Online Privacy

February 6, 2015

Americans are routinely bombarded with stories about invasive new surveillance technologies capable of encroaching on our online communications without notice. But the only law on the books to protect Americans’ private e-mails from warrantless searches by law-enforcement agents was written in 1986 – well before much of the technology we take for granted today even existed – and it has remained virtually unchanged ever since.

Almost 30 years ago, Congress enacted the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to protect the privacy of electronic communications. But at that time, no one could have imagined how the Internet and mobile technologies would transform the way we communicate and exchange information. There was no World Wide Web, no cloud computing, no smart phones, and no social media.

After three decades, it is time to update this law. There is no reason we should still be operating under a law written in the analog age when we’re living in a digital world. The prevalence of e-mail and the low cost of electronic data storage have made what were once robust protections in the law insufficient to ensure that citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights are adequately protected.

The Constitution guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." But that guarantee is at risk when the government can search and seize vast troves of our private e-mails, texts, and social-media posts without our knowledge or consent – and without a search warrant.

Proposals like the ECPA Amendments Act would require the government to obtain a search warrant, based on probable cause, before searching through the content of Americans' e-mail or other electronic communications stored with a service provider such as Google, Facebook, or Yahoo!. The government is already prohibited from tapping our phones or forcibly entering our homes to obtain private information without warrants. The same privacy protections should apply to our online communications.

Empowering Parents to Reform our K-12 Education System

January 30, 2015

Today marks the conclusion of this year’s National School Choice Week, an annual public awareness campaign designed to highlight the power of choice when it comes to reforming our K-12 education system.

A good primary and secondary education is a cornerstone of the American Dream: it prepares us for economic and personal success and facilitates our pursuit of happiness. But too often the history of America’s public school system has been a story of dashed hopes, deferred dreams, and unfulfilled promises.

Millions of low-income families who are stuck in underperforming schools have no way out and no way to choose something better. These families are not just let down by our nation’s dysfunctional education policy – they are trapped by it.

The problem facing our public school system today is not about a lack of money – we have nearly tripled government expenditures on elementary and secondary students since 1970. The problem is an outdated and inflexible government policy that leaves parents powerless to influence the quality of their child’s education.

This cannot be solved simply by growing or cutting budgets. Instead, we must repair the structural flaws in the system by empowering the people most acutely committed to improving the quality of our schools: America’s moms and dads. Giving parents more power to invest in their children’s education and to choose what school best meets their needs is the best way to restore accountability to our public education system.

Reflecting this truth and building on the successes of the school choice movement across the country are several promising bills recently introduced in the Senate, including the Enhancing Educational Opportunities for All Act, the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Individuals and Communities through Education (CHOICE) Act, and the Scholarships for Kids Act.

Providing a solid education for the next generation is, as Abraham Lincoln once wrote, “the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.”

Policymakers should aim, as he did, “to see the time when education, and by its means, morality, society, enterprise and industry, shall become much more general than at present.”

Work-Life Balance

January 23, 2015

Finding an acceptable and sustainable work-life balance is a constant challenge for many working families today. Parents need to juggle the responsibilities and opportunities that come with pursuing a career, maintaining a home, raising kids, and engaging in the community. For working parents, time is often their most precious commodity. But our current federal labor laws unfairly restrict the way moms and dads and everyone else can use their time.

Because of these laws, an hourly employee who works overtime is not allowed to take comp-time or flex time. Even if she prefers it, her boss can’t even offer it. For instance, if a working mom or dad stays late at the office on Monday and Tuesday, and wants to get compensated for that overtime work by leaving early on Friday to spend the afternoon with the kids, instead of receiving extra pay, that could be a violation of federal law. That sounds unfair, especially to parents, but how do we know for sure? Because Congress gave a special exemption from that law for government employees. This is unacceptable. The same work-life options available to government bureaucrats should be available to the citizens they serve.

