Heidi Alexander: “I am here today to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval on the administration's so-called…”

“I am here today to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval on the administration's so-called overtime rule. I am joined by Senator Johnson of Wisconsin on this effort and also 43 other Senators who are cosponsors. While President Obama is running around talking about keeping college costs down, his administration has put out this so-called overtime rule that could raise tuition by hundreds of dollars for millions of American college students or cause layoffs at our colleges and universities. In Tennessee, for example, colleges report to me that they may have to raise tuition by anywhere from $200 a student to $850 a student in one case because of this rule. The administration's new rule is a radical change to our Nation's overtime rules. What they have done is doubled the salary threshold for overtime. Here is what that means. Hourly workers are usually paid for overtime work, but salaried workers generally don't earn overtime unless they are making below a threshold set by the Labor Department, as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Today that threshold is $23,660. This administration is raising it all at one time to $47,476. The administration calls this the overtime rule. I think we should call this the ``time card'' rule or the ``higher tuition'' rule. This means that a midlevel manager in Knoxville or Nashville who is making $40,000 a year is going to have to go back to punching a time card.…”