By Chairman George Miller on 11-20-2008, 04:38 PM
Today, the Democratic Caucus officially re-elected Rep. George Miller to chair the House Education and Labor Committee for the 111th Congress.
It is an honor and a privilege to continue to chair the Education and Labor Committee in the next Congress, and I thank my colleagues for their support.
If anything, this historic election reminded us that Americans from all regions, backgrounds and political stripes are united in our shared hopes and aspirations: A quality, affordable education for our children; a good-paying job with decent benefits; and a secure retirement after a lifetime of hard work. In a nation as great as ours, these dreams can – and must – be achieved.
I look forward to working with all members of this committee, the next Congress, and the new administration on a Main Street recovery plan that will revitalize our economy, and toward our larger goal of rebuilding and strengthening America’s middle class. Like President-Elect Obama, I’m confident we can reach this goal by working in a bipartisan way that transcends the politics of the past, and by making sure that our government is open, accountable and engages the public. Moving forward, our committee will also build on our efforts to use innovative strategies to make sure that the voices of Americans around the country are heard here in Washington.
I also know that no one is more excited about the opportunities before us than Senator Ted Kennedy. No one has fought harder for our children, workers and families than Ted, and no one could ask for a better partner in these challenging times. I am thrilled that he has returned to the Senate, and look forward to continuing to work closely with him on the important tasks that lie ahead.
More information on Chairman Miller's priorities for the committee in the 111th Congress »
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By Chairman George Miller on 11-07-2008, 10:52 AM
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that the unemployment rate jumped to 6.5 percent after 240,000 jobs were lost in October, the highest unemployment rate since March 1994.
Today’s announcement that our economy lost almost a quarter million jobs in October proves that we need to move quickly to help American families deal with a rapidly failing economy. The 1.2 million Americans who lost their jobs this year are desperate for real solutions to get our nation back to work and our economy moving forward again.
We must get started right away by passing a Main Street recovery plan that will get Americans back to work by making real investments in energy independence and infrastructure improvements, and providing immediate relief to families and workers struggling with long-term unemployment.
More than a million out of work Americans stand to lose their extended unemployment benefits by the end of the year. With potentially millions more joining the ranks of the long-term unemployed, any economic recovery package must extend the amount of time that a worker can receive unemployment insurance benefits while they look for another job.
As we build a more resilient and robust economy, we must also ensure that workers are able to benefit as growth returns. Workers must be able to earn a fair wage, decent benefits and have the ability to enjoy a secure retirement. I look forward to working with the new Congress and the Obama administration to enact additional policies that will further strengthen our economy and its backbone – American workers and middle-class families.
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By Chairman George Miller on 11-05-2008, 12:14 PM
Yesterday's historic election of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden as our next President and Vice President was a true victory for every child, student, worker and family in America. I congratulate Senators Obama and Biden, and I look forward to working closely with them to change the direction of our country and get our economy moving forward again.
During the past two years, the Education and Labor Committee has focused on strengthening our nation's middle class – a priority that Senators Obama and Biden clearly share, as demonstrated by their careers and the focus of their historic campaign.
With our country facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and our global leadership at risk, this mission is more important than ever.
In the next Congress, this committee will be dedicated to working with the new Obama-Biden administration and members of both parties of Congress to rescue our economy by rebuilding and strengthening America's middle class. We must get started right away by passing a Main Street recovery plan that will get Americans back to work and provide immediate relief to families and workers struggling with long-term unemployment and depleted state budgets.
We will dedicate ourselves to improving our nation's schools and continue our efforts to make college more affordable and accessible, so that every student has the opportunity to succeed. We are committed to rebuilding our country's roads, bridges and schools, and to green retrofitting and other modern energy programs that will create millions of good-paying jobs and reestablish America's technological leadership.
We will fight to restore workers' rights, so that every American can benefit from economic opportunity. And we will make the preservation and strengthening of retirement savings a priority, so that all Americans can enjoy a secure retirement after a lifetime of hard work.
