WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today issued the following statement celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Today, as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we share in a very proud moment for this country.

“It wasn’t too long ago that people with disabilities were invisible, shut out and segregated by structural barriers that literally kept them out of buildings and off of public transportation. They were denied access to education and job opportunities.  “We wrote the ADA to ensure America works for all Americans. The law broke down barriers, prohibited discrimination, promoted access and provided basic civil rights to people with disabilities. Over the past 20 years, people with disabilities have been able to access educational opportunities and employment.  They’ve been able to use buildings, transportation, and communities that once presented huge obstacles. We have all seen how successful the law has been in providing people with disabilities full participation in society.

“While these improvements occurred, we also saw several court decisions erode the intent of the bill. Fortunately two years ago, with Majority Leader Hoyer and Speaker Pelosi’s leadership, we were able to work together again, in a bipartisan manner, to pass the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. These amendments restored the original intent of the ADA to ensure that the tens of millions of Americans with disabilities who want to work, attend school, and fully participate in our communities will have the chance to do so.

“It’s time for us to look to the future, to honor the successes of the past and build upon them to continue to increase the options of people with disabilities. We still have a long way to go to improve educational outcomes for all students, especially students with disabilities and to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities. I am committed to continuing this work, and I look forward to working with advocates, stakeholders, my colleagues in Congress and the Obama administration to ensure all people can reach their full potential.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, called on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to immediately address serious concerns raised by the agency’s inspector general that an auditing contractor hired by the agency has failed to exercise due diligence and that PBGC failed to properly oversee the contractor. Miller asked the inspector general to look into the termination of the United Airlines plans in 2009. “Plan participants often face substantial hardship when employers fail to live up to their promises and terminate their pension plans.  It is critical that PBGC exercise due professional care in administering a terminated plan,” Miller said in a letter to Joshua Gotbaum, the new director of the pension agency. “I urge you to work with the OIG to determine the scope and severity of the problem and to properly hold accountable any contractor (including suspension of such contractor) or employee who failed to execute their duties in the manner consistent with the requirements of the law.”

The inspector general concluded that PBGC and a contractor performing the plan asset audits during the termination process did not exercise due professional care in the validation of plan assets, which may distort the plan’s health and how much pensioners receive.

In addition, the PBGC hired Integrated Management Resources Group, the contractor highlighted by the OIG for failing to exercise due diligence, to perform retiree plan audits despite allegations of contracting irregularities contained in a 2000 Government Accountability Office investigation.

PBGC Inspector General Letter to Rep. Miller

Rep. Miller 2009 Request to the Inspector General

Text of the letter to Director Gotbaum appears below.


July 23, 2010


VIA FACISIMILE (202) XXX-XXXX
Mr. Joshua Gotbaum
Director
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
1200 K Street, NW
Washington, DC  20005-4026

Dear Mr. Gotbaum:

As you begin your effort to lead the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) in these economically challenging times, I write to urge your swift action to address troubling findings described in a letter I recently received from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the PBGC.  

On December 14, 2009, I asked the OIG to review the design and implementation of PBGC’s protocols in relation to the United Airlines’ (UAL) pension plan terminations. As part of the review, the OIG looked at plan asset audits for four UAL plans.  As you know, the value of a plan’s assets at termination is crucial to accurately calculating the benefits to which plan participants are entitled.  

In the report, the OIG concluded that PBGC and the contractor performing the plan asset audits did not exercise due professional care and that “the issues surrounding the inadequate plan asset audits were so significant that additional, more detailed evaluation is warranted.”  Further, in discussions with my staff, the OIG indicated that the contractor PBGC hired to perform the UAL plan asset audits (Integrated Management Resources Group, Inc.) was the sole contractor to perform such audits for a number of years, despite past criticisms of its work.  

Plan participants often face substantial hardship when employers fail to live up to their promises and terminate their pension plans.  It is critical that PBGC exercise due professional care in administering a terminated plan.  I urge you to work with the OIG to determine the scope and severity of the problem and to properly hold accountable any contractor (including suspension of such contractor) or employee who failed to execute their duties in the manner consistent with the requirements of the law.

I respectfully request your prompt attention to this matter and that your staff keep me informed of your progress.  Please contact me or the Committee’s Senior Investigator, Ryan Holden, at (202) XXX-XXXX if you have any questions.

Sincerely,



GEORGE MILLER
Chairman

cc:        The Honorable John Kline
Senior Republican, Committee on Education and Labor

The Honorable Robert Andrews
Chairman, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, Pensions

The Honorable Tom Price
Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, Pensions

The Honorable Hilda Solis
Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor


Enclosure

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement after the House gave final approval to an emergency extension of unemployment insurance.

