Press Releases
Committee Democrats Welcome New Communications Director
11.26.13 WASHINGTON - Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, announced today the hiring of Julia Louise Krahe as the Committee Democrats' new communications director. "Julia brings a lot of experience to the table and I'm delighted to welcome her to the committee staff," said Miller. "Her professionalism, strategic thinking, and experience on and off the Hill will ensure that critical issues before our committee, such as growing and st… Continue Reading
Miller Urges Ag Committees to Protect Health of Low-Income Women and Children with Supplemental Food Packages
11.19.13 WASHINGTON - Congress should not add white potatoes to the package of supplemental foods the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program provides for low-income families, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, wrote in a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees Tuesday. Some lawmakers and the potato industry have recently called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reconsider white potatoes' exclusion from … Continue Reading
House Democrats Reintroduce Legislation to Protect Student Athletes from Concussions
11.19.13 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democratic lawmakers today introduced legislation to strengthen k-12 schools' procedures for preventing, detecting, and treating student-athletes who suffer concussions while competing in sports. The Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act would, for the first time, set minimum safety standards for concussion management in public schools across the country with plans that educate students, parents and school personnel about how to recognize and respond to concussions.… Continue Reading
Miller Announces eForum on Adjunct Faculty in Higher Education
11.19.13 WASHINGTON - Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, today announced an eForum to investigate how an increased reliance on contingent faculty by colleges and universities nationwide has impacted the lives of faculty as well as students' higher education. "This eForum is an opportunity for adjuncts and other contingent faculty to inform the Congress about what's happening on the ground with higher education. I think there is a huge … Continue Reading
Career Technical Education Programs Prepare Millions for Modern Workforce, Must Continue to Evolve to Meet High-Skill Demands of Today’s Economy
11.19.13 WASHINGTON - Federal investments in career and technical education programs must ensure that all students are prepared for high-skill, high-wage jobs that meet the demands of today's economy, witnesses told the House Education and the Workforce Committee today at a hearing about the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. "Today's career technical education programs, or CTE, are successfully preparing millions of Americans to succeed in both college and career… Continue Reading
Miller Statement on NLRB's Walmart Action
11.18.13 WASHINGTON--Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, released the following statement today in response to the National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel finding merit in and authorizing complaints for unfair labor practice charges that Walmart violated the rights of its employees as a result of activities surrounding employee protests, including unlawfully threatening employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes a… Continue Reading
GOP Votes – Again – to Put Insurance Companies Back in Charge of Americans’ Health Care, Charge Women More for Health Insurance
11.15.13 Washington, D.C. - House Republicans voted today yet again to put insurance companies back in charge of Americans' health care, a goal they have sought ever since President Obama's signature legislative achievement ensured that consumers, not insurance companies, would be in charge of their health care for the first time in American history, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) said today. Miller, the senior Democrat on the Education and Workforce Committee, is one of the three principal authors of the Aff… Continue Reading
Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Early Education for America’s Children
11.13.13 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Access and affordability to high-quality early learning programs for nearly 20 million children would be dramatically improved under bipartisan legislation introduced today by U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Richard Hanna (R-NY), co-chair of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Caucus, and other lawmakers. Decades of research have found that quality preschool leads to… Continue Reading
Rep. Mark Pocan to join Early Ed/K-12 and Workforce Protections Subcommittees
11.13.13 WASHINGTON, D.C. - U. S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, today announced new subcommittee assignments as Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) takes his seat on the committee. Rep. Pocan will join the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education and the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. In addition to Rep. Pocan's new assignments, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) are moving from the… Continue Reading
Reps. Miller, Courtney ask Inspector General to Investigate Alleged Misconduct in Black Lung Benefits Program that Denied Sick Workers Benefits
11.07.13 WASHINGTON - Today, two members of Congress asked the Department of Labor's Inspector General to investigate claims surfaced in news reports from the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News that some doctors and attorneys working on behalf of the coal industry have engaged in misconduct that has resulted in coal miners being improperly denied health-related benefits and compensation under the federal Black Lung Benefits Program. "According to a year-long investigation of the Black Lung Benefit… Continue Reading
Miller: House Should Vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