Today marks a new beginning. Together, we can rescue our economy, restore the promise of the American Dream, and ensure that, in a nation as great as ours, the interests of students, workers, families and retirees are at the heart of our nation's priorities.
More information on recent hearings on the economy and the committee's work over the past two years.
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By Betsy Miller Kittredge on 10-24-2008, 12:33 PM
The American economy could slip into a deeper recession unless immediate action is taken to stem the tide of rising unemployment and falling family incomes, witnesses told the Committee in a hearing today.
Economists predicted that, based on past recession trends unemployment could soon reach eight percent or higher, and middle-class families’ incomes could drop by more than $2,000 this year.
“It is urgent that we prepare now to take the next steps to rescue the economy by creating jobs, providing immediate relief to the states and small businesses, and by making real investments in energy, technology and education,” Chairman George Miller said. “We must have a plan that speaks directly to the needs of American families and workers today.”
The number of out-of-work Americans has increased by 2.2 million in the last year. They join more than 2 million workers who have been unemployed longer than 27 months. In October, many workers began exhausting their unemployment insurance benefits. By the end of this month, an estimated 775,000 workers will be left without a safety net, and a total of 1.1 million workers will be in the same straits by the end of the year.
In a letter to Chairman Miller released at the hearing, economist Alan Blinder of Princeton University predicted that “unemployment will top out in the 8-8.5 percent range” if the coming recession is as severe as the recessions of 1981-82 and 1973-75. “My worry,” wrote Blinder, “is that we may be heading in that direction.”
“We are clearly in the early stages of a potentially very serious recession that will likely be as deep as anything we have experienced in a generation,” said Ron Blackwell, chief economist of the AFL-CIO. “Just how deep and protracted this recession will be depends on a timely, aggressive and well-focused economic recovery package.”
To help families make ends meet while they look for a new job, the Democratic Congress voted to extend unemployment benefits in early October. Unfortunately, that effort was blocked by Senate Republicans. The Bush administration threatened to veto the extension claiming it would encourage out of work Americans not to find a new job.
“There is nothing enjoyable about being up at night worrying about how you are going to make ends meet,” said Dana Stevens, an unemployed worker from Thorofare, NJ. “For anyone to suggest that receiving unemployment is like getting a free vacation is insulting and degrading to the millions like myself who are desperately trying to get back to work.”
Millions of workers not only lose their jobs during a recession, but household incomes for those with a job also decline on an average of four percent. Jared Bernstein, director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute, said that if past trends repeat themselves this time around, middle-class families’ who earn around $60,000 will see their income fall about $2,500 this year.
“Due to factors regarding job loss, fewer hours, and the slower wage growth driven by the weaker job market, incomes usually fall in recessions,” said Bernstein.
In September, the House of Representatives also approved an economic rescue and job creation package to help head off a deeper recession. It would have created good-paying jobs by investing in new energy technology and infrastructure. The bill would have also provided access to job training and helped working families with grocery and health care bills. Senate Republicans and the Bush administration also opposed this effort.
Many economists say that making infrastructure investments are some of the most effective uses of federal dollars that create jobs in both the short-term and the long-term.
Robert Pollin, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, said a $150 billion job creation program will create 2.9 million jobs in the short-term alone.
“In the midst of the severe financial crisis and deepening recession, it is imperative that the federal government take action as soon as possible to counteract the downturn,” said Pollin.
Pollin’s latest research also reveals that infrastructure investment produces a second wave of private sector job creation within two years, pushing the 2.9 million new jobs up to 3.3 million new jobs in a two-year time frame.
To encourage long-term job creation, investments are needed to build the nation’s technological backbone that will help foster growth in the emerging high-tech industry and green economy.
“Advanced networks will allow increased opportunities for the creation of even more highly skilled technology jobs to invent new products and improve existing ones in the vital areas of energy, health care, education, public safety and services,” said Christopher Hansen, president and CEO of AeA. “These are the jobs of the future.”
