March 18, 2013
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Read news from the March 18th edition, including articles on appropriations, differing budget plans, the minimum wage, TANF and the SKILLS Act.
- CHN: Funding for FY 2013 Pending in the House and Senate
Funding for annually appropriated programs has been operating under a stopgap Continuing Resolution (CR) since FY 2013 began on October 1, 2012. The CR is set to expire on March 27. On March 6, the House passed H.R. 933 to fund the programs for the remainder of FY 2013. The House incorporated detailed new spending bills for 2 of the 12 appropriations subcommittees in H.R. 933 – Defense and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs. Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations Comments Off - CHN: Starkly Different House and Senate Budget Plans Offered for FY 2014
Both the House and Senate Budget Committees have approved Budget Resolutions outlining plans for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2013. The House Budget Committee plan balances the budget in ten years by slashing spending for domestic programs massively while protecting the Pentagon from cuts. At the same time, the House proposal reduces taxes on individuals and corporations by a whopping $5.7 trillion through FY 2023, with the benefits overwhelmingly going to those at the top, to be paid for by other unspecified tax increases. Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations, Military Spending Comments Off - CHN: Bill to Increase the Minimum Wage is Introduced; Defeated in House First Attempt
The majority of minimum wage earners work for big, profitable companies. Those workers are seeing the value of their paychecks diminish and their cost of living increase as workers’ productivity has grown and the corporations they work for are posting record-breaking profits. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Representative George Miller (R-CA) have introduced legislation that begins to address this growing disparity. Read More »
Posted in Labor and Employment, Minimum Wage Comments Off - CHN: House Approves Bill to Extend TANF and Block Obama Waiver Authority
Come March 27, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) will expire if Congress doesn’t act to reauthorize it. Since that deadline is the same as the one for FY 2013 appropriations (see article entitled “Funding for FY 2013 Pending in the House and Senate” in this issue), many had assumed that Congress would extend TANF within the spending bill. Read More »
Posted in Income Support, Poverty and Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Comments Off - CHN: Controversial SKILLS Act Passes in House
When the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act (H.R. 803) was approved in the Education and the Workforce Committee on March 6, the Democratic members walked out. Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA) and his colleagues objected to what they saw as refusal by the majority to negotiate towards some level of bipartisan support. Read More »
Posted in Job Training and Education, Labor and Employment Comments Off
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