News
Rep. Ben Cline tours higher education institutions with eye on affordability
by Amy Friedenberger
03.18.19 As Congress sets out to overhaul the federal law that governs higher education, Rep. Ben Cline, in stops across Western Virginia this week, is learning more about innovative ways to provide accessible and affordable college degrees. At the Roanoke Higher Education Center on Monday, Cline, R-Rockbridge, watched students prepare food in the culinary classrooms and toured a realistic setup of hospital hallways lined with rooms filled with equipment used by nursing students for hands-on clinica… Continue Reading
Trump Administration Warned by Congress Over Employer Liability Rule
by Josh Eidelson and Hassan Kanu
03.14.19 Under President Donald Trump, the National Labor Relations Board told its employees that tight budgets will require cuts to compensation and even downsizing, an agency union said. So it came as a surprise when the union learned the board wants to pay subcontractors to do work employees traditionally perform themselves. Congressional Democrats were surprised, too-especially when they found out what the subcontractors would be doing. In a March 14 letter to NLRB Chairman John Ring, a management… Continue Reading
Waters to seek tightening of for-profit colleges' revenue rule
by Kimberly Hefling
03.14.19 The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee said Thursday that she plans to introduce legislation soon to alter what for-profit college critics call a loophole in the law that encourages the industry to aggressively recruit student veterans. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), said her proposal would alter the "90/10" rule, which means for-profit colleges can't get more than 90 percent of their revenue from federal student aid. She wants to change the ratio to "85/15." Waters s… Continue Reading
$15 Federal Minimum-Wage Bill Moves Forward
by Staff
03.14.19 A bill that would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour over the next six years is moving to a full House vote. The House Education and Labor Committee passed the Raise the Wage Act on March 6. Introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the bill would also erase separate minimums for tipped workers and workers with severe disabilities. The minimum wage would rise gradually until it reached $15 an hour in 2024. After that, the wage would be adjusted annually to reflec… Continue Reading
Democrats Invent New Joint Employer Controversy
by Trey Kovacs
03.14.19 There is a new invented controversy involving the National Labor Relations Board's joint employer rulemaking, which seeks to clarify the definition of joint employer liability for businesses engaged in numerous business relationships (see here, here and here for more on Democrats' partisan attacks on this rulemaking). Bloomberg reports that Democrats in the House Education and Labor committee are up in arms that the NLRB is planning on outsourcing to a third party the review of public comments … Continue Reading
House begins child nutrition reauthorization, but no schedule yet
by Staff
03.14.19 The House Education & Labor Committee began the process of reauthorizing the child nutrition programs today, but House Education & Labor Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., declined to say how soon the committee would move forward with a bill. After a Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee hearing today, Scott told reporters that the committee is "working" on child nutrition reauthorization but is also working on a range of other issues. Scott said he hoped to achieve bipartisan support… Continue Reading
Amid college admission scam, single mother tells House lawmakers how hard it was to pay for her college tuition
by Sophie Tatum
03.13.19 After enrolling at the University of Toledo, Jenae Parker told members of Congress that she tried everything to stay out of debt. Parker, now 29, said she received about $4,300 in financial aid through a Pell Grant and worked three jobs -- at Starbucks, the campus grill and Target. But it wasn't enough. She took out more than $20,000 in federal and private loans, she explained Wednesday, but working the three jobs and going to school at the same time proved to be too much. "It was exhausting,… Continue Reading
Bribery scheme brings renewed questions to role of money in admissions
by Kimberly Hefling
03.13.19 - The college bribery scheme unveiled by the FBI is sure to raise new questionsabout the role of money in higher education admissions. - In the era of President Donald Trump, principals say civil discourse, opioid addiction and gun violence are issues that have seeped into their schools, according to a new UCLA survey. - The House education committee will address the issue of college costs today, while its chairman said reauthorizing child nutrition programs is also a priority. IT'S… Continue Reading
Bobby Scott says women earn 80 percent pay of white men for 'similar' jobs
by Warren Fiske
03.13.19 U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, recently endorsed the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that would protect women against wage discrimination. "Women earn on average 80-cents on the dollar compared to white men doing similar jobs," he said at the start of a Feb. 26 hearing on the bill before the House Education and Labor Committee. Scott is chairman of the panel. PolitiFact has heard many versions of the 80-percent pay comparison and has found the statistic is often misused. Let's take a close look a… Continue Reading
Congressman Bobby Scott Refused to Be Distracted as he Spearheads Two Important Bills
by Stacy M. Brown
03.11.19 The controversial blackface and sexual assault scandals that have rocked the Virginia leadership and the drama that regularly surrounds President Donald Trump simply act as distractions, said Democratic Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott. Those distractions lead the media and others to take their eyes off what's vital to everyday life, particularly for African Americans, said Scott, the chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. The congressman highlighted two important bills he recently s… Continue Reading
