News
Congress investigates Education Department in wake of abrupt Art Institute closures
by Daniel Moore
07.27.19 The Art Institute of Pittsburgh shuttered abruptly in March, locking out students and breaking rules set by accreditation agencies on how to properly close schools. The building was quickly looted of art and textbooks and now sits quietly in the Strip District. But the saga over the messy collapse of Dream Center Education Holdings - the California nonprofit that took control of the Art Institute college chain from Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp. in 2017- is just heating up in Washi… Continue Reading
House Backs $49 Billion Plan to Rescue Troubled Union Pensions
by Sara Hansard
07.24.19 A new federal agency would make loans to underfunded pension plans under a measure passed 264-169 July 24 by the House. The Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pension Act (H.R. 397), commonly referred to as the Butch Lewis Act, would provide federal loans and grants to union pension plans sponsored by more than one employer if the plans are insolvent or facing insolvency. A newly created Pension Rehabilitation Administration (PRA), which would be part of the Treasury Department, would administe… Continue Reading
House approves loan program for troubled pension plans
by Sean Higgins
07.24.19 The House voted 264-169 on Wednesday to pass legislation that would create a new Treasury Department agency to provide taxpayer-backed loans to endangered multiemployer pension plans and some other types of endangered plans. The loans would be distributed by a Pension Rehabilitation Administration and would go to programs listed in "critical and declining" status by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency that insures the plans. The bill, which is dubbed the Rehabilitatio… Continue Reading
Proposed SNAP rule change would save $2.5 billion annually
07.23.19 The Trump administration today (July 23) released a proposed rule that would limit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families eligibility. The proposed rule, to be published in the Federal Register, limits automatic eligibility to households that receive substantial, ongoing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. "Too often, states have misused this flexibility without restraint," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. "The American people expect their go… Continue Reading
Emails Show DeVos Aides Pulled Strings for Failing For-Profit Colleges
by Erica L. Green
07.23.19 Dream Center Education Holdings, a subsidiary of a Los Angeles-based megachurch, had no experience in higher education when it petitioned the federal Education Department to let it take over a troubled chain of for-profit trade schools. But the organization's chairman, Randall K. Barton, told the education secretary, Betsy DeVos, that the foundation wanted to "help people live better lives." The purchase was blessed despite Dream Center's lack of experience and questionable finances by an admi… Continue Reading
Democrats to DeVos: Parents must know when seclusion and restraint occurs
07.23.19 The Government Accountability Office has released a report urging the U.S. Department of Education to implement recommendations to address inaccuracies in federal restraint and seclusion data. In response, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and U.S. Representative Don Beyer (VA-8), on Tuesday led a group of 42 members of Congress, including U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), top Democrat on the HELP Committee, … Continue Reading
House Passes Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $15, a Victory for Liberals
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jeanna Smialek
07.18.19 The House voted Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, delivering a long-sought victory to liberals and putting the Democratic Party's official imprimatur on the so-called Fight for $15, which many Democratic presidential candidates have embraced. The bill would more than double the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour - about $15,000 a year for someone working 40 hours a week, or about $10,000 less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. It has … Continue Reading
The Future of Congressman Scott's Effort to Raise the Minimum Wage is Unclear
by Michael Pope
07.16.19 The House of Representatives is set to vote this week on raising the minimum wage. And, Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott is leading the charge. Republicans and business groups hate the idea of raising the minimum wage. They say they're concerned about workers losing jobs as a result, and they think the whole idea of having a minimum wage in the first place should be left to the states anyway. Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina says a one-size approach won't work. … Continue Reading
BGOV Bill Summary: H.R. 582, Federal Minimum Wage Increase
by Danielle Parnass & Naoreen Chowdhury
07.09.19 The federal minimum wage would be increased to $15 an hour from $7.25 by 2025, and then adjusted annually based on median wages, under H.R. 582. The bill also would gradually phase out separate lower wages for tipped workers, youth, and individuals with disabilities. Twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C., have wage floors that are higher than the federal minimum as of July 1, according to the Labor Department. Some cities and counties have even higher minimum wages, and several states ha… Continue Reading
Minimum Wage Hike Would Have Major Effect In Ohio Valley
by Becca Schimmel
07.09.19 A new report from the Congressional Budget Officeshows increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would boost the wages of 17 million workers and lift about 1.3 million people out of poverty. But the CBO warns that could also result in more than one million lost jobs and could diminish overall income for others. The report comes as Congressional Democrats prepare to vote on the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade. It's a move that could have tremendous impact in the O… Continue Reading
$15 Minimum Wage Would Bring Mixed Fortunes for U.S. Workers