“After weeks of obstruction by Senate Republicans, more than 2.5 million Americans struggling to find work will now be able to breathe a small sigh of relief. Unemployment benefits are a proven way to boost our economy while delivering a much-needed lifeline for Americans looking for work. While nothing replaces a good-paying job, providing basic support for families out of work through no fault of their own is the decent and right thing to do.”

More information on Democratic efforts to create jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On a 30-17 vote, the House Education and Labor Committee approved legislation today to reform the nation’s mine and worker safety laws. The Robert C. Byrd Miner Safety and Health Act (H.R. 5663) would provide stronger tools to ensure that underground coal mine operations with troubling safety records improve conditions, empower workers to speak up about safety concerns and give the Department of Labor the tools it needs to ensure that all workers go home safely at the end of the day.

“Too many families have suffered a tragic loss because of callous mine operators, ineffective protections and outdated laws. It is time to provide effective protections so that every worker can return home safely at the end of their shift. Congress has an obligation to make sure that is the case,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee. “This legislation addresses serious gaps in the law and makes comprehensive, common-sense reforms to strengthen our nation’s safety laws.” The legislation approved by the committee would gives miners working in underground coal mines additional protections against retaliation if they speak up about dangerous conditions.  In May, the House Education and Labor Committee heard testimony in Beckley, West Virginia from miners and families of those who died in the Upper Big Branch Mine about serious shortcomings in miner protections, including threats and intimidation of miners who brought up safety concerns to their bosses.

The Upper Big Branch explosion also highlighted serious flaws in existing laws that undermine MSHA’s ability to bring tougher sanctions against our nation’s most dangerous mines. The bill would revamp the criteria for ‘pattern of violations’ sanctions to ensure that dangerous underground coal mine operations fix chronic problems.

“The safety and health of our nation's miners is too important not to act,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), chair of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. “The Occupational Safety and Health Act, in particular, has not been significantly amended in 40 years and is badly outdated and needs to be brought into the 21st century. The bill that has been voted out of this committee will save lives and I am looking forward to its passage on the floor.”

In addition, responding to a number of recent deadly explosions at refineries, power plants and food processing facilities, the bill would also extend similar worker protections to all workplaces in order to hold employers accountable if they knowingly put their workers in danger.

“Every day, 14 workers don’t come home from work. While they don’t make headlines like trapped miners do, their lives and limbs are no less valuable,” said Miller.

The mine safety portion of the bill approved would apply to all underground coal mines and other so-called ‘gassy’ mines that emit potentially flammable or explosive amounts of methane.
Among other provisions, the reforms approved:

•    Making Mines with Serious and Repeated Violations Safe – Criteria for ‘pattern of violations’ sanctions would be revamped for underground coal mines and other ‘gassy’ mines to ensure that operators which chronically and repeatedly violate mine safety standards or have high accident rates improve safety dramatically.
•    Ensuring Irresponsible Operators are Held Accountable – Maximum criminal penalties would be increased for underground coal mines, and a sanction is established for mine operators who knowingly tamper with or disable safety equipment that could kill miners. Operators would be required to pay penalties in a timely manner.

•    Giving MSHA Better Enforcement Tools – MSHA would be given the authority to subpoena documents and testimony. The agency could seek a court order to close a mine when there is a continuing threat to the health and safety of miners. MSHA could require more training of miners in unsafe mines. MSHA will require contractors, in addition to operators, to report accidents and injuries, and hours of work at each mine, and those filing reports would be held responsible for their accuracy.

•    Protecting Miners Who Speak out on Unsafe Conditions – Protections for workers who speak out about unsafe conditions in underground coal and other gassy mines would be strengthened and would guarantee that miners wouldn’t lose pay for safety-related closures. In addition, miners would receive protections allowing them to speak freely during investigations.  

•    Modernizing Safety Requirements in Coal Mines – Increased rock dusting would be required to prevent coal dust explosions. Pre-shift reviews of hazards and violations in the mine must be communicated to incoming miners to ensure that they are not caught unaware.  Protocols for continuous atmospheric monitoring for methane and carbon monoxide will be developed by NIOSH and adopted by MSHA through regulations.

•    Increasing MSHA’s Accountability – The legislative outline provides for an independent investigation of the most serious accidents, which includes an assessment of whether there are gaps in MSHA’s oversight or regulation. It asks the Government Accountability Office to assess whether there are problems with timeliness of mine plan reviews.

