News
DeVos Delays Rule on Racial Disparities in Special Education
by Erica Green
12.15.17 The Department of Education is proposing to delay for two years an Obama-era rule that requires states to aggressively address racial biases that may be channeling disproportionate numbers of minority children into special education. The department is soliciting public comment on its plan to postpone enforcement of the so-called "significant disproportionality rule," due to take effect July 1, 2018. The rule, which was issued in the last weeks of the Obama administration, required states to lo… Continue Reading
Death in the Trench
by Jim Morris
12.14.17 In the front yard of a ranch-style house at 2812 Toluca Avenue stands an evergreen tree perhaps four feet high. It marks, by chance, the approximate location of Jim Spencer's death. Few have reason to know this. One who does is Spencer's wife, Cheryl, who has parked her Dodge Durango across the street on a late summer morning but does not get out. She was here on the afternoon of March 21, 2016, when the house was under construction. Her husband, a plumber, had been on his knees, la… Continue Reading
Under Trump, Union Election Rules Could Be Tilted In Employers’ Favor
by Dave Jamieson
12.12.17 Three years ago, federal officials overhauled the way union elections proceed in the workplace, streamlining the process to give employers less time to pressure workers not to join. The reform was long sought by labor groups who hoped the changes could make it a little easier to unionize. But now, President Donald Trump has reshaped the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that oversees union elections. With a new conservative majority, the board is considering scrapping the worker-fr… Continue Reading
House GOP Higher Ed Bill Moves Ahead, Despite Cries To Slow Down
by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
12.12.17 House Republicans are pressing ahead with a sweeping overhaul of the federal law that governs almost every aspect of higher education, without hearings and despite mounting pressure to provide more time for analysis and input. On Tuesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce considered amendments to the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity through Education Reform Act, introduced by Chairman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.). The process known a… Continue Reading
Scott: Higher Ed Bill Reflects GOP 'War Against Students'
by Michael Stratford
12.12.17 House Democrats came out swinging Tuesday against a GOP plan to overhaul the main federal law governing higher education and student aid. Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, called the legislation part of the GOP's "war against students," saying it continues cuts to higher education in Republican tax plans. Scott said the plan would "put corporate interests first and students last." He said the bill would provide greater access to federal funding fo… Continue Reading
Politics Roundup: Montgomery Council President Speaks Out Against Republican Sick Leave Proposal on Capitol Hill
by Andrew Metcalf
12.08.17 Riemer promotes county's paid sick and family leave law on Capitol Hill Montgomery County Council President Hans Riemer testified Wednesday during a U.S. House of Representatives' subcommittee meeting against a new Republican-sponsored bill that could preempt the county's new sick and paid leave law. The National Women's Law Center has described HR4219, the bill introduced in November and dubbed "Workflex in the 21st Century," as a way for employers to circumvent local and state paid sick and … Continue Reading
The Child Care for Working Families Act Will Boost Employment and Create Jobs
by Ajay Chaudry and Katie Hamm
12.07.17 On September 14, 2017, Ingrid Henlon, a teacher at the Mount Olive Child Development Center in Hartford, Connecticut, stood in the U.S. Capitol alongside Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to unveil legislation aimed at making child care more affordable and improving conditions for child care workers.1 Henlon is a passionate teacher who describes her work as "educating our nation's future leaders." She has worked in early childhood education f… Continue Reading
What You Need to Know About the House Higher Education Act Bill
by CAP Postsecondary Education Team
12.07.17 Last week, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce unveiled its proposal for rewriting the Higher Education Act, the nation's main law governing postsecondary education. The Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act is the beginning of an important conversation about what the future of learning beyond high school should look like in this country going forward. Unfortunately, the bill's vision of higher education is an emboldened indust… Continue Reading
Mostly White Male Tech Sector Needs Government Help On Diversity
by Joe Davidson
12.04.17 The technology sector is the vanguard of innovation, but it still looks like a good ol' boys network. Not only is it made up overwhelmingly of white men, but the percentage of tech workers who are black decreased in recent years, while the portion of women in the industry was stagnant and the level of Hispanic workers was nearly flat. A new report by Washington's chief watchdog says federal agencies can help change that by doing more to diversify the technology sector. That sector, like many … Continue Reading
New FAFSA Bill Would Help Low-Income Students Access Financial Aid
by Rosa Garcia
11.28.17 As college costs continue to rise, millions of low-income students, particularly students of color, are struggling to make ends meet. The Simple FAFSA Act, introduced last week, would increase support for working students, streamline the financial aid process, and expand access to more low-income students. The bill is sponsored by Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Susan Davis (D-CA), Gregorio Sablan (D-NMI-AL), and Ami Bera (D-CA). CLASP applauds many of the bill'… Continue Reading
