Student athletes on Northwestern University's football team recently voted on whether or not to unionize, an unprecedented move that could have far-reaching effects in the world of college athletics and how major schools' programs are financed. The decision that set the legal process in motion was made in February, after a Chicago branch of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in the players' favor and affirmed that the student athletescould be considered university employees.
In this week's edition of The Taxpayer's Tab, NTUF examined the role of the NLRB and a bill that proposes to strip away its federal funding. That bill -- H.R. 4379, introduced by Congressman Matt Salmon (R-AZ) -- would save $264 million, the total amount that the Office of Management and Budget says the NLRB will spend this year.
Also featured in this week's Tab:
- Most Expensive: H.R. 4384/S. 2115, the America HEALS Act, would create a mandatory funding stream for various biomedical research programs, guaranteeing 5 percent growth in those areas every year. The bill was introduced by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and would cost about $11.5 billion per year on average over the next five years.
- Wildcard: Congressman Reid Ribble (R-WI) introduced the Long-Term SCORE Act, which would create a new department within the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) dedicated exclusively to producing long-term cost estimates beyond the current 10-year standard. H.R. 4444 would require an additional $5 million per year.
Check out The Tab online for more on these bills and NTUF's other recent work.