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United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce

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United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Standing committee

United States House of Representatives
118th Congress
Committee logo
History
FormedMarch 21, 1867
Formerly known as
  • Committee on Education and Labor
  • Committee on Education
  • Committee on Labor
  • Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities
Leadership
ChairVirginia Foxx (R)
Since January 3, 2023
Ranking memberBobby Scott (D)
Since January 3, 2023
Structure
Seats45 members
Political partiesMajority (25)
  •   Republican (25)
Minority (20)
Website
https://edworkforce.house.gov/

The Committee on Education and the Workforce is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. There are 45 members of this committee. Since 2023, the chair of the Education and the Workforce committee is Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.

History of the committee

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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.

Name changes

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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.[1] 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.[2] After Democrats recaptured the House majority in the 2018 elections, they similarly returned to the previous name, Committee on Education and Labor, effective with the opening of the 116th Congress in 2019.[citation needed] With the passing of the new House Rules associated to the Speaker negotiations in January of 2023, the 118th Congress renamed the committee as the Committee on Education and the Workforce again.[3]

Jurisdiction

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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.

Activity

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In December 2023, the Committee held a hearing on antisemitism at which three university presidents were invited to speak about their handling of antisemitism on their campuses, and later pressured to resign.[4][5] Ultimately, within weeks the president of the University of Pennsylvania, M. Elizabeth Magill, resigned as direct consequence of the hearing, and Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University was forced out because of plagiarism accusations amplified in part due to the hearing.

An April 2024 hearing with Columbia University president Minouche Shafik was held later in the morning of the first day of the 2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupation. Shafik resigned as President on August 14th of that same year.

Members, 118th Congress

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Majority Minority

Resolutions electing members: H.Res. 14 (Chair), H.Res. 15 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 80 (R), H.Res. 87 (D)

Subcommittees

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Subcommittee Chair[6] Ranking Member[7]
Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Aaron Bean (R-FL) Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR)
Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Bob Good (R-VA) Mark Desaulnier (D-CA)
Higher Education and Workforce Investment Burgess Owens (R-UT) Frederica Wilson (D-FL)
Workforce Protections Kevin Kiley (R-CA) Alma Adams (D-NC)

Historical membership rosters

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115th Congress

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Majority Minority

Sources: H.Res. 6 (Chair), H.Res. 7 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 45 (D), H.Res. 51 (R), H.Res. 59 (D), H.Res. 131 (R)

116th Congress

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Majority Minority

Sources: H.Res. 24 (Chair), H.Res. 25 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 42 (D), H.Res. 68 (R), H.Res. 73 (D), H.Res. 481 (R), H.Res. 596 (R), H.Res. 801 (R)

Subcommittees

As of 2019:[10]

Subcommittee Chair Ranking Member
Civil Rights and Human Services Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) James Comer (R-KY)
Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Gregorio Sablan (I-MP) Rick W. Allen (R-GA)
Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Frederica Wilson (D-FL) Tim Walberg (R-MI)
Higher Education and Workforce Investment Susan Davis (D-CA) Lloyd Smucker (R-PA)
Workforce Protections Alma Adams (D-NC) Bradley Byrne (R-AL)

117th Congress

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Majority Minority

Resolutions electing members: H.Res. 9 (Chair), H.Res. 10 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 62 (D), H.Res. 63 (R), H.Res. 72 (removing Rep. Greene), H.Res. 92 (D), H.Res. 111 (D), H.Res. 311 (R), H.Res. 902 (D), H.Res. 1340 (R), H.Res. 1404 (D)

Subcommittees
Subcommittee[11] Chair Ranking Member
Civil Rights and Human Services Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) Russ Fulcher (R-ID)
Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Gregorio Sablan (I-MP) Burgess Owens (R-UT)
Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) Rick W. Allen (R-GA)
Higher Education and Workforce Investment Frederica Wilson (D-FL) Greg Murphy (R-NC)
Workforce Protections Alma Adams (D-NC) Fred Keller (R-PA)