For 45 Million Americans, Student Debt Could Be a Thing of the Past
by Kimberly Lawson
11.20.17 $65 billion. That's how much more, according to the American Council on Education (ACE), students would have to pay over the next decade to attend college if House Republicans working on the tax overhaul have their way. The plan, in short, eliminates some really important tax breaks that benefit students. And while the Senate's version maintains those benefits, ACE and other higher education advocates don't believe their plan will turn out to be much better for people interested in obtaining an … Continue Reading
As School Districts Push for Integration, Decades-Old Federal Rule Could Thwart Them
by Patrick Wall
11.17.17 In Florida, officials plan to use federal money to shuttle students across vast Miami-Dade County to new science-themed magnet programs in a bid to desegregate several schools. In South Carolina, a tiny district west of Myrtle Beach intends to spend federal funds on free busing for families who enroll at two predominantly black schools, hoping that will draw in white and Hispanic students. And in New York, state officials want to deploy federal school-improvement money to help integrate strugg… Continue Reading
How My Apprenticeship in N.J. Shaped My Future
by Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01)
11.14.17 When I was a kid, I was always the one taking apart our bicycles just to see how they worked. I loved working with my hands. Many kids and teens today are probably just like me, but instead of helping these students develop trade skills, we instead dissuade them and push them toward a "one-size-fits-all" traditional four-year college. An apprenticeship program shaped my life - taking me from construction work to Congress. Now, as a member of the House of Representatives, I'm fighting to raise w… Continue Reading
The GOP’s Tax Bill Is a War on Disabled People
by Elizabeth Picciuto
11.09.17 Under the Republicans' tax proposal, disabled people-and other vulnerable communities-are set to shoulder a significantly greater responsibility for generating federal tax revenue, even as corporations get a substantial tax break. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act recommends sweeping eliminations of most itemized tax deductions and credits. Many of these deductions, taken together, serve both to ease the tax burden of people with disabilities and to improve their health and access to employment and the… Continue Reading
Don’t Let Congress Cheat Workers Out of Basic Rights
by Christine Owens
11.08.17 House Republicans on Tuesday took another step in their campaign to cheat workers out of fair pay and workplace rights. On a vote largely along party lines, the House advanced a bill to roll back longstanding "joint employer" protections for workers contracted by big companies like Apple or Alaska Airlines. For years, when two companies both control the terms and conditions of employment, they are also both considered responsible for workplace violations like wage theft, sexual harassment or sa… Continue Reading
Whistleblowing Could Leave Oil Rig Workers at Risk
by David S. Hilzenrath
11.07.17 After the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama Administration and many Members of Congress reached the same conclusion: To prevent similar disasters, workers in the offshore oil and gas industry should be given whistleblower protections. They shouldn't have to worry that, if they report safety hazards, they could lose their jobs. "A whistleblower may be the only thing standing between a safe workplace and a catastrophe," George Miller, a California Democrat w… Continue Reading
GOP tax plan offers costly table scraps for the middle class
by Editorial Board
11.03.17 Even before the House Republicans released their tax plan on Thursday, polls showed that Americans weren't happy with its primary goal - lowering the corporate tax rate. Most people just don't see that as a pressing issue or economically beneficial. Even a majority of Republicans polled by the Pew Research Center this summer supported either raising corporate taxes or keeping the rates the same. So it's no surprise that House leaders have instead touted their plan as a "middle class tax cut," a … Continue Reading
Republicans break their promise on tax reform
by Editorial Board
11.02.17 REPUBLICANS PROMISED Americans a smart, careful tax reform that would simplify the code without adding a penny to the debt. The bill that House Republicans released Thursday betrays that promise. It also betrays the nation's children, and their children, who would eventually have to pay for this big, unpaid-for tax cut that the country does not need. Republicans began their tax reform effort months ago with a plausible argument. They could lower tax rates, particularly on corporations, if they … Continue Reading
House tax plan doesn’t cut it
by The Editorial Board
11.02.17 The hungry heart of the House tax bill unveiled Thursday can be found in the title President Trump reportedly proposed: the "Cut Cut Cut Act." Republican lawmakers ultimately went with something slightly less voracious, the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," for legislation that offers small tax cuts to their ordinary constituents, big cuts to their wealthy friends and supporters (and often themselves), and the greatest cut of all to the federal government's bottom line. Tax reform is a laudable goal i… Continue Reading
Betsy DeVos guts school disability rules that once “confused” her
by Noah Kulwin
10.23.17 Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos revealed over the weekend that she had recently rescinded 72 memos that give guidance about how schools that receive public funding should implement and follow laws to protect the rights of disabled students. The memos dealt with two major pieces of legislation: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Rehabilitation Act. At the time of her Senate confirmation hearing in January, however, DeVos didn't appear to know what the Disabilities … Continue Reading