by Eric Morath
07.08.19 Increasing the national minimum wage to $15 an hour would deliver a raise for millions of U.S. workers but could also cost 1.3 million Americans their jobs, according to a government forecast that complicates congressional Democrats' push to more than double the federal pay floor. If the federal minimum wage were raised to $15 an hour in 2025, as House Democrats have proposed, a significant number of Americans would likely lose their jobs, a study released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressio… Continue Reading
Schools Can Drop Rescinded Gainful-Employment Rules Early
by LaMont Jones
07.08.19 Dr. Charlie Eaton at the University of California - Merced and Dr. Marybeth Gasman at the University of Pennsylvania were decrying intimations by the Department of Education that it intended to rescind "gainful employment" rules written to protect post-secondary students from institutions with predatory recruiting practices, subpar graduation rates, meager earnings for graduates and high levels of student loan debt. Now, the two academics are among those lamenting the damage that they say low-i… Continue Reading
Bobby Scott: Minimum wage benefits ‘far outweigh’ predicted job losses
by Ian Kullgren
07.08.19 Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) today touted a Congressional Budget Office analysis of his $15 minimum bill, saying that raises for an estimated 17 million workers "outweigh" possible job losses. "The Congressional Budget Office's report comes to a clear conclusion: The benefits of the Raise the Wage Act for America's workers far outweigh any potential costs," Scott said in a written statement. The CBO said Scott's bill, H.R. 582 (116), would eliminate 1.3 million jobs nationwide while liftin… Continue Reading
Under Trump, Christian nationalists are playing to win — and liberals are finally fighting back
by Paul Rosenberg
07.07.19 It's easy for significant stories to get lost in the sound and fury of Donald Trump's frontal assault on American democracy, epitomized by his militarized co-opting of Washington's Fourth of July celebration. As my interview with Angie Maxwell, co-author of "The Long Southern Strategy," shows, Trump's presidency was decades in the making, with racism, sexism and fundamentalism all playing crucial roles. The forces that brought him to power are ultimately far more consequential than he is. That… Continue Reading
Democrats Still Rallying Members on Minimum Wage, Labor Bills
by Jaclyn Diaz
07.05.19 House Democrats, eager to get two top labor policy items off the ground this year, are facing a tougher time than expected getting party members on the same page. A proposal to boost the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 is moving forward to a floor vote later this month, after facing some pushback by some fellow Democrats. Headway on another proposal, with big implications for labor, has been much slower as more progressive members work to rally and educate lawmakers on provisions of the bi… Continue Reading
DeVos pressed on states' education of migrant children with disabilities
by Nicole Gaudiano
07.05.19 The chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee is fighting with the Department of Education over whether states have a legal responsibility under the law to locate migrant children with disabilities who are in federal custody. The Department's position that states do not is "unsupported by both the case law and the legislative history" of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) wrote in a July 2 letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Scott h… Continue Reading
Top House Democrat challenges Betsy DeVos on migrant children's education rights
by Sophie Tatum
07.03.19 As public outrage over conditions at migrant detention centers intensifies, a top House Democrat is insisting that state officials should be held responsible for finding children with learning disabilities at these facilitiesand determining if they need access to special education services. The demand by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., is the latest salvo by Democrats to try to increase the rights of the estimated 13,000 migrant children held at government shelters and to open those shelters up to inc… Continue Reading
Top Democrats Introduce Legislation to Strengthen Collective Bargaining Rights for Public-Sector Workers
by Staff
06.26.19 WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01), a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, alongside the Committee Chair Robert "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Representatives Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Matt Cartwright (PA-08) and Abby Finkenauer (IA-01), introduced legislation to guarantee public-service workers in every state have the right to stand together and negotiate for fair wages and working conditions. "Workers win when they join together and advocate to raise … Continue Reading
House Panel Debates Religious Freedom in Healthcare
by Shannon Firth
06.26.19 WASHINGTON -- House Democrats argued that a law meant to protect Americans' religious liberties has been exploited in ways that infringe on others' civil rights, particularly those of women and the LGBTQ community. The "Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)" which has been law for more than 25 years, is being "twisted" in ways that its authors never intended, said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, during a hearing on Tuesday. RFRA, which passed … Continue Reading
Virginia Lawmakers Take Sides on Recent Religious Freedom Ruling
by Michael Pope
06.25.19 A recent Supreme Court decision upended how courts view religious freedom, making it possible for corporations to deny certain health services to female employees based on a religious exemption. Now, two Virginia Congressman are now heavily involved in the debate. Congressman Bobby Scott of Newport News is working with Massachusetts Democrat Joe Kennedy to overturn what they see as the problems created by the recent Supreme Court decision in Burwell versus Hobby Lobby. Scott says that decisi… Continue Reading