves as ``extremely interested'' in joining a
union while 58 percent say they are ``not interested at
all.''\11\ American workers' lack of interest in labor unions
is well-documented by the decades-long decline in private-
sector union membership, reaching the lowest recorded level of
6.1 percent in 2021.\12\ Rather than coerce workers to join
unions, Committee Republicans took a more balanced approach and
stated their commitment to ensuring workers have the freedom to
choose whether they want to join a union or not.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\Justin McCarthy, U.S. Approval of Labor Unions at Highest Point
Since 1965, Gallup, Aug. 30, 2022, https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/
approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx.
\12\Sean P. Redmond, U.S. Chamber Of Com., Union Membership Drops
to Previous Low in 2021 (Jan. 26, 2022), https://www.uschamber.com/
employment-law/unions/union-membership-drops-to-previous-low-2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee Republicans also strongly opposed H.R. 7701, the
Wage Theft and Wage Recovery Act, which amends the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA) to expand pay-related reporting mandates
on employers, create new compensatory rights for workers, and
expand civil and criminal enforcement penalties. When opposing
this bill, Republicans emphasized that H.R. 7701 would impose
punitive and excessive penalties on employers for technical or
unintentional FLSA violations that could bankrupt a small
business for a mere technical error. The legislation's
burdensome recordkeeping mandates, monetary penalties, and
litigation risks on job creators would also have a chilling
impact on independent contracting and business-to-business
relationships like the franchise model. The risk of litigation
and monetary penalties under H.R. 7701 for potential technical
or disputed FLSA violations would cause companies to avoid
these alternative business models that are key drivers of
economic growth and job creation.
In addition, Committee Republicans fought back against
President Biden's illegal and authoritarian COVID-19
vaccination-and-testing mandate for private sector workers.\13\
On November 17, 2021, led by Workforce Protections Subcommittee
Republican Leader Fred Keller (R-PA), Republican Members of the
Committee introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution of
disapproval (H.J. Res. 65) to nullify the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration's (OSHA) mandate. Further, Committee
Republicans submitted numerous letters to OSHA questioning the
agency's statutory authority to promulgate the rule.\14\
Republican Leader Foxx and Reps. Rick Allen (R-GA), Elise
Stefanik (R NY), and Jim Banks (R-IN) led 136 Republican
Members of the House in filing an amicus brief with the U.S.
Supreme Court arguing that Congress did not give OSHA the
authority to impose a vaccine mandate and urging SCOTUS to stay
the mandate.\15\ The Court agreed, and the mandate was defeated
in a win for America's workers.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing; Emergency Temporary Standard,
86 Fed. Reg. 61402 (Nov. 5, 2021).
\14\See, e.g., letter from Reps. Virginia Foxx & Fred Keller to Al
Stewart, Acting Sec'y of Lab. (Feb. 25, 2021), https://republicans-
edlabor.house.gov/uploadedfiles/02.25.21_foxx_keller_osha_ets _letter_-
_signed.pdf.
\15\NFIB v. OSHA, No. 21A244 (U.S. Dec. 2021) (brief of Members of
Congress as amici curiae in support of applicants), https://
allen.house.gov/uploadedfiles/moc_amicus_final.pdf.
\16\NFIB v. OSHA, 142 S. Ct. 661 (2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, Committee Republicans led the fight to preserve
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) rule
facilitating the speedy resolution of discrimination charges
filed by individuals with the agency. The Civil Rights Act
requires EEOC to attempt to ``conciliate''--or work with
employers to resolve a discrimination claim--before litigation
begins. However, EEOC had not updated its conciliation
procedures in 43 years. A January 2021 rule fixed the failed
EEOC conciliation process by enhancing fairness and
transparency, avoiding expensive and time-consuming litigation,
and ensuring that EEOC honors its statutory obligation to
engage in good faith conciliation efforts before filing
lawsuits.\17\ Republican Leader Foxx led unanimous Republican
opposition on the House Floor against S.J. Res. 13, a Democrat
Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval overturning
the 2021 conciliation rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\Update of Commission's Conciliation Procedures, 86 Fed. Reg.
