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SITE INDEX

Committee on Education and the Workforce
U.S. House of Representatives

Activities Report of the 105th Congress (House Report 105-836)
(Report on the Activities of the Committee on Education and the Workforce during the 105th Congress)

Education and Training Programs Repealed and Consolidated During the 104^th and 105^th Congress
(Updated February 1, 1999)

EDUCATION:

National Testing (H.R. 2846): The purpose of this legislation is to prohibit any new Federal testing without specific and explicit congressional authority. These quickly planned tests have not been validated, a process that takes years to accomplish. The fast-track nature of the White House-initiated national testing proposal has alarmed many educators and policy makers. Local control is the hallmark and strength of American education.

Dollars to the Classroom (H.R. 3248): The purpose of this legislation is to consolidate 31 top-down, Washington-based Federal education programs into a single grant to states and to give state and local decision-makers authority in how to distribute the money within each state. Under the bill, at least 95 percent of a state’s grant must be spent on classroom activities and services.

Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (H.R. 6): The purpose of this legislation is to reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965. The lion’s share of Federal funding for higher education, in excess of $40 billion this year, is authorized under the Higher Education Act. This Act, first authorized in 1965, was designed to ensure that students from low- and middle-income families have access to postsecondary education. At the heart of the Act is Title IV, which authorizes three primary types of student aid: Pell Grants, student loans, and work-study. In addition, the Act provides funding for struggling institutions, graduate and international programs, and early intervention and outreach programs.

Community Services Block Grant (CSBG)/Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) (S. 2206): CSBG grants assists states and local communities in revitalizing high-poverty neighborhoods and empowering low-income individuals and communities to become self-sufficient. New initiatives allow funds to be used for literacy, youth development, fatherhood, and community policing. The bill extends the authorization of LIHEAP for five years.

Reading Excellence Act (H.R. 2614): This legislation, developed in response to the President’s "America Reads" proposal to use volunteers to improve the reading skills of children, would reform the way reading is taught in our nation’s schools. H.R. 2614, focuses on reforming the teaching of reading in our nation’s neediest schools to ensure it is based on scientifically based reading research, particularly research involving phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension. Additional support is provided to students through the use of Tutorial Assistance Grants, where parents choose providers to provide reading assistance to their children.

The English Fluency Act (H.R. 3892): This legislation is directed at reforming the current bilingual education act to provide funds to states to address the needs of English language learners and ensure that they learn English as soon as possible. It provides local grantees with the flexibility to choose the method of instruction to be used to teach English to English language learners as long as it is consistent with state law. Finally, it requires that parents provide their consent before their child is placed in a class for English language learners.

Juvenile Crime Control an Delinquency Prevention Act (H.R. 1818): The purpose of this legislation is to address problems of juvenile crime through a two-pronged approach of prevention and accountability. This legislation would provide greater flexibility to states and local communities in how they address local problems with juvenile offenders. In addition to extending the existing current formula grant program, this bill consolidates several existing discretionary programs into a single, flexible prevention block grant to the states.

The William F. Goodling Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 1998 (H.R. 3874): The purpose of this measure is to extend and amend expiring child nutrition programs and to make improvements in Federal child nutrition programs to enhance their effectiveness in providing nutrition services to program participants. H.R. 3874 would primarily accomplish this goal by increasing flexibility for state and local providers, expanding nutrition services in after school care programs in order to reduce juvenile crime, drug and alcohol abuse and teen pregnancy and reducing program fraud and abuse in the WIC program, and modifying the Summer Food Service Program to encourage greater participation by private, nonprofit organizations.

Head Start (S. 2206): The Republican Head Start bill will bring quality, accountability, and performance measures to the Head Start program. It provides more money for quality (teacher salaries and training); inserts new education performance standards and measures by which individual Head Start program performance will be measured; requires that the majority of Head Start teachers have a college degree; and authorizes the first comprehensive impact study on Head Start.

