Vrbin’s report notes that Kellams isn’t against teenagers working, and that as a teenager she herself worked at a local chicken plant that has a history of violating child labor laws. Some of these laws, like Iowa’s, which allows 14- and 15-year-olds to work up to six hours a day during the school year, conflict with federal labor law. According to Nina Mast, a state economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, the ultimate goal of the proponents of these state laws is to weaken federal child labor law. Though there were attempts to weaken child labor law after that, he says, they weren’t really mainstream for decades. In his book, Fliter notes that as a presidential candidate in 2012, the former House speaker Newt Gingrich “proposed a plan to allow poor children to work as janitors in schools” and called child labor laws “truly stupid.” Since then, political attacks on child labor laws have increased.

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Persons: ”, Tess Vrbin, Laura Kellams, ” Kellams, Nina Mast, John Fliter, Fliter, Mike Lee of, Newt Gingrich “ Organizations: Northwest, Arkansas, Children, Economic Policy Institute, Kansas State University, “ Child Labor, Fair Labor, Senate Locations: Arkansas, The Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas, ” Arkansas, Iowa , New Hampshire, New Jersey, America, Mike Lee of Utah, ”