Congress would give nearly 40 million Americans a raise
by Staff
03.10.19 The House Committee on Education and Labor approved the Raise the Wage Act (H.R. 582),a proposal to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2024. The Raise the Wage Act would give nearly 40 million workers a raise and, by putting money in the pockets of American workers, provide an economic stimulus to local businesses and communities. "Today, the Committee took an important step toward lifting millions of American workers out poverty by raising the minimum wage for the first time in … Continue Reading
Congress Might Finally Overhaul Higher Education
by Adam Harris
03.08.19 Every few years, typically four to six, Congress dusts off the federal law that governs higher education-there are no penalties, per se, if it doesn't, but the law can quickly become outdated, and if lawmakers want to ensure federal college programs run smoothly, they keep that schedule. At least that's what is supposed to happen. The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is a seemingly endless will they, won't they; the wonky romantic comedy that writers haven't been able to finish. The … Continue Reading
Congress Might Finally Overhaul Higher Education
by Adam Harris
03.08.19 Every few years, typically four to six, Congress dusts off the federal law that governs higher education-there are no penalties, per se, if it doesn't, but the law can quickly become outdated, and if lawmakers want to ensure that federal college programs run smoothly, they keep that schedule. At least that's what is supposed to happen. The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is a seemingly endless Will they or won't they?-the wonky romantic comedy that writers haven't been able to finis… Continue Reading
DeVos Loses Court Round to Delay Obama Special Education Rule
by Emily Wilkins
03.07.19 The Education Department illegally delayed an Obama-era regulation meant to prevent racial discrimination when identifying students for special education programs, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The 2016 regulation to prevent significant over-representation of blacks in special education programs was set to be carried out in July 2018. Shortly before then, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos delayed the rule to 2020 to give the department time to rewrite it. District of Columbia District Judge… Continue Reading
Industry pushes back as Congress eyes a $15 minimum wage
by Peter Romeo
03.07.19 Although pundits say a proposal raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hourhas a slim chance of getting through Congress, opponents are taking no chances, blasting the measure as a potential killer of jobs and small businesses such as restaurants. Still, their efforts have failed to derail the initiative, which was voted out of committee yesterday. The bill will be put to a floor vote in the House of Representatives in the next few weeks. It is expected to win passage there and then be de… Continue Reading
House Education and Labor Committee advances $15 minimum wage
by Eleanor Mueller
03.06.19 Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in a tweet, congratulated committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D.-Va.) on the bill's committee passageGetty Images The House Education and Labor Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to advance a Democratic bill that would increase the hourly federal minimum wage to $15, and rejected seven amendments proposed by the GOP minority. The bill, H.R. 582 (116), would phase in over five years the hike to $15, up from the current $7.25, and would index future hikes to… Continue Reading
Bill Raising Federal Minimum Wage To $15 Heads To U.S. House Floor
by Alina Selyukh
03.06.19 Updated at 4: 25 p.m. ET A bill to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour has cleared a legislative hurdle that sets it up for a vote by the House of Representatives in the coming weeks. This move in Congress is a sign of broader political momentum for the minimum wage issue, long embraced by progressives who were key to the Democrats taking control of the House. The matter is poised to play prominently in the 2020 presidential campaign. The bill also now has the support of … Continue Reading
Democrats advance $15 minimum federal wage bill
by Sean Higgins
03.06.19 Democrats advanced a bill Wednesday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over three years, more than twice its current rate of $7.25. The House Education and Labor Committee passed the legislation on a 28-20 partly-line vote. "Today, the Committee took an important step toward lifting millions of American workers out poverty by raising the minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade ... I am proud that we have advanced a bill that will benefit workers and communities across t… Continue Reading
House $15 Minimum Wage Bill Moves to Floor Vote
by Tyrone Richardson
03.06.19 The House Education and Labor committee March 6 advanced a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour for a full chamber vote. The panel approved the Raise the Wage Act (H.R. 582, S.150) along party lines. The bill, introduced by committee chairman Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), would gradually raise the current $7.25-an-hour federal wage floor to $15 by 2024. It would also erase separate minimums for tipped and other workers. "After nearly 10 years with no increase in the federal minimu… Continue Reading
House Democrats take a big step toward passing $15 per hour US minimum wage
by Jacob Pramuk
03.06.19 House Democrats took a key step Wednesday toward more than doubling the federal minimum wage. The House Committee on Education and Labor advanced a bill to raise the U.S. wage floor to $15 per hour by 2024. It cleared the panel in a 28-20 party-line vote. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supports the legislation and plans to bring it to an eventual vote in the full Democratic-held chamber. If the House passes the bill, it would mark the most significant step toward raising the federal minimum wage s… Continue Reading