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In New Congress, Kennedy, Miller Put Working Families at Top of Committees’ Agendas |
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The leaders of the U.S. House and Senate committees where most vital working family legislation is born—the House Education and Workforce and Senate Health Education, Labor and Pension committees—plan to take those panels into new directions after nearly a dozen years of Republican agenda-setting power.
Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) say their committees’ focus include improving and protecting workers’ paychecks, retirement security and health care, strengthening workers’ rights and workplace safety laws and easing the financial burden of college many working families face. Says Kennedy:
We are determined to not let the American people down and to fight for solutions that will improve their everyday lives.
At a Dec. 12 Capitol Hill press conference, Miller told reporters:
In recent years this committee and Congress haven’t met their responsibility to the American People….On Nov. 7 Americans voted for a new direction…and an end to the economic policies that overwhelmingly favor the wealthiest Americans to the exclusion of and detriment of everyone else….Starting this January, the mission of committee will be simple—strengthening America’s middle class.
Both lawmakers say one of their first priorities is a clean and simple minimum wage bill to increase the decade-old $5.15-an-hour rate to $7.25 an hour.
For the past several years, Republican leaders blocked all attempts for a simple “Yes” or “No” majority vote on raising the minimum wage. They either loaded legislation with “poison” pills such as huge tax cuts for multimillion dollar estates, or amendments that would eliminate the 40-hour week and pay cuts for workers who earn tips. In some instances, they forced the minimum wage bills to win “super majorities” for passage.
This next minimum wage bill, Kennedy vows, won’t be loaded down:
It’s going to be clean.
Both leaders say the Employee Free Choice Act is on the agenda. The legislation, which won 215 House co-sponsors and 37 in the Senate in the last Congress, would strengthen protections for workers’ freedom to form unions by requiring employers to recognize a union after a majority of workers signs cards authorizing union representation.
At a Dec. 8 Capitol Hill rally supporting passage of the Employee Free Choice—an action that was part of the AFL-CIO’s two-day Organizing Summit—Kennedy told more than 1,000 union members and allies:
History tells us the that the best way to make sure that workers get their fair share is to give them a stronger voice. But shamefully, America’s labor laws are too weak to prevent employers from resorting to illegal union-busting tactics to intimidate workers. That’s why Representative Miller and I are determined to protect every employee’s right to join a union, and stop, once and for all, this continuing epidemic of bullying and intimidation. Miller says one of the first acts to make college affordable for working families will be to cut interest rates in half for college loans for middle and low-income families. The Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress allowed the interests to jump earlier this year.Also on the education front, Miller and Kennedy say one of the top items to ensure high-quality public education is to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act, something the Bush administration and the previous Republican-controlled Congresses have refused to do. They also expect legislation to reauthorize and improve the Head Start early-childhood education program for pre-schoolers.They plan to address workplace safety and introduce legislation to further strengthen mine safety laws that were toughened earlier this year after several coal mine disasters, including Sago, where 12 miners died. Some 46 coal miners have died on the job this year–more than any since 1995.
Strengthening Social Security and protecting it from privatization schemes, along with enacting new laws to protect private pensions and prevent corporations from dumping workers pensions, are on the committees’ to-do lists. Says Miller:
After a lifetime of work, all Americans should be able to count on a secure retirement, where they can focus on family and friends without having to sacrifice their standard of living.
On health care, Kennedy says his committee will explore ways to expand access to affordable health care and achieve universal health care. Legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower drug prices for seniors in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program is also on the committee’s agenda. The Bush administration opposes such an approach to lowering drug costs.
When the new Congress starts its work Jan. 3, we’ll keep you posted.
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