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By Betsy Miller Kittredge on 10-23-2008, 01:26 PM
On Friday, October 24 at 10:00 a.m., the Committee will hold a hearing examining strategies – including investments in rebuilding crumbling infrastructure – to create good-paying jobs in order to put the nation’s stalled economy on the road to recovery. More than 2.2 million American workers have lost their jobs in the past 12 months and millions more are still looking for permanent employment.
“Building an Economic Recovery Package: Creating and Preserving Jobs in America”
Scheduled on October 24, 2008 at 10 a.m. in room 2175 Rayburn H.O.B.
Witnesses:
Panel 1:
Hon. Charles E. F. Millard
Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Panel 2:
Jared Bernstein
Director of the Living Standards Program
Economic Policy Institute
Ron Blackwell
Chief Economist
AFL-CIO
Christopher Hansen
President and CEO
AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association)
Robert Pollin
Professor of Economics
Founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Dana Stevens
Unemployed Worker
Thorofare, New Jersey
William W. Beach
Director
Center for Data Analysis
The Heritage Foundation
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By Betsy Miller Kittredge on 10-16-2008, 02:23 PM
In December 2006, Rep. George Miller, the new Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, announced that the Committee would be dedicated to the mission of strengthening America’s middle class. And over the past two years, the Committee has delivered on its promise. America's students, workers, and families need help more than ever during the current financial crisis, and the Committee will continue its work to strengthen the middle class. Below is an overview of the Committee’s legislative milestones in the 110th Congress.
Affordable colleges »
The Committee has enacted three laws that together will make college more affordable and accessible for middle class students, create a more efficient, consumer-friendly, and fair American higher education system, and protect federal student loans from turmoil in the economy.
High quality education »
The Committee enacted legislation to strengthen the nation’s premiere early childhood program, giving more young children the skills they need to succeed in school and in life. The Committee also helped enact emergency aid to help Gulf Coast schools and colleges still working to recover from Katrina and Rita. In addition, the Committee took a key step toward improving learning conditions for schoolchildren by passing legislation to help schools modernize their facilities and become more energy-efficient.
A competitive workforce »
The Committee has enacted legislation that builds on the principles Democrats first laid out in their “Innovation Agenda – A Commitment to Competitiveness to Keep America Number One.” These new laws will help prepare more Americans for jobs in emerging, high-tech industries that will keep our nation more competitive and create more good-paying jobs here at home.
Fairness in the workplace »
During the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress, the House passed the first increase in the minimum wage in ten years. Since then, Committee has passed a series of key measures to strengthen workers’ rights, improve workplace safety, end discriminatory practices that have unfairly eroded workers’ pay and other benefits, and help workers balance demands of work and family.
Retirement security »
While roughly 50 million American workers now have 401(k) style retirement plans, studies show that the vast majority of these workers don’t know how much they are paying in fees to the companies that service their 401(k) plans – fees that could be eating away at their retirement savings. The Committee passed legislation to help workers better understand these hidden fees and strengthen their retirement security.
Safe children and youth »
The Committee enacted laws to protect America's children and youth, including runaway, homeless and missing children, and to increase penalties when employers violate child labor laws. The House also passed legislation to protect teens in public and private residential programs.
Accountability and responsibility »
The Committee conducted oversight over government agencies in its jurisdiction, shining a light on the Bush administration’s failures to safeguard taxpayer dollars used to fund education programs and its efforts to weaken protections for workers. In some cases, the Committee’s investigations paved the way for legislation and spurred the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue a criminal investigation.
By the numbers...»
The Committee has held 113 hearings and heard from 683 witnesses in its efforts to grow and strengthen the nation’s middle class. In the next Congress, the Committee will continue to build on this record by working to improve the lives of children, students, workers and families.
