Two Michigan representatives are creating a new congressional task force on child labor.
Representative Dan Kildee (D-Flint Township) and Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids) said they were spurred by a New York Times investigation that revealed many child labor violations across the country, including in Michigan. The newspaper reported some migrant children have been placed in potentially dangerous conditions and for long hours.
The task force "is not about ending all young people from working,” said Scholten, “It’s about keeping six-year-olds out of slaughterhouses.”
Scholten rejected the suggestion the move is anti-business.
Kildee said he and his fellow Democrats want Republicans to join the Child Labor Prevention Task Force.
“We are going to be asking the Republicans in leadership to consider legislation, which we have offered, to fight illegal child labor, including increasing substantially increasing penalties for violations,” said Kildee.
