At the same time Republicans are seeking to weaken wage and hour protections afforded under existing law, they turn a blind eye to the real hardships workers are facing. In the last Congress, during the course of the American Worker Project, our Republican colleagues finally saw fit to acknowledge that sweatshops remain a reality within the United States, even on the eve of the 21st Century. Having acknowledged the reality of sweatshops, however, our Republican colleagues remain unwilling to consider meaningful legislative proposals to end this kind of unconscionable exploitation of workers. Indeed, the proposals coming from our Republican colleagues relating to this issue would serve to exacerbate rather than redress the problem.

We support increased funding for the Department of Labor's labor standards enforcement activities. However, relying solely upon Wage and Hour investigators to enforce the minimum wage, child labor, and overtime laws will never be efficient or effective so long as market forces are acting to promote sweatshops. Republican New York Governor George Pataki signed into law a bipartisan bill making manufacturers liable for the contractors' failure to pay proper wages. Congress should follow suit and enact the Clay Stop Sweatshops Act, H.R. 90, which holds manufacturers, including retailers in some cases, liable for Fair Labor Standards Act violations by contractors working on the manufacturers' clothes. While Democrats support this initiative, our Republican colleagues remain mute. Having told the workers they would help, they've done nothing.

The most important thing that can be done for working families is to ensure that they are provided a living wage for their work. We strongly support passage of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, H.R. 325, which would increase the minimum wage by one dollar an hour over two years. This should be Congress' first labor priority.

Another top priority for Democrats is passage of comprehensive and enforceable managed care reform legislation. We strongly support the Patients' Bill of Rights Act, H.R. 358, which would permit patients to sue health plans under state law for personal injury or wrongful death. It would guarantee access to emergency care and specialists. It would also guarantee women the right to choose an OB/GYN as their primary care provider, and a minimum hospital stay of 48 hours for mastectomies.

Another important Democratic priority is passage of the Retirement Security Act. This comprehensive pension reform legislation is designed to increase pension accessibility and portability, make pensions more secure, and ensure that our nation's private pension system is equitable for women.

American workers must also be assured that they will be able to earn according to their abilities and will not be arbitrarily discriminated against because of their race, sex, religion, or national origin. We strongly support the President's proposal to increase funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal

Labor Department Seeks Improved Training, Pay, Benefits, and Working Conditions

We support the President's request of $39.6 billion for the Department of Labor's FY 2000 budget. Of that amount, $28 billion is for such mandatory programs as unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and welfare-to-work. The balance of $11.6 billion is for discretionary spending, including important initiatives the Department is undertaking to help workers to obtain jobs with good working conditions, fair wages, reliable pensions, and health benefits.

The Universal Reemployment Initiative would ensure that every person who loses a job through no fault of their own can receive assistance in finding another through a One Stop Career Center. Funding for this initiative is increased by $368 million.

Youth Right Track Partnerships are funded at $100 million. Competitive grants will be awarded to local projects designed to prevent youth from dropping out of school, and to encourage those who have already dropped out to complete their high school education.

Job Corps is provided a $31.4 million increase for the completion of four new centers, operating costs of the new centers, salary increases for teachers and staff, and enhanced follow-up services for students who have completed the program.

The Welfare-to-Work program is extended in order to move more hard-to-employ welfare recipients into jobs. One billion dollars is made available for this purpose.

Equal pay for women will be advanced with $4 million provided to assist contractors in recruiting qualified women for non-traditional occupations, and to provide employers tools to assess and improve their pay policies.

The budget includes $10 million for a new health education campaign, enhanced enforcement of new health care provisions of ERISA, and a pilot project to help small businesses safeguard pension plan assets.

Finally, the Department's budget includes $4.3 million for increased compliance with labor standards in low-wage industries, including garment manufacturing and agricultural production. An additional $35 million is included to promote the establishment of core international labor standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration will share $48 million for innovative safety and health programs.