Charter Schools (H.R. 2616): H.R. 2616 drives more money directly down to strongest charter schools. It increases the authorization level from $15 million to $100 million, cuts in half the percentage of money that the Department of Education can set-aside for national activities, encourages more private capital investments into charter schools and ensures that charter schools receive their fair share of the federal education dollar.

Vocational-Technical Education (H.R. 1853): This Act provides approximately 7-10 percent of the funding for vocational-technical education programs for secondary students. 90 percent of the dollars go directly to the local level. Emphasis is placed on strengthening academics and state and local flexibility in the use of funds. A separate Tech-Prep funding stream is provided in this legislation.

Taxpayer Relief Act of 1998 (H.R. 4579): The two education provisions included in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1998 taxpayer would improve both higher education and elementary and secondary education. Under the bill, private higher education institutions would be permitted to establish prepaid tuition programs. At the present, only state-supported schools may do so. In addition, at the elementary and secondary level, school districts would not be required to rebate proceeds from arbitrage to the Federal government in the situation where the proceeds of school construction bonds are spent within four years.

Workforce Investment Act (P.L. 105-220): This Act consolidates more than 60 federal training programs through the establishment of three block grants to the states for Adult Employment and Training, disadvantaged Youth, and Adult Education and literacy programs. Emphasis is placed on long-term academic improvement and occupational training. Eliminating numerous federal requirements, including duplicative and costly planning, paperwork and reporting requirements cut the bureaucracy.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (P.L. 105-17): IDEA provides grants to states to help them pay for educational services for children with disabilities. Changes improved procedures for quickly removing dangerous students from the classroom, and consolidated 18 discretionary programs into six. Funding for IDEA has been increased by more than $500 million, the largest increase in the education budget. For the first time since the original law was enacted, the local share of spending for special education costs could be reduced.

Education at a Crossroads: The Crossroads Project found there were more than 760 federal education programs, which span 39 agencies, boards, and commissions. These programs cost the American taxpayer nearly $100 billion annually. Only a small number of these programs are related to improving academic achievement in the classroom. As a result of this project, it became clear that successful schools were not the product of federally designed programs, but rather were characterized by parental involvement, local control, emphasis on basic academics and dollars spent in the classroom, not on bureaucracy.

A+ Education Savings Accounts (H.R. 2646): This bill amended the Education Savings Accounts that were established for college as part of the bipartisan Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 so that they could include K-12 school expenses. A+ Savings Accounts would allow parents, grandparents, friends, scholarship sponsors, companies or charities to open an account for a child’s educational needs while at public, private, religious or home schools. Up to $2,000 in contributions could be made each year until the student is 18 years old.

WORKFORCE:

H.R. 1, Working Families Flexibility Act: H.R. 1 passed the House in March 1997. This family-friendly legislation allows employers to offer their employees the voluntary choice of selecting paid compensatory time off instead of overtime wages when working more than 40 hours a week. The first bill introduced in the House provides the opportunity for flexibility in meeting work and family obligations, something which American workers consistently say is one of their greatest needs.

Patient Protection Act: The Patient Protection Act (PPA) builds on the Committee’s past actions to include the ERISA portions in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), to hold hearings focusing on ERISA and managed care, and to mark up H.R. 1515, the Expanded Portability and Health Insurance Act of 1997 (EPHIC). To improve affordability, the PPA allows workers in small businesses and the self-employed to join together under their Association Health Plans (AHPs) to obtain the same economies of scale, purchasing clout, and administrative efficiencies that benefit the employees of large employers.

Fairness for Small Business and Employees Act: In March 1998, the House passed Committee legislation to address four specific problems at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The legislation (1) helps small businesses and labor organizations to defend themselves against government bureaucracy; (2) helps wronged employees get their jobs back quickly; (3) protects the right of employers to have a hearing to present their case in single bargaining unit determinations; and (4) prevents labor law from being used by "salts" to disrupt or inflict economic harm on employers.

