EDUCATION
Massie introduces bill to abolish Education Department
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took office on Feb. 7, but if one Republican congressman gets his way, she won’t be in the job for long.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced a one-sentence bill that reads in its entirety: “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.” The bill, H.R. 899, was introduced hours prior to DeVos’ final confirmation vote in the Senate.
“Neither Congress nor the president, through his appointees, has the constitutional authority to dictate how and what our children must learn,” Massie said.
President Trump once promised on the campaign trail to “get rid of it in almost every form,” referring to the Education Department, though he hasn’t said much about eliminating Cabinet agencies since winning the election.
Even if most of the department’s functions are eliminated, some functions would likely be transferred to other agencies. President Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education in 1979, and his successor, President Ronald Reagan, was the first president to call for its elimination.
The bill already has seven co-sponsors in the House: Reps. Justin Amash, R-Mich.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah; Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; Jody Hice, R-Ga.; Walter Jones, R-N.C.; and Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. – Jason Russell
CANNABIS
Denver law firm taking DEA to court
Cannabis advocates across the United States have been pressuring the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reclassify marijuana and to acknowledge the plant’s medicinal benefits, and the agency has ultimately responded by backtracking on the issue. The DEA recently created a new drug code for marijuana derivatives like CBD oil, leaving many medicinal users and extract producers in fear of stricter regulations.
The Hoban Law Group filed a petition on behalf of three clients against the DEA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th District on Jan. 13. The clients represented in the suit are Hemp Industries Association, RMH Holdings, LLC and Centuria Natural Foods, Inc. The companies are based in California, Colorado and Nevada respectively and are all active in the legal hemp trade. The press release said RMH Holdings “sources its products from industrial hemp lawfully cultivated pursuant to the Agricultural Act of 2014 (also known as the Farm Bill).”
“There are people who are doing things the right way … These are not charlatans who are out there just making products. These are well-funded, multimillion dollar companies that are doing things the right way and we thought that was important to represent the industry and to show the government that there are players out there doing things the right way,” said managing partner Bob Hoban, and first chair on the case.
The rule changes impacts businesses that have continually operated in compliance with existing laws and are now facing extreme changes in the policies that affect their business.
In response to the lawsuit, DEA spokesman Russ Baer maintained that CBD oil and other cannabis-based extracts “have been and will continue to be Schedule I controlled substances,” and went on to say that there are only a few exceptions that make industrial hemp-based products legal. Additionally, he claimed that the new coding system would not change the DEA’s enforcement priorities.
Regardless of the DEA’s intentions, the new coding has left cannabis extract and hemp producers unsure about the future of the market. – Joana Suleiman
FINANCE
College debt weighs more heavily on women
While one in four millennials owe more than $30,000 in college debt, it’s women who carry a greater share of the burden. In fact, 42 percent of women have more than $30,000 in college debt, compared with 27 percent of men, according to market research firm ORC International.
Largely because women outnumber men in college these days, women are also two times more likely than men to think it will take more than 20 years to pay off their loans. It’s a problem that has reached record levels in the United States, which more than $1.3 trillion in student loans outstanding.
There are long-term consequences of high student loan debt. From buying a car or a home to getting married and even having children, millennials are putting off life’s major milestones because of loan balances. And it’s having an impact at work, too.
Researchers found that about 59 percent of millennials value a student loan repayment plan over other job perks, including flexible work schedules. This is a major departure from previous surveys that found flexibility to be the most desired workplace benefit. According to ORC, women are less likely to stay with their current employer because of their financial situation compared to men, the report said.
Still, only 4 percent of U.S. employers now offer student loan repayment plans, according to the Society for Human Resources Management’s 2016 SHRM Employee Benefits survey.
Given the competition for top talent, employers must update their approach in order to engage and retain millennials, especially among women, who were found to carry a bigger burden of student loan debt,” said Natalie Smith, a vice president at PadillaCRT, the communications agency that conducted the survey for ORC. PadillaCRT polled 1,000 millennials with at least a four-year college degree between the ages of 22 to 35 in May last year. – Joana Suleiman
