Posts tagged House Committee on Education and Workforce
Op-ed: California doubles down on pension debt — and dares Congress to bail it out
July 23, 2026 // On July 1, California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee advanced AB 1383, a bill that guts the pension reform Sacramento passed in 2013 to keep its own promises honest. It would drop the public safety retirement age from 57 to 55, invent a new 3%-at-55 benefit formula, and let cities bargain away the cost-sharing rules that reform required. CalPERS already carries more than $179 billion in unfunded liabilities. California’s total state and local pension debt tops $200 billion. Sacramento’s answer, apparently, is to promise more.
Editorial: Randi Weingarten’s book sleaze might mean the end of corrupt teacher-union power
July 13, 2026 // Under Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Rick Allen (R-Ga.), the committee is following up on Post reporting on dubious transactions uncovered by the Freedom Foundation that amount to hundreds of thousands of AFT dollars spent to help produce the book Of course, that’s just a fraction of how union higherups profit from members’ dues: Weingarten’s pay is now $470,000 a year, not to mention ample perks. Maybe she’s worth it — to the union itself, at least: She’s been a Democratic Party powerbroker for decades, using that influence to protect the power of the AFT and its larger ally, the National Education Association.
House launches probe into AFT boss Randi Weingarten tapping teachers’ union spending to write ‘manifesto’ book
July 8, 2026 // As part of its sweeping investigation, it requested Weingarten turn over by July 21 all AFT expenditures related to the drafting, publishing, promoting and tour activities associated with the book; all agreements between AFT and outside parties and documents of all work performed by AFT employees on the book. See Also An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Randi Weingarten holding her book "Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy", Image 2 shows Randi Weingarten holding a copy of her book, "Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy." AFT boss Randi Weingarten tapped union resources worth over $1.4M to write ‘manifesto’ book Walberg and Allen said they have a responsibility to ensure that unions representing American workers operate “transparently and that union members receive a full accounting of how their dues are utilized.”
Jonathon Wolfson: Testimony before the House Committee on Education and Workforce
June 10, 2026 // In short, locum tenens is not a temporary patch on a permanent problem; it is a permanent and growing part of the healthcare access solution. In many areas, the choice is not between a permanent healthcare provider and a locum tenens healthcare provider. The choice is between a locum tenens healthcare provider and no provider at all. Any policy that undermines locum tenens would directly harm the patients who depend on it.
How Teachers’ Unions Became Political Big Spenders
May 18, 2026 // A new report out today accuses both the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) of spending tens of millions of dollars on electing Democratic political candidates, and prioritizing politicking over the needs and interests of their union members. The report, conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), Gevura Fund, and Rutgers University, among others, found that of the NEA’s $450 million annual disbursement budget from fiscal year 2025, less than $46 million, or 10 percent, was spent on activities directly representing the union’s constituents.
Walberg Announces First Hearing in AI Series
January 7, 2026 // Committee on Education and Workforce, chaired by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), will hold the first hearing in a series examining artificial intelligence, titled “Building an AI-Ready America.”
Commentary 2 Bills Cutting Red Tape for Employee Benefits Advance in House
April 28, 2025 // By amending the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to treat child care and elder care subsidies the same as other fixed-cost workplace benefits such as health and life insurance, the Empowering Employer Child and Elder Care Solutions Act (H.R. 2270) would make it easier for employers to provide these benefits without having to include them in workers’ “regular rate” of pay calculations for overtime. This bill was introduced on March 21 by Rep. Mark Messmer, R-Ind., and was reported favorably out of committee on April 9. The Flexibility for Workers’ Education Act (H.R. 2262), introduced by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, would exclude voluntary, employer-provided “upskilling” opportunities from the “hours worked” calculation used to determine overtime pay, so long as employees do not perform work for their employer during that time and the education occurs outside of working hours. This bill was also reported favorably out of committee on April 9.
Backgrounder: Executive Order: Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs
March 31, 2025 // The practice of “official time” is when unionized federal employees perform union-related activities, rather than their actual public service duties, while being paid by taxpayers. The Federal Unions EO requires that agencies, upon termination of an applicable collective bargaining agreement, reassign any workers who performed “official time” to positions where they perform solely agency business. It also contains language regarding existing grievance proceedings and allows for the head of each agency to submit a report to the President within 30 days highlighting any agency subdivisions that were not covered but should have been covered under the Federal Unions EO.
House panel probes Labor Department’s leak of revised jobs data to Wall Street firms
September 26, 2024 // The House Committee on Education and Workforce, which is chaired by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), sent a letter early Wednesday morning to the acting secretary of the Labor Department, Julie Su, asking for more information on the botched release of the revised data. “At best, BLS’s botched release of the job numbers caused significant uncertainty and confusion and undermined confidence in the data,” the committee’s letter to Su read.
Biden Bypasses Senate Confirmation in Labor’s Julie Su
October 3, 2023 // According to the GAO, she can stay in the top Labor Department post without Senate confirmation. That effectively cuts out the voters and sets a poor precedent. Now, should some federal secretary depart, the president need only appoint an “acting” replacement. According to the Government Accountability Office, that person can avoid Senate confirmation and remain on the job, regardless of their suitability for the post.