Department of Labor
● The DOL was founded on March 4th, 1913 with the passage of a law by President William H. Taft. This passage, incidentally on the last day of Taft’s term of office, absorbed what was previously the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was created after long campaigns by labor leaders to win cabinet status for agency.
● The purpose of the Department itself is to promote, develop, and foster the welfare of wage earners, retirees, and job seekers of the United States.
● It is currently headed by Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez.
● News Story: “U.S. Department of Labor moves forward with new "persuader" regulations, expected in March 2016”
○ The Department of Labor is currently seeking to revise certain “persuader” regulations, obligating employers, attorneys, and consultants to report information required specifically by the Department of Labor. Because the law in question-the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act-was under the bill-making jurisdiction of Congress, the story is summarizing the attempted changes this Department is making to a congressional law. (link)
Employment Benefits Security Administration
● It was founded in 1970 by Phyllis C. Borz, the Assistant Secretary who administers, regulates, and enforces provisions of Title I of Employee Retirement Income Security Auto Bureau of Labor Statistics, founded in 1884 in the Department of Labor. Its commissioner is Erica L. Groster.
● It deals with public concerns about mismanagement and abuse of private pension plans.
● News Story: “Outsourcing Companies Under Scrutiny Over Visas for Technology Workers” (link)
○ Consultory services and infosystems
Employment and Training Administration
● The ETA was formed in 1975 under the Department of Labor during the administration of President Gerald Ford.
● It took over all of the Manpower Administration’s duties and now performs as the DOL’s main office for assisting job training and employment development throughout the US.
● Their mission is to provide labor market information and training, employment, and income services.
● The ETA’s largest task is to distribute funding to help Americans receive employment training, as first time workers or transitioning into new lines of work as a result of job displacement. (link)
○ One such program advocated by the Bush administration to distribute millions of dollars in grants without competition or oversight by labor officials resulted in criticism from Congress and government auditors.
○ From 2000 to 2006, it distributed $55.2 billion in grants and contracts to 2,533 recipients, of which 90% went to various state and local government agencies, with the remainder being parsed among non-profits and higher education.
Department of Energy
● The Department of Energy was founded October 1st, 1997 in response to the Manhattan Project effort to develop the atomic bomb during WWII. Under FDR's presidency, the creation of the DOE combined the issues of the energy crisis of the mid-1970s and all the various energy-related programs that previously had been dispersed among federal agencies.
● The Department of Energy is charged with advancing the national, economic, and energy security of the U.S., promoting scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission, and ensuring the environmental cleanup of the national nuclear weapons complex.
● The current head of the DOE is Dr. Ernest Moniz, the Secretary of Energy
● News Story: "U.S. Department of Energy to Award $4 million to Rural Alaska for Energy Projects"
○ The Department of Energy is partnering with the Alaska Energy Authority to award money to rural communities to implement energy efficient projects. The goal of the grant is to help rural areas reduce energy costs, and the DOE also intends to makes $600,000 available for technical assistance. This is related to COTUS, because while Congress determines funding and approves of grants, it also delegates a certain independence to certain departments. (link)
The National Nuclear Security Administration
● The NNSA was established by Congress in 2000 as a separately organized agency within the U.S. Dept. of Energy, responsible for the management and security of the nation's nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation, and naval reactor programs.
● The current head of the agency is Lieutenant General Frank G. Klotz, the Undersecretary for Nuclear Security.
● News story: "Contract to Manage Federal Nuke Lab Up For Grabs After 2017"
○ The NNSA opted against extending Los Alamos Security Contract to run Los Alamos National Laboratory because of repeated failures over the past years to meet performance goals. The latest performance review docked the lab's manager $7.7 million in incentive fees, and senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, all Democrats, said the federal gov't must hold it's contractors accountable, be a responsible steward of federal funds, and take action under the contract to ensure the safety of workers, the community, and environment. (link)
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