NEW CONGRESS RESTORES PAYGO

The new Democratic leadership in Congress has taken a first step toward fiscal discipline, restoring pay-as-you-go rules. (See cover story)

Basically, PAYGO requires that any new entitlement spending or new tax break be paid for by either revenue increases or spending cuts.

PAYGO principles were eliminated under the GOP-controlled Congress in order to facilitate the enactment of President Bush’s tax cuts.

'LABOR' IS NOT A FOUR-LETTER WORD

During former U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich’s Republican revolution, there were some subtle and not-so-subtle jabs at American workers—the labor movement.

One subtle dig was a name change. The House Committee on Education and Labor, a name that dates back to the committee’s formation in 1867, was changed when the GOP assumed power in Congress in 1995 to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities. In 1997, the GOP changed the committee’s name again to the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

As one of his first orders of business in 2007, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) changed the name back to the Committee on Education and Labor.

The committee and its five subcommittees have jurisdiction over a broad swath of issues, ranging from early childhood education to adult education and job training to worker health and safety to pension and retirement security for workers.

PRIVATIZATION PROVES TO BE COSTLY MISTAKE

Seemingly humbled, Albert Hawkins, head of Texas’ Health and Human Services, admitted that privatization of welfare, Medicaid and food stamps was a costly mistake.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, Texas paid $899 million for the contract with Accenture, which was part of a pilot project involving two counties. But the cost was not just monetary: Many families were wrongly denied social services or lost eligibility because Accenture workers made policy decisions they lacked training and experience to make.

“The Accenture experience has taught us important lessons that legislators should take to heart,” according to an editorial in the newspaper. “State employees are indeed better suited for administrative functions. ... [And] privatization is no guarantee that taxpayers are going to save money.”

Moving forward, Hawkins told the newspaper that the Legislature should re-examine its foster care privatization mandate this year.