William Illa Gone Mille

WILLIAM L. CLAY

Member of Congress

GEORGE MILLER
Member of Congress

Hale E. (Eddie Matthew S. Martiney

DALE E. KILDEE
Member of Congress

Majo R. Amm

MAJOR. OWENS
Member of Congress

Member of Congress

DONALD M. PAYNE
Member of Congress

Nebat E.AL

ROBERT E. ANDREWS
Member of Congress

Bobby Scott

ROBERT CASCOT
Member of Congress

Carlos Romero-quali

CARLOS ROMERO-BARCELÓ
Member of Coug.ess

Rubén Hinojosa

RUBEN HINOJOSA
Member of Congress

In reply to the views and estimates put forward by the Committee I wish to outline what I believe
to be the proper Education and Workforce priorities for the 106th Congress during the next fiscal
year, and beyond.

Parental Control v. Federal Control -- A True Choice in Education

I applaud the Committee's recognition that the attempts to micro-manage education from
Washington have failed. However, the Education Committee's approach to education, while it
may be a marginal improvement over President Clinton's approach, operates from the same
premises as the administration's proposal: that an effective education system requires federal
supervision. Under the Committee's proposal states and localities would be granted the ability to
determine how to best fulfill-federally determined goals. Such "pseudo-federalism” is a poor
substitute for the real thing. The 10th amendment does not say the states have the autonomy to
determine how to best please Congress, it says that both the means and the ends of the education
system are solely within the authority of the states, localities and individual citizens.

The fundamental flaw in the Committee's approach was best expressed by Minnesota Governor
Jesse Ventura, on the February 20 edition of "Meet the Press": "Why should Washington be
involved at all in states' education? If they didn't tax us so much, we'd have that much more to
deal with, rather than going in this big circle of sending our money to Washington and then
Washington returning it to us."

Instead of fighting over what type of federal intervention is best for education, Congress should
recognize that Governor Ventura is right: the solution to America's education lies not in
continuing "this big circle of sending ... money to Washington and then Washington returning it to
us," but through giving complete control over America's educational system to the states and
people. A new era has dawned and we must act now if we are to save the next American
generation from the disastrous educational policies of the past. This is why this week I will
reintroduce the Family Education Freedom Act. This bill would give parents an inflation-adjusted

$3,000 per annum tax credit, per child for educational expenses. The credit applies to those in public, private, parochial or home schooling. I will also introduce the Education Improvement Tax Cut Act which provides a tax credit for donations to K-12 education scholarships as well as for cash or in-kind donations to public or private schools.

While the Education Improvement Act has not yet been scored, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation the Family Education Freedom Act will return over 168.9 billion dollars to American's parents over 10 years. Of course, I greatly applaud more modest efforts to give the American people more control over education such as the PASS A+ Account bill, the various bills to expand the tax benefit of pre-paid tuition plans, and, yes, the Democrat's proposal to make college tuition tax deductible. I also support plans to provide tax credits for investment in school construction. However, I do prefer the Committee's approach of providing an equal credit for all school district in the nation, as opposed to the Administration's singling out certain districts for special treatment.

Although any and all tax cuts are beneficial, only large educational tax credits aimed at improving K-12 education such as those contained in the Family Education Freedom Act and the Education Improvement Tax Cut Act provide the type of bold action demanded by the American people.

A Pro-Freedom Education Agenda:

Cut Taxes, Reduce Bureaucracy

Somehow, the notion that a tax cut "costs" the government its money has made its way into the common parlance in Washington. This is, of course, a fiction which presupposes the government's prior ownership of all income. So, while it is obvious that the term "cost" is a misnomer in this instance, I offer the following thoughts on "paying for" my education tax credit bills.

First, we should begin by treating these tax cuts like they are what the American people have said they believe them to be: Priority number one. The way to finance this without causing large deficits is to devolve all unconstitutional federal programs and show that we are serious about our commitment to education, by having these savings "pay for" these tax cuts.

We can take the first step by shutting down the federal education bureaucracy. This bureaucracy has existed for nearly two decades, and until recently candidates for federal offices, especially Republicans, have been winning elections by promising to return control of education to the people. However, for the past four years, many Republicans have either ducked this issue or attempted to use polices like block grants to put off any type of serious debate over who should control education. Now, before it is too late and the defenders of the status quo seize on our inaction to expand their control over education, it is the time to put this question to the American Public: Do you want more of the same, or the Family Education Freedom Act?

When politicians speak of the "cost" of the Family Education Freedom Act, we should understand that this is a cost paid by bureaucrats. If we fail to enact my legislation the costs will be paid by