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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
Witnesses:
Shlomo Benartzi, Ph.D.
Professor
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Los Angeles, CA
Mark Davis
Partner
Kravitz Davis Sansone
Encino, CA
Jacob S. Hacker, Ph.D.
Professor
University of California at Berkeley
Additional witnesses to be announced.
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"The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Workers' Retirement Security"
Scheduled at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 7, 2008, in room 2175 Rayburn H.O.B.
Witnesses:
Jerry Bramlett
CEO
BenefitStreet, Inc.
Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci
Professor of Economic Policy Analysis
The New School for Social Research
Dr. Peter Orszag
Director
Congressional Budget Office
Jack VanDerhei
Research Director
Employee Benefit Research Institute
Dr. Christian Weller
Associate Professor of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts-Boston
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
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Witnesses today told the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee that the field of social work affects the lives of Americans from all walks of life on a daily basis, and though the field faces some challenges, it is expected to grow in the coming years.
Social workers provide critical services across rural, urban and suburban areas. They work with a wide variety of people, from children, families and the elderly, to those with mental health problems or substance abuse issues, to those who are incarcerated. As baby boomers age, they will increasingly require more social work services, said Gary Bailey, associate professor at the Graduate School of Social Work at Simmons College in Boston, MA.
A master's degree in social work or a related field is now standard for many positions. Dr. Robin Mama, dean of the School of Social Work at Monmouth University in Monmouth, NJ, said recruitment is the biggest challenge facing undergraduate social work programs, in part because of negative associations. Mama also said there is a need for bilingual and trilingual social workers and cultural awareness and sensitivity. More »
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Several labor measures have been signed into law or passed through the House recently, thanks to the Committee's hard work.
ADA Amendments Act: Signed Into Law
On June 25, the House passed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 by a vote of 402-17 to stop discrimination against individuals with disabilities by restoring the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This bipartisan legislation will reverse several U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have undermined the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since the ADA’s enactment nearly two decades ago, courts have dramatically reduced the numbers of workers who are protected from employment discrimination under the law.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act: Signed Into Law
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act was signed into law on May 21, preventing health insurers and employers from using Americans’ personal genetic information to discriminate against them. The law prohibits employers from using individuals' genetic information when making hiring, firing, job placement or promotion decisions. It also makes it illegal for group health plans and health insurers to deny coverage to healthy individuals or charge them higher premiums based solely on a genetic predisposition to a specific disease.
Child Labor Protection Act: Signed Into Law
Employers in the U.S. who violate child labor laws will face stiffer fines under a measure signed into law on May 21. The Child Labor Protection Act, first introduced in 2007 by U.S. Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Joe Wilson (R-SC), increases penalties from $11,000 to $50,000 for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act that cause the death or serious injury of a child.
Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act: Passed by House
On May 20, the House passed the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act by a vote of 402-9, clarifying that flight attendants and pilots are entitled to take unpaid family and medical leave to care for themselves, newborn children, and sick or injured family members. The bill would close a loophole which, because of the unique way many air crews’ hours are calculated, effectively excludes more than 200,000 flight attendants and pilots from coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosion and Fires Act: Passed by House
On April 30, the House passed the Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosion and Fires Act to help prevent combustible dust explosions like the one at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, on February 7 that killed 13 workers and injured more than 60 others. The measure would require the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue rules regulating combustible industrial dusts, like sugar dust, that can build up to hazardous levels and explode. OSHA has known about these dangers for years, but has failed to act.
The Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, July 15 to examine the U.S. Department of Labor’s record of enforcing the nation’s wage and hour laws. The Government Accountability Office will highlight the results of two separate investigations requested by Chairman George Miller into the Labor Department’s failures to fully investigate and properly address violations of the law. Seventy years ago last month, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act into law. The law has provided generations of Americans with basic rights to minimum wages, overtime pay, and a ban on oppressive child labor. However, critics say that the Bush administration has failed to protect workers from a growing problem of “wage theft” by adopting weak approaches to enforcement and reducing funding and staffing levels of the Wage and Hour Division, the agency responsible for investigating complaints of wage, hour, and child labor violations.