2974 (Jan. 14, 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fighting to Protect Religious Contractors
Committee Republicans fought to preserve the freedom of
religion. In November 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL)
published a proposed rule to rescind the Trump administration's
rule clarifying the rights and obligations of religious
organizations participating in federal contracting.\18\ In
December 2021, Republican Leader Foxx and Rep. Russ Fulcher,
Republican Leader of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human
Services, wrote to Secretary of Labor Walsh strongly opposing
this proposed rule.\19\ The letter noted that the Trump-era
rule provides clarity and certainty and encourages wider
participation in the federal contracting system. The letter
also recognized that the Trump-era rule affirms the importance
of protecting the free exercise of religion. Committee
Republicans encourage the Biden administration to change course
by not rescinding the Trump administration's rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\Proposal To Rescind Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding
the Equal Opportunity Clause's Religious Exemption, 86 Fed. Reg. 62,115
(proposed Nov. 9, 2021).
\19\Letter from Reps. Virginia Foxx & Russ Fulcher to Martin J.
Walsh, Sec'y of Lab. (Dec. 8, 2021), https://republicans-
edlabor.house.gov/uploadedfiles/proposed_rescission_of_religious_
contractor_rule_-_comment_letter_dec_8_2021.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fighting to Empower Patients, Families, and the Employer-Based Health
Care System
Committee Republicans support affordable, employer-
sponsored health care options that cover 159 million Americans.
We have rallied behind efforts to ban surprise medical billing,
increase price transparency in the health care market, and
preserve the Trump administration's actions to lower health
care costs.
Committee Republicans are further committed to protecting
employer-sponsored coverage by rejecting attempts by the Biden
administration and Democrats to increase health costs by moving
workers from the group markets to the Obamacare exchanges. We
rejected Democrats' attempts to expand their radical drug-
pricing scheme and price caps under the Employee Benefits
Income Security Act (ERISA), which would hide the true costs of
prescription drugs like insulin and increase premiums.\20\ We
also fought against Democrat efforts to advance H.R. 7780, the
Mental Health Matters Act, which would create civil monetary
penalties for employers who violate vague mental health parity
requirements. The bill would additionally expand the ability of
trial lawyers, plan participants, and the DOL to sue plans that
voluntarily offer mental health benefits. Lastly, Committee
Republicans fought to protect ERISA plans from a Department of
Health and Human Services mandate requiring them to cover
abortion and transgender benefits or face penalties for
violating Obamacare discrimination laws.\21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\See, e.g., Press Release, Comm. on Educ. & Lab. Republicans,
Democrats' Drug Pricing Scheme Jeopardizes Future Cures (Dec. 9, 2021),
https://republicans-edlabor.house.gov/news/
documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=407961; Press Release, Comm. on Educ. &
Lab. Republicans, Foxx Opposes Democrats' Radical Drug Pricing Scheme
(Mar. 31, 2022), https://republicans-edlabor.house.gov/news/
documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=408193.
\21\See Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities, 87
Fed. Reg. 47,824 (proposed Aug. 4, 2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fighting to Protect Retirement Savers
Committee Republicans worked in a bipartisan fashion to
advance H.R. 5891, the Retirement Improvement and Savings
Enhancement Act, to expand access to workplace retirement plans
and to ensure that the nation's retirement system better serves
workers, retirees, and employers. H.R. 5891 was incorporated
into H.R. 2954, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act, which
passed the House on March 29, 2022, with an overwhelming
majority.
