News You Can Use: Obama to form taskforce for working families

President-elect Barack Obama has announced plans to convene a White House taskforce charged to "look at existing and future policies across the board and use a yard stick to measure how they are impacting the working and middle-class families," Vice president-elect Joe Biden said, who will chair the taskforce.

Biden's team on the taskforce will include the secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Commerce, as well as the directors of the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Benefit managers will want to stay up-to-date on the taskforce's activities, as the goals Obama has outlined generally fall under benefit pros' area of authority, including:
• Expand education and lifelong training opportunities
• Improve work and family balance
• Restore labor standards, including workplace safety
• Protect retirement security