•    Guaranteeing Basic Protections in All Other Workplaces under OSHA – To ensure that all workplaces have basic protections, whistleblower protections would be strengthened, criminal and civil penalties would be increased, and hazard abatement would be sped up. In addition, victims of accidents and their family members would be provided greater rights during investigations and enforcement actions. OSHA would be allowed to assert concurrent enforcement jurisdiction in states with OSHA state plans, if the state is failing to maintain protections for workers that is at least as effective as federal OSHA.

More information on these reforms

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives approved bipartisan legislation today on a voice vote that will help key industries, such as manufacturing, meeting their skilled workforce needs.

The Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act (SECTORS), H.R. 1855, will help address local skills shortages by bringing employers in key industries together with education, labor, workforce, and other groups to identify and provide training tailored to meet the sector needs of that region’s economy. Introduced by U.S. Reps. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Todd Platts (R-PA), the bill will help promote ‘sector strategies’, which drive industry growth and competitiveness by aligning training and education with actual local employers’ needs.  “It is critical that we ensure that workers have the right skills for today’s labor market and that those skills help them move into jobs and careers,” said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “One of the best ways to do this is to ensure that federally funded training is developed in partnership with local and regional employers.”

“This legislation will strengthen strategic partnerships among business, labor, education, and the workforce to address the needs of regional economies and prepare workers for jobs in growing sectors of our economy,” said Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness.  “I applaud the passage of H.R. 1855 and look forward to working with my colleagues to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act.”

Specifically, the SECTORS Act would establish a grant program administered by the Department of Labor to provide designated funding for eligible partnerships in order to coordinate workforce activities between specific industries and educational institutions.  Eligible partnerships could receive up to $2.5 million in grants for the first three years and up to an additional $1.5 million thereafter.

More than 200 local and state business, labor, workforce and education groups support H.R. 1855, including the National Skills Alliance, National Council for Advanced Manufacturing, National Council on Aging, Women Work!, the National Network for Women’s Employment, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, the Center of Industry and Technology, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, Business Council of New York State, the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, and the Illinois Manufacturing Foundation.

More information on H.R. 1855

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today demanding U.S. Senate Republicans allow a vote on important provisions on jobs and an unemployment benefits extension.

“The Senate GOP’s continued obstruction shows once again that they are willing to play politics with the livelihoods of millions of Americans out of work and in desperate need of help. While Democrats are working to dig this country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans continue to play petty political games by refusing to allow a vote on a critical extension of unemployment benefits and funding for summer jobs. Unemployment benefits are a proven way to boost our economy while delivering a much-needed lifeline for Americans looking for work in this tough economy. It's time for Senate Republicans to stop denying this critical assistance to American workers who have lost their job through no fault of their own.”

More information on Democratic efforts to create jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and author of 401(k) fee disclosure legislation, issued the following statement on the Department of Labor’s interim final rule released today requiring greater disclosure of fees and conflicts of interests contained in 401(k) plans to plan sponsors.

“I am pleased that the Department of Labor has taken this important step to ensure that employers have information on the fees and conflicts of interest contained in the 401(k) plans they sponsor. With families making the difficult decision to put something away for their retirement, it is vital that these plans work for the benefit of plan participants, not Wall Street’s bottom line. Americans are understandably anxious about their retirement savings, and this rule is intended to provide employers with the critical information needed so that workers can get a good deal. That is why I will continue to support the department’s efforts on fee disclosure through regulation and continue to fight for my legislation that would codify these consumer protections into law for all 401(k)-style plans.” There is currently no requirement for Wall Street to disclose how much in fees it takes out of Americans’ 401(k)-style accounts. With more than 50 million Americans relying on these plans to finance their retirements, hidden fees can make a big difference in families’ retirement security. According to the Department of Labor, a one-percentage point difference in fees would reduce overall retirement income by 28 percent over a lifetime of saving.  

The 401(k) fee disclosure provisions were part of legislation approved by the House of Representatives in May.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Education and Labor Committee today passed bipartisan legislation to support children’s health and reduce childhood hunger by dramatically  improving federal child nutrition programs. The Committee passed the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act, H.R. 5504 with a bipartisan vote of 32-13.

The bill includes sweeping reforms to significantly increase access and remove barriers to child nutrition programs, improve the quality of the meals served and implement new school food safety guidelines. The bill would increase the reimbursement rate for schools -- the first increase in over 30 years. Additionally, for the first time, it would require schools to set standards for foods served outside the cafeteria, including vending machines. “If we allow our children’s health to suffer, if we allow more children to go hungry by not taking swift action with this legislation, we fail our children, their families and the future of this country,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and original co-sponsor of this legislation. “This legislation gives us a real opportunity to make dramatic reforms to help prevent hunger, to improve children’s health and increase access to healthy meals. The health and academic success of an entire generation of children is at stake.”

