Stories by Lauren Smith:
May 15, 2013
For Anand Vimalassery, watching Job Corps’ finances spiral out of control has been more than frustrating. After all, he spent the better part of a year trying to warn the Labor Department that the program — which offers students ages 16-24 free education or training to learn a career, earn a high school diploma or equivalency degree, and find and keep a good job — was headed for a serious funding shortfall.
May 15, 2013
A banner typed across the front page of the Job Corps website in bold red letters reads, “Attention! Job Corps is enrolling students again!”
May 8, 2013
The Republican campaign against Labor Secretary nominee Thomas E. Perez picked up serious momentum Wednesday, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Marco Rubio both raised strong objections.
May 7, 2013
With a Senate committee vote set for Wednesday on the nomination of Thomas E. Perez for Labor secretary, House Republicans convened a joint hearing Tuesday to examine a whistle-blower case that GOP lawmakers have been using as ammunition against him.
April 10, 2013
The National Partnership for Women and Families in 2004 began its push for paid sick leave when it launched its “Campaign for Paid Sick Days,” and played an integral role two years later in helping San Francisco secure the first-ever ordinance mandating paid sick days in the United States.
April 10, 2013
When Wanda Cobbs’ two children fell ill for an extended period this winter due to complications from their Type I diabetes, the decision to stay home to care for them came more easily than it had in the past. Thanks to a Connecticut law that took effect last year, Cobbs, a school bus driver for the West Hartford public schools system, had access to paid sick leave for the first time.
March 18, 2013
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., announced Monday that he will block President Barack Obama’s nominee for Labor secretary, Thomas E. Perez, until he receives more information about Perez’s enforcement of a federal voting law as the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
March 10, 2013
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, fired a preemptive warning shot to the White House over the weekend in response to media reports that President Barack Obama intends to nominate Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, as the next Labor secretary.
Feb. 25, 2013
House Republican leaders may need every vote they can get this week when they bring to the floor a five-year reauthorization of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.
Feb. 6, 2013
With the Senate poised to pass a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Wednesday vowed that the bill is a priority in his chamber, as well.
Feb. 6, 2013
After an election focused heavily on jobs, the House is poised to move quickly on a long-stalled overhaul of federal job-training programs. But hope for finally breaking through the gridlock appears to hinge on bipartisan negotiations quietly under way in the Senate.
Feb. 4, 2013
The issue of President Barack Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board is now before the Supreme Court, as a nursing home company Monday asked the court to block a board order. This provides the first opportunity for the Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of the recess appointments, which a lower court invalidated in a separate case Jan. 25.
Jan. 25, 2013
Senate Republicans won an important victory over President Barack Obama on Friday, when a federal appeals court ruled that his appointments to the National Labor Relations Board a year ago were unconstitutional. GOP lawmakers quickly responded by calling for the appointees to resign and for the board to shut down.
Jan. 9, 2013
Texas Republican Steve Stockman is searching for co-sponsors for a bill he introduced Jan. 3 that would repeal the federal law that prohibits firearms in school zones.
Oct. 18, 2012
A senior Senate Republican is looking to redefine what constitutes welfare as he makes a case for ratcheting back government spending on programs for the poor.
Oct. 3, 2012
Rep. Tom Petri, the second-most senior Republican on the Education and the Workforce Committee, is floating the first serious proposal to overhaul the federal student loan repayment system as Congress prepares to take up reauthorization of the Higher Education Act next year.
Oct. 2, 2012
Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave an emphatic defense Tuesday of the Obama administration’s use of executive authority and competitive grants on education policy to bypass a gridlocked Congress.