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By Betsy Miller Kittredge on 10-15-2008, 01:47 PM
Last week, Chairman George Miller asked Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to withdraw two proposals that would roll back worker protections contained in the nation’s H-2A and H-2B guest worker programs. This is in light of an Office of Inspector General investigation critical of the Department’s oversight of the permanent worker program -- the same oversight system Labor proposes to use in the temporary and seasonal guest worker programs.
Though the Department is required to conduct audits of applications submitted to ensure against fraud, the OIG found that the Department actually discontinued some types of audits nearly three years ago. Additionally, the OIG found that the Department did not even audit many applications which had been selected for either random or targeted audits.
The OIG concluded:
“The effect of [the DOL] not auditing applications selected for audit is that fraudulent or non-meritorious applications may have been certified. Certifying non-eligible foreign workers could negatively affect the U.S. workforce by reducing the amount of jobs available for U.S. workers.”
Chairman Miller's letter to Secretary Chao states:
“The OIG report demonstrates that your Department has failed to properly implement the Program Electronic Review Management (PERM), a program that is similar to one you propose in the H-2A and H-2B regulations. Thus, we worry that the Bush Administration scheme for the H-2A and H-2B programs could lead to more fraudulent or non-meritorious requests for temporary foreign guest workers, at the expense of U.S. workers, with little risk of detection.”
Note: Sensitive information has been redacted from the OIG report.
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By Betsy Miller Kittredge on 10-14-2008, 10:45 AM
Following an urgent meeting held by Democratic leaders and top economists in Washington on October 13, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that House Democrats will begin laying the groundwork for a comprehensive economic recovery and job creation program, including a hearing to be held by the House Education and Labor Committee. Chairman George Miller said the hearing will focus on the nation’s severe unemployment outlook and strategies to spur job growth.
“The credit crisis and stock market crash is making an already dire unemployment situation worse,” Chairman Miller said. “The top economists who have briefed the Democratic leadership today and over the last few weeks all agree that unemployment is going to continue to rise. We are going to examine the best ways to get Americans back to work and put our economy on the road to recovery.
“The emergency financial bill we approved late last month was one important step toward rescuing the economy, but we knew then that additional, comprehensive measures would be needed to help stabilize and heal our broken economy. We need a longer-term economic recovery plan that will create jobs, grow the economy, and protect Main Street. These hearings will be vital to our efforts to develop a plan that rebuilds our economy while protecting taxpayers and helping workers and their families seize the opportunities that our 21st century economy presents.”
The hearing is expected to take place late next week. The exact date and location will be announced later. Last week, Chairman Miller announced a second hearing on how the financial crisis is impacting workers’ retirement savings, on Wednesday, October 22 in San Francisco. He held a hearing on this topic last Tuesday as part of a series of hearings House Democrats are conducting to look at the causes of the financial crisis and appropriate responses to it.
Please check the Committee's schedule page for updates »
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By Chairman George Miller on 10-03-2008, 02:41 PM
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that 159,000 jobs were lost in September, the steepest decline in five years and the 9th consecutive month of job losses.
Today’s jobs report highlights the massive destruction that the Bush-Cheney-McCain wrecking ball has done to our economy, workers, and families. Eight years of their misguided policies have culminated in nine straight months of job losses. Two million workers have been unemployed for more than 27 months – 167,000 more than in August. Our nation is now dealing with the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
America’s working families are hurting, and in need of real solutions to get our economy back on track. For starters, we must extend unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Americans whose current benefits are set to expire this weekend. Today, as the House considers a financial rescue plan to protect the credit that small businesses and families rely on, we will also vote to extend unemployment benefits to help workers cover their bills while looking for a new job.
But workers also need a long-term strategy to generate new jobs. Last week, the House passed a much-needed stimulus that would create millions of good-paying jobs by investing in our crumbling infrastructure – an investment that would get our nation back to work and prevent our economy from falling deeper into recession. Unfortunately for American families, Senate Republicans blocked the package.
This latest news underscores the urgent need to ease the pain of America’s working families and get our economy on the road to recovery.
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