For his part, the President recently unveiled a new proposal that would impose additional mandates on businesses that require paid leave for employees. But the president fails to recognize that these one-size-fits-all mandates translate into new costs on businesses that have very real consequences for workers – the very people he’s trying to help. Working moms and dads may appreciate having paid time off when they need it, but if it comes at the expense of getting a raise or causes benefits to be cut in other areas, they may prefer some other arrangement.

There is a better way to help America's working moms and dads find that elusive work-life balance, while protecting their bargaining power while on the job. The “Working Families Flexibility Act” offers an employee the option to work out a deal with their employer that works best for them. The worker can choose to earn comp-time or more money – whichever is the most useful at that time - all without foisting new, costly mandates on employers.

This is a solution that ends the unfair, government-driven discrimination against private-sector employees, enables parents to better balance work and family commitments, empowers all workers to choose whether time or money is the more important resource at a given time, and reduces the burden of unnecessary federal regulation.

Higher Education

January 16, 2015

Our higher education system – and especially the federal policies that govern access to it – is failing the two-thirds of Americans who never get a B.A., and the large minority of Americans who never set foot on a college campus.

American workers need post-secondary knowledge and skills. But spending four (or five or six) years at a brick-and-ivy residential institution is not the only way to get them. Indeed, it’s not the way that most Americans get them.

There are vocational schools and professional training programs. There are apprenticeships in the skilled trades. There are hybrid on-campus/on-the-job models. There is the bourgeoning promise of distance learning options, like Massive Open Online Courses. Unfortunately, this innovative, alternative market is being held back by federal policy governing higher-education accreditation.

Today, the federal government operates a kind of higher-education cartel, with federally approved accreditors using their gatekeeper power to keep out unwanted competition. This closed market has helped spur runaway inflation, which has made it impossible for all but the wealthiest students to pay their own way. So Washington’s offer to most high school graduates is: go tens of thousands of dollars into debt to pursue an over-priced degree, or spend the rest of your life locked out of the middle class.

To fix this, we need reforms to make higher education, better and more affordable, while opening access to more students than ever before: reforms like the Higher Education Reform and Opportunity (HERO) Act that give states a new option to enter into agreements with the Department of Education to create their own, alternative accreditation systems to open up new options for students qualifying for federal aid. Under state accreditation, higher education could become as diverse and nimble as the job-creating industries looking to hire.

Brick-and-ivy institutions will always be the backbone of our higher-education system, but they shouldn’t be the only option – particularly for those who need loans and grants to pay for their education.

The point of higher education policy should be to make it easier and more affordable for good teachers to teach, willing students to learn, and the economy to grow. Republican reforms could help on all fronts.

Transportation

January 9, 2015

The federal government also needs to open up America’s transportation system to diversity and experimentation, so that Americans can spend more time with their families in more affordable homes, and less time stuck in traffic.

A real solution involves building more roads. More roads, bridges, lanes, and mass-transit systems. Properly planned and located, these projects would help create new jobs, new communities, more affordable homes, shorter commuting times, and greater opportunity for businesses and families.

Today, the federal highway program is funded by a gasoline tax of 18.4 cents on every gallon sold at the pump. That money is supposed to be going into steel, concrete, and asphalt in the ground. Instead, too much of it is being siphoned off by bureaucrats and special interests in Washington.

Under a plan like the Transportation Empowerment Act the federal gas tax would be phased down over five years to 3.7 cents. And highway authority would be transferred proportionately from the federal government to the states.

Americans would no longer have to send significant gas-tax revenue to Washington, where politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists take their cut before sending it back with strings attached. Instead, states and cities could plan, finance, and build better-designed and more affordable projects.

Some communities could choose to build more roads, while others might prefer to repair old ones. Some might build highways, others light-rail. And all would be free to experiment with innovative green technologies, and new ways to finance their projects, like congestion pricing and smart tolls.

But the point is that all states and localities should finally have the flexibility to develop the kind of transportation system they want, for less money, without politicians and special interests from other parts of the country telling them how, when, what, and where they should build.

It would mean a better infrastructure system, new jobs and opportunities, diverse localism, and innovative environmental protection. And for working families, it could mean less time on the road and making it home in time for dinner with the kids