House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)  was in Philadelphia  on Monday to promote the expansion of charter schools, vouchers and alternatives to public education. Touring select cities to spread the mantra of school "choice," Cantor made a couple of callous decisions when visiting the City of Brotherly Love. Rather than draw attention to the funding crisis facing Philadelphia’s public schools, he chose to ignore the plight of its  134,000 students . Cantor applauded the rise of charter schools, which have played a direct role in creating the school district’s current crisis.

Delegates at the AFL-CIO’s quadrennial convention elected  Tefere Gebre  as the AFL-CIO’s new executive vice president this afternoon. Gebre was nominated  to succeed Arlene Holt Baker after she announced her retirement  in July.

In recognition of this incredible achievement and the outstanding work this young organization continues to do, the AFL-CIO Executive Council named the International Domestic Workers' Network the recipients of the  2013 George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award  earlier this year. The award was presented by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today at the AFL-CIO Convention to a chorus of domestic workers who entered the hall singing, following a moving video of their campaign.

Support California domestic workers by telling Gov. Jerry Brown to pass the California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. Text DIGNITY to 235246. Standard data and message rates may apply.

The bad news on student loans just keeps coming. Within the past few months, federal student loan debt has surpassed the $1.2 trillion mark , Congress  raised interest rates  for incoming students and tied them to market swings and the average graduate from the class of 2013 left college with a record $ 30,000 of debt .

Katrina Vanden Heuvel has a great piece in The Washington Post this morning on the future of higher education and the trillion-dollar mountain of student debt weighing down millions of America's working families.

The U.S. House of Representatives  joined forces  with the Senate late yesterday to temporarily lower federal student loan interest rates. In a show of bipartisan force, the House voted to provide 7 million students and their families with a measure of relief as they prepare to finance their futures this fall.  

With the flourish of a bipartisan brush, the Senate  approved a bill  last night to lower federal student loan interest rates, providing a measure of relief to the 7 million students preparing to finance their futures this fall. Undergraduates borrowing for college this year will pay a 3.86% interest rate, instead of the previous 6.8% rate, while recipients of graduate student and parent loans will pay 5.4% and 6.5%, respectively. However, these likely will be the lowest interest rates students and their families receive for the foreseeable future.

For generations, America's workers have labored and sacrificed to give their families a chance at a better life. Parents send their children to school, help them with their homework and strive to save so their children can attend the college of their dreams. Students, in turn, work toward their bachelor’s degree, intent on climbing the ladder of economic opportunity and graduating into a better lifestyle. 

Since  interest rates doubled  for the 7 million working families expected to take out federal Stafford student loans this fall, the political battle to avert the huge spike in borrowing costs has raced and roared. Senate leaders have been considering several solutions all week to prevent students who already graduate college with a mountain of debt from paying an average of  $4,000 extra  over the life of the loan.

For 78 years, the National Labor Rights Board (NLRB) has safeguarded the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain to improve their wages, benefits and workplace environment. Next month, the NLRB’s power to protect more than 80 million private-sector workers could be further limited when the term of one of the current members is set to expire, leaving the board inoperable and without a quorum.