Dem and GOP Senators disagree on the Education Department's authority to battle campus sexual assaults.

English: Uncle Sam recruiting poster. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Democrats want to give DOE more power, while the GOP contends the department has already overstepped its bounds.
http://chronicle.com/article/Senate-Hearing-on-Campus/147399/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Title IX, like RICO before it, has grown like the Blob in the old movie, creeping and spreading way beyond its original purpose when enacted.

The same can be said for the National Labor Relations Act for that matter.  While yesterday the Supreme Court trimmed President Obama's sails, ruling his recess NLRB appointments are unconstitutional, those appointees have become an agency in search of a mission.  With only some 7% of private sector workers unionized, the agency has felt marginalized.  It has latched onto Section 7's "concerted activities" clause to intrude into workplace rules on social-net postings by employees, for example.  And then, of course, there is the amazing Northwestern University football-players case.

There are some things Uncle Sam could be doing really well:

1.  Rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure.  I happen to live in the state (PA) with the worst bridges in America.  Right down the road in Wilmington the I-495 bypass is closed for the summer, because its bridge is on the verge of collapse.  Can you appreciate an I-95 bottleneck at the start of the summer vacation season?

2.  Building the pipeline and exploiting Canadian oil ---- among the many steps we could be taking to become energy independent.

3.  Making college affordable and accessible for more Americans by fixing the loan mess, instead of all this handwringing about sexual assault.

4.  Creating more manufacturing and more jobs.  For those who ought not to be in college, how about an effective apprenticeship program ala Germany's?

5.  Revisions to the tax code that would force the wealthy and the corporations to pay their fair shares.

These are just five things that pop into my head, all of which impress me as substantially and fundamentally more worthwhile than expanding Title IX and the NLRA in order to make the federal bureaucracy more intrusive and regulatory compliance more distracting and expensive.

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