“Given the serious fiscal challenges facing our country, we must ensure that we devote our limited resources to our nation's most urgent priorities,” said Congressman Todd Platts (R-PA), original co-sponsor of the legislation. “Providing nutritious meals and improving health standards for our nation's children, especially those most in need, are such priorities. I am pleased to be working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this important legislation forward.”

“I am pleased that this legislation calls for common sense action, to protect the health of our children. This bill addresses the need to work with children of all ages, from infants to high school age, to help them form healthy habits” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), chair of the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities and original co-sponsor of the legislation. “From provisions to encourage mothers to breast feed to infants, to addressing the need to begin working with preschoolers on forming healthy habits and promoting physical activity and quality recess time, this legislation takes a comprehensive approach to improving the health of our children. Simply, this bill emphasizes healthy food and healthy habits, which will make healthy children.”

In addition to other amendments offered by committee Members, the committee voted on a managers amendment, offered by Miller, that would bolster the legislation and help achieve President Obama’s goal of enhancing and improving the federal child nutrition programs. The amendment would expand the national afterschool meals program so more children in afterschool programs can have an additional snack or meal. Among other provisions, it would improve nutrition education and make further enhancements to food safety and food quality.

The managers amendment also strengthens the science-based foundation that ensures the WIC program best meets the nutrition needs of participants by enhancing the Secretary of Agriculture’s existing authority to conduct scientific reviews and ensures that the review considers the modern food environment, including innovations in the marketplace that may enhance WIC foods to better meet nutritional needs.

More information about the bill and amendments offered during the hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation responding to the nation’s worst mining tragedy in four decades will save lives and hold mine operators accountable for putting their workers in unnecessary danger, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee today.

The Miner Safety and Health Act (H.R. 5663) would provide stronger tools to ensure that mine operators with troubling safety records improve safety and empower workers to speak up about safety concerns. Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch explosion in April killed 29 miners and highlighted serious flaws in existing laws including the difficulty of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to bring tougher sanctions against the country’s most dangerous mines.  “The Upper Big Branch mine tragedy is the perfect example of how current law is inadequate, especially for those operations that do everything to flout the law,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the committee. “Despite a pattern of serious violations, there was little MSHA could do to get Massey to turn this operation around. The millions of dollars in proposed fines over the years didn’t work. Dozens of temporary closure orders didn’t work. Reform of mine safety laws is essential.”

The bill would revamp the criteria for ‘pattern of violations’ sanctions to ensure that dangerous mine operations fix chronic problems. MSHA would have authority to close down the mine once a ‘pattern of violations’ status is triggered, and in order to reopen, mine operators have to comply with a remediation plan and be subject to more mine inspections and additional reporting requirements.

“The Mine Act’s ‘pattern of violations’ provision is intended to provide MSHA a powerful tool to deal with mine operators who demonstrated, through continued significant and substantial health or safety violations, a disregard for the health and safety of miners. Instead, the ‘pattern of volitions’ provision is an empty vessel,” said Joseph Main, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health. “I believe this bill will save lives and prevent injuries by enabling MSHA to act quickly to enforce compliance with the Mine Act at operations with high levels of violations.”  

Stanley “Goose” Stewart, a miner who was working in the Upper Big Branch mine on the day of the explosion, testified that the widespread fear of losing their jobs prevented miners from speaking out on safety problems.

“In my years working for Massey, I feel they have taken coal mining back to the early 1900’s using three principles; fear, intimidation and propaganda,” said Stewart, who also testified at the committee’s May hearing in Beckley, West Virginia with family members of lost miners. “If this bill is passed, hopefully enough miners will feel they can stand up to the Massey empire or any other rogue company and protect themselves without retaliation.”

The legislation also responds to a number of recent deadly explosions at refineries, power plants and food processing facilities. It would extend similar worker protections to all workplaces in order to hold employers accountable if they knowingly put their workers in danger.

“Every day in this country we have a Sago mine disaster, every two days an Upper Big Branch, and every month the loss of a fully loaded Boeing 747.  These tragedies happen in every corner of the country, usually one at a time, far from the evening news and the morning headlines,” said David Michaels, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. “Clearly, whether a worker leaves home in the morning on his way to a mine or on her way to a refinery or construction site, every worker needs and deserves equally effective protections.”

For instance, whistleblower laws would be strengthened to the level of other federal whistleblower laws already on the books. In addition, penalties would be increased for the second time in 40 years and indexed to inflation.

