The North Carolina congresswoman in line to become the chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee doesn’t believe the federal government should have a role in education. Republican Virginia Foxx said she’s eager to work with a President Donald Trump to roll back numerous Obama administration labor regulations, while tying the hands of future regulators from ever again changing overtime pay rules without congressional consent. If Hillary Clinton wins, Foxx said she would work t... Read more

Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican who represents North Carolina’s Fifth District, including Watauga County, voted with a 246-177 majority on House Bill 6094 on Sept. 28 to delay the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule for six months. The DOL rule, scheduled to take effect in December, makes anyone earning up to $47,476 a year eligible for overtime pay. The salary cutoff now is $23,660. A complementary bill was introduced in the Senate hours before the House vote. H.B. 6094 would delay impleme... Read more

The clock is ticking on efforts to fend off the overtime rule, despite 21 states' lawsuit against the Department of Labor (DOL) and, in a separate effort, small businesses seeking a delay in the effective date. Unless the states can block it or the National Federation of Independent Business can get it delayed, the rule is less than three months away from taking effect on Dec. 1. However, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who is expected to chair the U.S. House of Representatives Education and the Wor... Read more

Rep. Virginia Foxx, who confirmed her candidacy to chair the House Education and the Workforce Committee this week, said in an interview that she'd use that role to give a high priority to providing more information to college students through an update of the Higher Education Act. Foxx, the panel’s third-ranking Republican behind Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, is seeking to succeed Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who is retiring at the end of his current term. Wilson has endorsed Foxx for the pos... Read more

When ITT Tech announced last week that it was closing its doors, blaming aggressive regulations by the federal government, it was more evidence to many in the for-profit college sector that the Obama administration aims to regulate their sector out of existence. Even if that claim is debatable, many observers with views across the ideological spectrum see the administration taking a harder line on for-profit colleges. But the GOP -- which attacked the Obama as antibusiness for executive actions ... Read more

Rep. Virginia Foxx, a blunt-talking conservative often at odds with the Obama administration, is vying to be the next chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, she told POLITICO. Foxx, who served on the Republican Party’s platform steering committee, is widely assumed to be in line to take over the chairmanship if Republicans maintain control of the House. In a wide-ranging interview announcing her candidacy, Foxx said Monday from her Capitol Hill office that a Donald Trump admin... Read more

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) is vying to be the next chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, she told POLITICO on Monday. Here are excerpts from an interview with Foxx about her priorities and plans, should she ultimately become head of the committee. On her priorities for next year: "Higher ed is top of the list," Foxx said of her plans for the committee next Congress. The main goal is reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, she said. But it's too early to tell whether the next Con... Read more

A version of a bill passed by the House on Tuesday to reauthorize a program to train students for unfilled jobs could pass the Senate before the end of the year despite a tight calendar, according to lawmakers, advocates and lobbyists. The House passed a bill (HR 5587) by a 405-5 margin, with all dissenting votes coming from Republicans. Lawmakers said the bill will help train workers for high-skilled jobs that employers have trouble filling in industries such as manufacturing. The measure would... Read more

The Obama administration’s regulatory crackdown on for-profit colleges has put another school out of business — setting a new bar for what enforcement could look like under a possible Clinton Education Department. The collapse Tuesday of ITT Tech, a massive, publicly-traded for-profit education company with 130 campuses across the country, comes just 12 days after Obama’s Education Department imposed stringent new regulatory restrictions on the college chain. Taxpayers are now on the hook for ne... Read more

Proposed changes in federal school nutrition rules, including a provision that would reduce the number of children able to get free meals in the Wilkes County schools, were discussed in a roundtable meeting with Rep. Virginia Foxx Monday at the Samaritan’s Kitchen office in Wilkesboro. Community leaders and others emphasized the importance of a current federal policy that lets all students in the Wilkes County schools and many other school systems get free breakfast and lunch meals. Under the Co... Read more