Mark Takano

In a victory for working families, Mr. Puzder has now withdrawn his name from consideration.

It is my hope that the work we do together in this subcommittee will ensure that the rules of our economy help American workers and businesses prosper together.

But let it be known that there is a spirit of comity between us.

Where there's common ground, we certainly should work together. But on areas where we disagree, we'll have to stand our ground.

We need to update wage and hour policy for the 21st century.

Over the past four decades worker productivity has grown by more than 70 percent.

I want to emphasize my commitment to working together, finding common ground, and advancing the positive solutions that the American people deserve.

Letter dated February 16, 2017, from the Economic Policy Institute

Letter dated February 13, 2017, from the American Sustainable Business Council

Letter dated February 15, 2017, from the National Partnership for Women and Families

Letter dated February 14, 2017, from Jobs With Justice

This hiring freeze was highly, highly political and highly, highly expedient.

My Republican colleagues have suggested that the 346 VA employees who use 100 percent official time are standing in the way of veterans' access to care...

These vacancies could be filled by veterans or veteran families.

This hiring freeze is going to cause us to rely on more expensive contractors, and actually we're not going to achieve any shrinkage in the number of people we need to serve our veterans.

I don't understand why this administration wants to put a freeze on employing people that are absolutely needed to help our veterans.

It often takes a government loan guarantee program to be able to move that forward.

And I would argue that as an example, a student that attends a vocational school maybe to become an auto mechanic or a cosmetologist, We apply exactly the same debt to income threshold to that student as we do to a say a teacher or a…

Mr. Takano. I want to turn now to the gainful employment regulations, Mr. Gilligan.

Mr. Takano. Well, at this time, just this past week the committee received a letter signed by 16 organizations representing service members and veterans across the U.S. urging us not to weaken the gainful employment rule or the defense to…

Mr. Takano. Dr. Cruz, are you telling me this loophole specifically incentivizes for-profit institutions to target our veterans because their money is not counted as part of the total Federal funding that the school receives?

It is our responsibility to protect these individuals who have and are currently serving our country.

If the choice is between protecting student borrowers who were lied to by their schools or protecting an industry that wants relief from this rule, I will protect the student.

The Borrower Defense to Repayment Rule protects taxpayers and students alike against fraudulent colleges seeking to profit off Federal funds without providing a quality education.

The Federal Government, which spends billions of dollars contracting with private companies every year, has an obligation to demonstrate and promote responsible behavior. We should not be in the business of working with contractors who…