United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce

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The Committee on Education and the Workforce is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. From 1947 until 1994 and again from 2007 to 2011, during Democratic control of the House, it was known as the Committee on Education and Labor.[1][2]

History of the Committee

Attempts were made to create a congressional committee on education and labor starting with the early congresses but issues over Congress's constitutional ability to oversee such issues delayed the committee's formation. Finally, on March 21, 1867, the Committee on Education and Labor was founded following the end of the Civil War and during the rapid industrialization of America. On December 19, 1883, the committee was divided into two, the Committee on Education and the Committee on Labor. The committees again merged on January 2, 1947, after the passage of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, becoming the Committee on Education and Labor again. On January 4, 1995, when the Republicans took over the House, the Committee was renamed the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities. It was renamed again as the Committee on Education and the Workforce two years later on January 7, 1997. On January 4, 2007, with the Democrats once again in the majority, the committee's name was changed back to Committee on Education and Labor.[3] After Republicans recaptured the House majority in the 2010 elections, they returned to the name, Committee on Education and the Workforce, effective with the opening of the 112th Congress in 2011.[4]

Jurisdiction

From the Official Committee Webpage:

The Education and Labor Committee's purpose is to ensure that Americans' needs are addressed so that students and workers may move forward in a changing school system and a competitive global economy.

The committee and its five subcommittees oversee education and workforce programs that affect all Americans, from early learning through secondary education, from job training through retirement.

The Education and Labor Committee Democrats' goal is to keep America strong by increasing education opportunities for students, by making it easier to send young adults to college, and by helping workers find job training and retirement security for a better future. The following education issues are under the jurisdiction of the Education and Labor Committee:

Education. The Committee on Education and Labor oversees federal programs and initiatives dealing with education at all levels—from preschool through high school to higher education and continuing education. These include:

  • Elementary and secondary education initiatives, including the No Child Left Behind Act, school choice for low-income families, special education (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), teacher quality & teacher training, scientifically based reading instruction, and vocational and technical education;
  • Higher education programs (the Higher Education Act), to support college access for low and middle-income students and help families pay for college;
  • Early childhood & preschool education programs including Head Start;
  • School lunch and child nutrition programs;
  • Financial oversight of the U.S. Department of Education;
  • Programs and services for the care and treatment of at-risk youth, child abuse prevention, and child adoption;
  • Educational research and improvement;
  • Adult education; and
  • Anti-poverty programs, including the Community Services Block Grant Act and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Labor. The Committee on Labor also holds jurisdiction over workforce initiatives aimed at strengthening health care, job training, and retirement security for workers. Workforce issues in the jurisdiction of the Education and the Labor Committee include:

  • Pension and retirement security for U.S. workers;
  • Access to quality health care for working families and other employee benefits;
  • Job training, adult education, and workforce development initiatives, including those under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), to help local communities train and retrain workers;
  • Continuing the successful welfare reforms of 1996;
  • Protecting the democratic rights of individual union members;
  • Worker health and safety, including occupational safety and health;
  • Providing greater choices and flexibility (including "comp time" or family time options) to working women and men;
  • Equal employment opportunity and civil rights in employment;
  • Wages and hours of labor, including the Fair Labor Standards Act;
  • Workers' compensation, and family and medical leave;
  • All matters dealing with relationships between employers and employees.

Members, 114th Congress

Majority Minority

Sources: H.Res. 6 (Chairs), H.Res. 7 (D), H.Res. 17 (R) and H.Res. 22 (D).

Subcommittees

Subcommittee Chair Ranking Member
Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Todd Rokita (R-IN) Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
Workforce Protections Tim Walberg (R-MI) Frederica Wilson (D-FL)
Higher Education and Workforce Training Virginia Foxx (R-NC) Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Phil Roe (R-TN) Jared Polis (D-CO)

Chairs

1867-1883

Chair Party State Start of Service End of Service
Jehu Baker Republican IL 1867 1869
Samuel M. Arnell Republican TN 1869 1871
Legrand Perce Republican MS 1871 1873
James Monroe Republican OH 1873 1875
Gilbert C. Walker Democratic VA 1875 1877
John Goode, Jr. Democratic VA 1877 1881
Jonathan T. Updegraff Republican OH 1881 1882
John C. Sherwin Republican IL 1882 1883

1947-present

Chair Party State Start of Service End of Service
Fred A. Hartley Republican NJ 1947 1949
John Lesinski, Sr. Democratic MI 1949 1950
Graham A. Barden Democratic NC 1950 1953
Samuel K. McConnell Republican PA 1953 1955
Graham A. Barden Democratic NC 1955 1961
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Democratic NY 1961 1967
Carl D. Perkins Democratic KY 1967 1984
Gus Hawkins Democratic CA 1984 1991
William D. Ford Democratic MI 1991 1995
William F. Goodling Republican PA 1995 2001
John Boehner Republican OH 2001 2006
Buck McKeon Republican CA 2006 2007
George Miller Democratic CA 2007 2011
John Kline Republican MN 2011 present

See also

References

  1. H.Res. 5, 112th Congress
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Chapter 9. Records of the Committees on Education and Labor, Guide to the Records of the U.S. House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1989 (Record Group 233), National Archives and Records Administration
  4. Wall Street Journal: Republicans Labor to Avoid ‘Labor’
  5. Sablan is an Independent, but caucuses with the Democrats.

External links