11.07.13 WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democratic member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate approved the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, legislation that would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “Today we saw civil rights in our country take a giant step forward. Senators from across the political spectrum worked together and passed the Employment Non-Discrim… Continue Reading
178 House Democrats Call on Speaker Boehner to End Threat of Another Government Shutdown or Default
10.31.13 WASHINGTON, D.C. - As lawmakers from both parties begin to negotiate a long-term budget agreement, 178 Democrats in the House are calling on Speaker Boehner and the Republican leadership to publicly declare that they will not use the threat of another government shutdown or default on U.S. debt as a political tactic in the budget talks. Underscoring the economic damage caused by the recent shutdown, the group of lawmakers said that Congress must focus on passing a responsible budget agreement wh… Continue Reading
Failure of Labor Action Plan in Colombia Holds Lessons for Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement Negotiations, Says Congressional Report
10.29.13 WASHINGTON - Weak enforcement of existing labor laws and continued violence against labor leaders in Colombia more than a year after the implementation of the U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan should offer important lessons of what not to do in future trade agreements, concluded a report issued today by Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and James McGovern (D-Mass.). Miller and McGovern, who are members of the Congressional Monitoring Group on Labor Rights in Colombia, visited the country in August an… Continue Reading
Miller Welcomes Rep. Pocan to the Education and the Workforce Committee
10.29.13 WASHINGTON, D.C. - U. S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, today welcomed Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) to the committee to fill the vacancy left by Rep. John Yarmuth, who was appointed to the Energy and Commerce Committee. "I am very pleased to welcome Rep. Pocan to the Education and the Workforce Committee. Mark has been a strong advocate on behalf of working families and our nation's students," said Rep. Miller. "As a union member an… Continue Reading
Miller and Levin: 6 Months after Rana Plaza Tragedy, Companies Need To Step Up & Compensate Victims
10.23.13 WASHINGTON - U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sander Levin (D-Mich.) issued the following joint statement today marking the six-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy where more than 1,100 garment workers in Bangladesh died and 2,500 injured after the building housing several garment factories collapsed. The International Labor Rights Forum and the Clean Clothes Campaign also issued a report today highlighting significant problems in compensating the families of the victims and those… Continue Reading
Miller Pays Tribute to Former Rep. Major Owens
10.22.13 WASHINGTON - Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democratic member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement today after learning that his former committee colleague, former Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.), died yesterday. "Major Owens was valued member of the committee who led a decades-long fight for educational equity and pushed for poor students to have access to the opportunity to succeed in school by having equal educational resources available to them. … Continue Reading
House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Protect Students from Sexual and Violent Acts
10.22.13 WASHINGTON, D.C. - With broad bipartisan support, the U.S. House of Representatives today passed legislation to keep children safe from sexual predators and other violent adults in their schools. The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act (H.R. 2083) creates consistency across states in criminal history background check policy. It requires public schools to conduct comprehensive background checks for any employee or applicant for employment with unsupervised access to childre… Continue Reading
New Reports: Low Wages by Fast-Food Industry Costing Taxpayers
10.15.13 WASHINGTON - U.S Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democratic member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement today after the release of two reports from the National Employment Law Center, and researchers from the University of California-Berkeley and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, examining the high public costs to low wages paid by the nation’s fast-food corporations. “These reports highlight the significant costs to our families… Continue Reading
House Dems Sign Discharge Petition to Reopen the Government, Call on Republican Group of 30 to Join Effort
10.12.13 WASHINGTON - With uncertainty continuing over the two-week-long government shutdown, House Democrats today went to the House floor to sign a discharge petition that would bypass Speaker Boehner and allow a quick vote on a bill to reopen the government if supported by a majority of members of Congress. “We could open the government and get back to the work of the American people today. All we need is for our Republican colleagues - particularly those who have already said they want to end this d… Continue Reading
After GOP Press Conference, Discharge Petition More Important Than Ever
10.10.13 WASHINGTON - Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) George Miller (D-Calif.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) issued the following statement today after the Republican House leadership announced that they will continue to keep the government closed and block a vote on a clean bill to reopen the government. Van Hollen, Miller and Lowey have launched an effort to force a vote on a government funding bill at Senate and House Republican agreed-to spending levels through a discharge petition. Members of Congres… Continue Reading