Congress is on Memorial Day recess through Friday, June 1. The Senate will reconvene on Monday, June 4 and the House will reconvene on Tuesday, June 5.

When Congress returns from Memorial Day recess, Democrats will begin subcommittee markups of fiscal year 2008 spending bills. Democrats may choose to make the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill one of the first spending measures they pass in order to confront the President on domestic priorities, as he has indicated his intention to veto any domestic spending bill that exceeds his request.

The additional discretionary funding provided by the Budget Committee will make it easier to restore some of the Administration’s proposed cuts, however, appropriators warn not to expect any additional funding for workforce programs.

House appropriations staff tells us the rescission of carryover funding still has “cache” with members, so we must continue to educate appropriators about the urgent need to reject the rescission and proposed cuts to WIA programs.

New From Brookings

Subsidizing Higher Education through Tax and Spending Programs

In 1997 Congress enacted a number of tax benefits directed toward helping middle- and upper-middle income groups meet rising college costs. This shift in goals and strategies raises concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of the evolving federal approach to higher education. This policy brief analyzes who benefits from the major direct spending program, Pell grants, and the three tax subsidies that most closely resemble grants, the Hope and Lifetime Learning credits and the deduction for tuition and fees. In addition, the brief assesses the potential impacts of these direct spending and tax programs on the affordability of college and the college-going rates of potential students.

http://www3.brookings.edu/views/papers/lrice200705.pdf

New From MDRC

Investing in Parents to Invest in Children

In these remarks, delivered at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's National Summit on America's Children on May 22, MDRC President Gordon Berlin summarizes rigorous research evidence showing that supplementing the earnings of parents helps raise families out of poverty and improves the school performance of young children.

http://www.mdrc.org/publications/456/presentation.html

The Challenge of Repeating Success in a Changing World: Final Report on the Center for Employment Training Replication Sites

The Center for Employment Training (CET) in San Jose, California, produced large, positive employment and earnings effects for out-of-school youth in the late 1980s. However, in this replication study, even the highest-fidelity sites did not increase employment or earnings for youth over the 54-month follow-up period, despite short-term positive effects for women. Access to CET did not lead to better outcomes than youth would have had on their own, either by enrolling in other training programs or by gaining experience in the labor market.

http://www.mdrc.org/publications/453/overview.html

Barriers to Employment for Out-of-School Youth: Evidence from a Sample of Recent CET Applicants

This working paper examines employment and earnings over a four-year period for a group of disadvantaged out-of-school youth who entered the Evaluation of the Center for Employment Training (CET) Replication Sites between 1995 and 1999. It assesses the importance of three key factors as barriers to employment: lack of a high school diploma, having children, and having an arrest record.

http://www.mdrc.org/publications/454/abstract.html

• Department Announces 2007 National Disability Employment Awareness Month Theme; Proposes Survey of Employer Perspectives on the Employment of People with Disabilities
  May 31, 2007

• ETA Seeks Comments on Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for High Growth Job Grantees and Community-Based Job Training Grantees
  May 30, 2007

• DOJ Announces Funding Opportunity under High-Risk Youth Offender Reentry and Family Strengthening Initiative">DOJ Announces Funding Opportunity under High-Risk Youth Offender Reentry and Family Strengthening Initiative
  May 25, 2007

• Workforce Innovations 2007: Descriptions of Plenary Sessions and Town Halls, Listings of Learning Laboratories, and a Host of Other Kansas City Highlights; Reminder that "Early Bird" Registration Ends May 31
  May 25, 2007

Workforce Development Council Board Meeting at the 75th Annual Conference of Mayors
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel
Los Angeles, CA
June 21-23, 2007

The WDC Board meeting will be held from June 21-23, 2007 as part of The U.S. Conference of Mayors 75th Annual Conference. We hope to see many of you in LA!

Click here to access the meeting flyer.

Attached is a draft agenda for your information. To access the WDC updated draft agenda click here.

You may now register and request hotel accommodations online at /registration/. Please scroll down the screen to select the Workforce Development Council link to access the registration form.

Be sure to have a method of payment ready for the hotel reservation when you register online. You must complete both forms at the same time. Once the registration is submitted, the online system does not accept revisions.

If you prefer, you can still complete your registration form manually. To access the registration and hotel reservation forms please click here. Please complete the form and fax it to our meetings department at (202) 467-4276. The deadline for guaranteed hotel accommodations was May 15, 2007.

Mayors will meet on June 22-26, 2007. To access the mayors updated draft agenda click here.