Former congressmen Thomas Downey (D-N.Y.) and Rod Chandler (R-Wash.) are scheduled to debate the changing role of the federal government in the workplace today in Washington, D.C.
The debate, part of a half-day conference sponsored by the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and its Institute for Labor Market Policies, was set to begin at 8 a.m.
Elaine Kamarck, senior policy adviser to Vice President Al Gore, also will offer remarks.
Downey and Chandler are now, respectively, chairman and president of Downey-Chandler Inc., a public affairs consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
Following the debate, a panel will address "Can the States Do It Better? Examining Block Grants for Job Training." Panelists will be Lisa Lynch, chief economist with the U.S. Department of Labor; Roberts T. Jones, president of the National Alliance of Business; Peter Cappelli, professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School; and John Bishop, professor and chair of the Department of Human Resource Studies in the ILR School.
The conference concludes with a panel discussion on "Regulatory Reform: Is Less Really More for Health and Safety in the Workplace?" Participants are Randel Johnson, workplace policy coordinator for the House Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities; Peg Seminario, director of the AFL-CIO Department of Occupational Safety and Health; Alan Krueger, former chief economist of the U.S. Labor Department and the Bendheim Professor of Economic and Public Affairs at Princeton University; and Thomas Kniesner, professor of economics at Indiana University.
Panel moderators are Bob Zelnick, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, and Bruce Collins, vice president of C-SPAN.