Chairs

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Committee on Education and Labor (1867–1883)
Chair Party State Start of service End of service
Jehu Baker Republican IL 1867 1860
Samuel F. Cary Republican OH 1869
Samuel M. Arnell Republican TN 1869 1871
Legrand W. Perce Republican MS 1871 1873
James Monroe Republican OH 1873 1875
Gilbert C. Walker Democratic VA 1875 1877
John Goode Democratic VA 1877 1881
Jonathan T. Updegraff Republican OH 1881 1882
John C. Sherwin Republican IL 1882 1883
Committee on Education and Committee on Labor (1883–1947)
Committee on Education Committee on Labor
Chair Party State Start of service End of service Chair Party State Start of service End of service
D. Wyatt Aiken Democratic SC 1883 1887 James H. Hopkins Democratic PA 1883 1885
Allen D. Candler Democratic GA 1887 1889 John J. O'Neill Democratic MO 1885 1889
James O'Donnell Republican MI 1889 1891 William H. Wade Republican MO 1889 1891
Walter I. Hayes Democratic IA 1891 1892 John C. Tarsney Democratic MO 1891 1893
David B. Brunner Democratic PA 1892 Lawrence E. McGann Democratic IL 1893 1895
Benjamin A. Enloe Democratic TN 1892 1895 Thomas W. Phillips Republican PA 1895 1897
Galusha A. Grow Republican PA 1895 1903 John J. Gardner Republican NJ 1897 1911
George N. Southwick Republican NY 1903 1909 William B. Wilson Democratic PA 1911 1913
James F. Burke Republican PA 1909 1911 David J. Lewis Democratic MD 1913 1917
Asbury F. Lever Democratic SC 1911 1913 James P. Maher Democratic NY 1917 1919
Dudley M. Hughes Democratic GA 1913 1917 John M. C. Smith Republican MI 1919 1921
William J. Sears Democratic FL 1917 1919 John I. Nolan Republican CA 1921 1922
Simeon D. Fess Republican OH 1919 1923 Frederick N. Zihlman Republican MD 1922 1925
Frederick W. Dallinger Republican MA 1923 1925 William F. Kopp Republican IA 1925 1930
Daniel A. Reed Republican NY 1925 1931 Richard J. Welch Republican CA 1930 1931
John J. Douglass Democratic MA 1931 1935 William P. Connery Jr. Democratic MA 1931 1937
Vincent L. Palmisano Democratic MD 1935 1937 Mary Teresa Norton Democratic NJ 1937 1947
William H. Larrabee Democratic IN 1937 1943
Graham A. Barden Democratic NC 1943 1947
Committee on Education and Labor (1947–1995)
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 Democratic NY 1961 1967
Carl D. Perkins Democratic KY 1967 1984
Augustus F. Hawkins Democratic CA 1984 1991
William D. Ford Democratic MI 1991 1995
Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities (1995–1997)
Chair Party State Start of service End of service
William F. Goodling Republican PA 1995 1997
Committee on Education and the Workforce (1997–2007)
Chair Party State Start of service End of service
William F. Goodling Republican PA 1997 2001
John Boehner Republican OH 2001 2006
Buck McKeon Republican CA 2006 2007
Committee on Education and Labor (2007–2011)
Chair Party State Start of service End of service
George Miller Democratic CA 2007 2011
Committee on Education and the Workforce (2011–2019)
Chair Party State Start of service End of service
John Kline Republican MN 2011 2017
Virginia Foxx Republican NC 2017 2019
Committee on Education and Labor (2019–2023)
Chair Party State Start of service End of service
Bobby Scott Democratic VA 2019 2023
Committee on Education and the Workforce (2023–present)
Chair Party State Start of service End of service
Virginia Foxx Republican NC 2023 present

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ Wall Street Journal: Republicans Labor to Avoid ‘Labor’
  3. ^ PBS: There are new House rules under GOP leadership. Here’s a short guide
  4. ^ Borter, Gabriella; Morgan, David (December 8, 2023). "U.S. lawmakers demand Harvard, MIT, Penn remove presidents after antisemitism hearing". Reuters.
  5. ^ "New York Post: Harvard President Claudine Gay's resignation 'just the beginning of reckoning' amid House antisemitism probe: Stefanik". Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. January 2, 2024. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
  6. ^ "Education And The Workforce Committee Adopts Rules And Oversight Plan For 118th Congress". Committee on Education & the Workforce. January 31, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  7. ^ "NEW: 118th Congress Democratic Committee Assignments | Education & The Workforce Committee Democrats". democrats-edworkforce.house.gov. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  8. ^ Sablan is an Independent, but caucuses with the Democrats.
  9. ^ Sablan is an Independent, but caucuses with the Democrats.
  10. ^ "Members, Subcommittees & Jurisdictions" (PDF). Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  11. ^ "Chairman Scott Statement Announces New Subcommittee and Vice Chairs". Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
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