Unfortunately, Committee Democrats rushed ahead with a more
partisan retirement bill, H.R. 7310, the Protecting America's
Retirement Security Act. This proposal takes a heavy-handed,
government-knows-best approach to retirement saving by second-
guessing workers' decisions. It also increases government waste
by spending taxpayer dollars on new and unnecessary government
programs. H.R. 7310 would also make it more difficult--
sometimes impossible--for workers to access savings during
emergencies or hardships.
Committee Republicans opposed the American Rescue Plan
Act's (ARPA) taxpayer bailout of failing and insolvent
multiemployer pension plans, which neglected much-needed
reforms to protect workers and retirees from future
underfunding. In August 2021, Republican Leader Foxx and Rep.
Rick Allen (R-GA), Republican Leader of the Subcommittee on
Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), submitted a
comment letter in response to the Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation's (PBGC) interim final rule implementing ARPA's
irresponsible bailout.\22\ In response to a request from
Republican Leader Foxx and Budget Committee Republican Leader
Jason Smith (R-MO), the Congressional Budget Office found that
Democrats' multiemployer pension bailout will cost taxpayers
more than $90 billion.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\Letter from Reps. Virginia Foxx & Rick Allen to Gordon
Hartogensis, Dir., PBGC (Aug. 11, 2021), https://republicans-
edlabor.house.gov/uploadedfiles/pbgc_letter.pdf.
\23\Letter from Phillip L. Swagel, Dir., Cong. Budget Off., to
Reps. Virginia Foxx & Jason Smith (Sept. 30, 2022), https://
www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-09/58540-PBGC.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee Republicans also fought Democrat efforts to
impose their political and ideological preferences on workers'
retirement savings. Republican Leaders Foxx and Allen sent a
letter opposing DOL's proposed rule which would jeopardize
retirement savings by effectively requiring retirement plans to
consider specific environmental, social, and governance factors
when selecting and monitoring retirement investments.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\Letter from Reps. Foxx & Allen to Martin J. Walsh, Sec'y of
Lab. (Dec. 13, 2021), https://republicans-edlabor.house.gov/
uploadedfiles/12.13.21_comment_letter_on_esg_investing.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oversight
During the 117th Congress, Committee Republicans have
conducted vigorous oversight on its key workforce agencies--
DOL, the National Labor Relations Board, EEOC, and PBGC.
Through its submission of more than 75 oversight and comment
letters, Committee Republicans held the Biden administration
accountable. These oversight letters highlighted numerous
instances of the Biden administration's executive overreach,
its constant demonstration of union favoritism, its agencies'
preferences for enforcement-only policies, and examples of
ethical lapses made by senior administration officials.
Additionally, Committee Republicans focused oversight on
the Department of Education's mishandling of the student loan
portfolio. Republicans have sent more than 25 letters to the
Department regarding the repayment pause, the cost of the
student loan portfolio, and other issues impacting federal
student aid. In addition to student aid, Republicans sent 10
requests to GAO to examine other programs under the
jurisdiction of the Committee. One request asked for an
examination of the Head Start program which revealed continued
potential fraud in the program leading Republicans to formally
request a hearing on the topic. Finally, Republicans have
continued efforts to examine the woeful administration of
AmeriCorps and the agency's repeated failures surrounding its
audits.
Conclusion
Committee Democrats' priorities during the 117th Congress
focused on dangerous, socialist policies that amounted to
little more than a government-endorsed power grab.
While Committee Democrats continue to pursue Washington-
knows-best policies that limit choice, opportunity, and
freedom, Committee Republicans continue to offer policies that
give students the choice to learn in a classroom that fits
their needs, empower workers with the tools they need to
succeed, and give job creators the flexibility they need to
thrive.
Virginia Foxx,
Ranking Member.
Glenn ``GT'' Thompson.
Tim Walberg.
Glenn Grothman.
Rick W. Allen.
Jim Banks.
James Comer.
Fred Keller.
Burgess Owens.
Lisa C. McClain.
Diana Harshbarger.
Scott Fitzgerald.
Madison Cawthorn.
Chris Jacobs.
Brad Finstad.
[all]