“We believe this provision will go a long way toward restoring the OSH Act’s deterrent effect, and will make it harder for employers to treat OSHA penalties as simply a cost of doing business,” said M. Patricia Smith, the Solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor. “The criminal penalties in this bill are based on similar provisions in the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, meaning that killing a person will be treated just as seriously as killing a lake.”

Also testifying in support of the legislation were, R. Larry Grayson, a professor of mining at Penn State University; Lynn Rhinehart, general counsel of the AFL-CIO; and Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America.

More information on these reforms

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.) , Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor today sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to make child nutrition reauthorization a top legislative priority before current programs expire on September 30 of this year.  

Lincoln delivered the letter to the President during a meeting at the White House where she was joined by other Senate leaders to discuss legislative priorities before the August recess. Lincoln’s “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act” passed the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously in March and now awaits consideration by the full Senate. The House Education and Labor Committee will hold a mark up on its version of child nutrition reauthorization legislation – the “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act” – tomorrow, July 14.

“As recent reports have shown, the occurrence of hunger and childhood obesity among our nation’s children is unacceptably high—especially in my home state of Arkansas. We have an historic opportunity to put our country on a path toward ending childhood hunger and reversing the trend of childhood obesity with a strong child nutrition reauthorization. We cannot afford to make American children and families wait any longer for a bill that will make real progress toward ending childhood hunger and obesity. I know that the President shares my goal of addressing this important priority, and I ask him to please join our efforts to ensure that passage of child nutrition legislation is a top legislative priority in the coming months,” said Lincoln.

“In this economy, millions of families rely on the child nutrition programs as a nutritional safety net for their children to ensure they are able to focus and learn in school. Children need healthy meals to be able to grow and thrive in the classroom and in life. If we allow our children’s health to dwindle, if we allow more children to hungry by not taking swift action with this legislation, we fail our children, their families and the future of this country. We have a real opportunity to make dramatic reforms to help prevent hunger, to improve children’s health and increase access to healthy meals. The health and academic success of an entire generation of children is at stake,” said Miller.

Full text of the letter is below:
July 13, 2010

The Honorable Barack Obama
President
United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

We write to you today regarding the pending reauthorization process for Federal child nutrition programs that we are currently leading in Congress. The support you have provided along with the First Lady’s passion on this issue has been greatly appreciated. As our process moves forward, it is important to highlight the path ahead and the additional steps that must be taken to ensure a successful legislative outcome. To that end, we respectfully request your assistance in ensuring that a strong reauthorization is delivered to your desk for signature before the programs expire on September 30.

As you know, child nutrition programs were extended for one year last fall. Prior to, and since that time, our respective Committees have worked closely together and with your Administration in order to develop reauthorization legislation that mirrors many of your recommendations to address two of the greatest threats to the health and security of America’s children: hunger and obesity. This year represents our best opportunity to see those efforts enacted into law.

Additionally, since last fall both chambers have been actively engaged in a bipartisan fashion to move forward legislation and maintain political momentum for the reauthorization process. In the House of Representatives, a bipartisan majority of 221 members of Congress sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi in strong support of reauthorizing child nutrition programs this year. In the Senate, a bipartisan majority of 53 senators sent a letter to Senate leadership urging swift passage of the child nutrition bill that was unanimously approved by the Agriculture Committee at the end of March.

Despite strong support and the popularity of child nutrition programs, our respective chambers continue to face challenges to enacting reauthorization legislation, the biggest of which is time. There are precious few legislative work weeks available between now and September 30th. Given these circumstances, your assistance in making this legislation a top priority for your Administration and communicating that priority to the leadership in the House and Senate is absolutely critical to ensuring that both chambers are able to send you a full reauthorization this year.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who has been a forceful advocate for child nutrition within the Administration, put it best when he recently testified before Congress. “The bottom line from my perspective is that I can’t think of anything more important than getting [child nutrition] done this year…If we don’t do this this year, this is not going to get any easier. It’s going to get much, much tougher in the future.” We could not agree with Secretary Vilsack more, and Congress and the Administration must work collectively in order to pass the best bill possible and avoid another extension of current law.

Given the difficult political environment and partisanship within Congress today, child nutrition reauthorization represents one of our best opportunities to enact legislation that enjoys broad bipartisan support. Our children, and their families, deserve nothing less than our strongest leadership to see that bipartisanship passed into law. Through our combined efforts and with a strong push from you, we can maximize the likelihood of Congress passing, and you signing into law, this critically-needed legislation before the programs expire.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to continuing to work with you on this important priority.


Sincerely,

Blanche Lincoln

George Miller