Retirement Security: An important Committee bill, the SAVER Act (H.R. 1377), was signed into law in November, 1997 (P.L. 105- 92). The law initiates a public-private partnership to educate American workers about retirement savings and convened the National Summit on Retirement Savings which was held on June 3-5, 1998.

OSHA Reform: Four of eight Committee OSHA reform bills were passed by the House in 1998 to improve worker health and safety by making OSHA more cooperative and less confrontational. Three of these bills have been signed into law. They are: 1) P.L. 105-197 (H.R. 2864), which requires OSHA to provide consultation services for small businesses through programs operated by states with partial federal funding; 2) P.L. 105-198 (H.R. 2877), which prohibits OSHA from using enforcement measures, such as numbers of citations or amount of penalties, in order to measure the performance of any employee; and 3) P.L. 105-241 (S. 2112/H.R. 3725), which applies the OSH Act, including enforcement, to workplaces of the U.S. Postal Service. Rep. Talent also introduced a comprehensive OSHA reform measure in the 105^th Congress.

FLSA Reform: While the workplace has changed radically over the years, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), written in 1938, has not kept pace with these changes. Many provisions in the Act need to be updated, and the Committee has pursued a variety of legislation which recognizes that the FLSA needs to be simplified and clarified. The House has passed 4 Committee bills which enable employees and employers to make decisions about compensation that meets the needs of both parties, while still maintaining important protections for working Americans.

Paycheck Fairness Legislation: H.R. 1625, the Worker Paycheck Fairness Act, was approved by the Committee in October 1997. This bill requires that unions, whose members pay union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs and which spend member’s dues for activities not necessary to collective bargaining (1) first get written consent of the workers and (2) provide better information concerning how the dues were spent.

The American Worker at a Crossroads Project: In an effort to increase congressional oversight of federal programs, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is conducting a study of the impact of federal workplace agencies, programs, and laws on the American worker. Many of today's labor laws were passed in a bygone era for problems that no longer exist. The American Worker Project will make legislative recommendations intended to make labor laws relevant to tomorrow's workplaces.

Teamsters Investigations and Hearings: The investigation began with the failed 1996 election of officers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), but has also discovered financial mismanagement, possible pension fund manipulation, and potentially illegal political contributions. Because of his participation in illegal fundraising schemes, the union’s president, Ron Carey, has been banned for life from the union, and its political director has been indicted. The Committee will continue to investigate and take depositions through the remainder of 1998 and will issue a report on its findings. 

"Blacklisting" Regulations: Vice President Gore promised at the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s annual winter meeting on February 18, 1997, that the Clinton Administration would introduce regulations preventing federal contractors and subcontractor’s with "unsatisfactory" records of labor or employment practices from receiving federal contracts. This would effectively create a "blacklist" to shut out various contractors from the yearly pool of approximately $200 billion in federal contracting dollars. The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing on July 14, 1998, to send a clear message to the Administration that these proposed regulations are unnecessary and that they represent a political solution in search of a problem that does not exist.

EEOC Funding/Employment Testers: To ensure that American workers receive fairness in the crucial area of civil rights, the Committee has been undertaking a review of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC). At a March 1998 hearing, Speaker Newt Gingrich and Subcommittee Chairman Harris Fawell announced support for an increase in funding for the EEOC, provided any new money goes to helping actual victims of discrimination by addressing the case backlog, and provided that the EEOC withdraws its proposed "testers" program where individuals assigned in pairs with theoretically "equal" credentials apply for entry-level positions to see if they find discrimination.

Impediments to Union Democracy: The Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee held four hearings looking at problems union members are having in retaining a full, equal, and democratic voice in their union affairs. The ultimate goal is to identify possible areas in which the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA, or, the "Landrum-Griffin" Act) might be improved to better safeguard members’ democratic rights. To lay the groundwork for substantial legislative reform in the 106th Congress, Rep. Fawell introduced the "Democratic Rights for Union Members Act," which would strengthen the democratic rights of union rank and file members.