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Budget Update
Spring Recess Approaching; Budget Process Moves Forward
Following lengthy debate, the House and Senate Budget Committees passed their respective budget resolutions this week amid bipartisan worries about ballooning federal deficits.
The Senate Budget Committee approved its FY10 budget resolution on Thursday, March 26, on a 13-10 party-line vote. The House Budget Committee approved its $3.45 trillion budget blueprint late Wednesday night, March 25, 2009, on a 24-15 vote after a marathon session.
A key difference between the two budget blueprints concerns use of the budget reconciliation process to push through President Obama’s health care and education reform proposals. The House Budget Committee’s $3.45 trillion budget resolution includes $1 billion in reconciliation instructions to the Education and Labor Committee. Members are expected to secure these savings through cuts to the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and must report changes in law to meet this mark by September 30, 2009.
The Senate budget resolution does not include reconciliation instructions. Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) Reid said Senate Democrats will not use reconciliation to pass a healthcare overhaul or a cap-and-trade plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but he did not rule out using it in conference talks if reconciliation is allowed. This difference between the two budget resolutions has the potential to stall the overall budget's progress through Congress.
Also on Thursday, House Republican leaders released a statement on their policy principles and promised to provide numbers for their alternative FY10 budget next week. House Minority Leader Boehner and other top GOP lawmakers criticized Democrats as "irresponsible" and insisted they would present a plan that spends less, taxes less and borrows less.
The FY10 budget will dominate the legislative floor next week, with both chambers debating and voting on budget resolutions before starting the two-week Easter recess. Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad said Thursday the Senate will start debate at 11 a.m. Monday with a final vote late Thursday or on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Reid said he is confident of getting the 50 votes needed to pass the resolution authored by Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, despite skepticism from a few Democrats.
Consideration of other measures, including an effort to tax retention bonuses paid by American International Group and other bailout recipients, will be delayed until after the break.
Senate Passes Expansion of National Service Programs
Amid broad bi-partisan support, the Senate passed the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act (HR 1388) by a vote of 79-19 on Thursday March, 26. The legislation included an amendment (S277) incorporating a Senate version of the bill sponsored by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (MA). The measure expands the 1990 National and Community Service Act (PL 101-610), for a total cost of $5.7 billion over five years. This includes $5 million per year from FY 2010 through 2014 designated for grants to nonprofit organizations that provide development assistance. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill on Monday, March 30, to enable President Obama to sign it before leaving for the G20 Summit.
Workforce Investment Act
New Innovations and Best Practices under the Workforce Investment Act Hearing
On May 23, 2009 the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness held a subcommittee field hearing on “New Innovations and Best Practices under the Workforce Investment Act.”
Witnesses included:
Mario Musolino, Executive Deputy Commissioner of New York State Department of Labor
Gail B. Breen, Executive Director of Fulton-Montgomery-Schoharie Counties Workforce Development Board, Inc.
Thomas Quick, Senior Human Resource Manager of General Electric-Power and Water
Joseph Sarubbi, Executive Director of Tec-Smart Hudson Valley Community College
Nanine Meiklejohn, Senior Legislative Representative of AFSCME
In his opening statement Chairman Hinojosa's stressed the need to be smarter and more innovative with the workforce investment system in order to begin an economic recovery.
He explained that with passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - which will infuse approximately $4 billion into the workforce investment system – this unprecedented increase in resources provides an excellet opportunity. According to Hinojosa, the challenge is handling the dramatic increase in individuals seeking services while scaling up best practices and testing innovative new ones. The testimony outlines both ideas and tested practices to answer this challenge.
Click below to access his full statement:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/statements/20090323HinojosaHearingStatement.pdf
Mr. Musolino’s Recommendations for WIA Reauthorization:
- The entire workforce development system can only function properly with adequate resources. Without appropriate funding levels, the system will not work for a large majority of its customers. Restoring previous funding levels will make the system more relevant at a time of economic crisis, when people really need it and as ARRA funds spend out, will ensure continuity of services.
- WIA should explicitly address the issue of regional and sector based approaches. These strategies are crucial for making the locally based workforce system relevant to the communities they serve by training and connecting workers for viable employment opportunities in their region.
- The state should be in a position to establish policies that reinforce coordination amongst the WIBs and ensure a consistent set of statewide services.
- The reauthorization should address Individual Training Accounts, and allow them to be used more flexibly in order to purchase services and equipment to assist in areas of high demand, like the green economy and health care, that can serve a wider array of customers.
- Regarding WIA Youth, he requests that the reauthorization remove additional eligibility barriers to employment, and allow the state the flexibility to do summer or year round programs. They recommended to Congressman Rangel and former Senator Clinton to expand the WIA Youth age criteria up through 24 in the ARRA package, and strongly recommend the age change be made permanent.
- Further, in New York, they require that those receiving Unemployment Insurance come into the WIA system. They believe in connecting those on UI into the WIA system early to receive value added services in the One-Stop system, and recommend this be replicated in any national legislation and resourced accordingly.
Click below to access his full testimony:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/testimony/20090323MarioMusolinoTestimony.pdf
Ms. Breen’s Recommendations for WIA Reauthorization:
Ms. Breen recommended building upon locally driven, private sector-led local workforce boards. Local Workforce Investment Areas will only be able to provide quality services to jobseekers and businesses alike if they have the local control and the flexibility to customize their services to meet local needs, while utilizing the knowledge and expertise of their private sector members. She also stressed the importance of further strengthening youth programs. She addressed the need for increased and consistent funding at a level that will allow investments in the future workforce by providing quality training opportunities, while continuing to fund the One-Stop Career Centers. Finally, she outlined the importance of regional partnerships – partnerships that are skill-focused, systemic, collaborative, and reflect the workforce needs of a region. These also require funding – funding specifically targeted to regional efforts where local workforce areas come together to address common workforce and economic needs.
Click below to access her full testimony:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/testimony/20090323GailBreenTestimony.pdf
Mr. Quick’s testimony focused primarily on the opportunities and challenges for jobs and training in the wind industry.
Quick explained that while it is true that the growth potential of the wind industry presents substantial employment opportunities, it is equally true that the educational infrastructure does not exist to support this opportunity. The Department of Energy identifies availability of labor as one of the largest potential constraints to achieving its 20-percent wind scenario: “major expansion of wind power in the United States would require substantial numbers of skilled personnel available to design, build, operate, maintain, and advance wind power equipment and technology.”
GE and the wind industry are working to address the wind training challenge. They welcome the federal government’s support of this work, such as the recent authorization of grants for research, labor exchange and job training projects to prepare workers for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy. They look forward to partnering in coming weeks and months to build a robust “green jobs” pipeline.
Click below to access his full testimony:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/testimony/20090323ThomasQuickTestimony.pdf
Mr. Sarubbi’s testimony suggests:
- The Workforce Investment Act should ensure that local Workforce Investment Boards provide community college representation.
- The Workforce Investment Act should focus on helping workers through the entire training process.
- The Workforce Investment Act should seek to become a partner for the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Workforce Education National Conference to encourage stronger connections between workforce investment and green collar job training. The Workforce Investment Act should help local WIBs become more active in training programs by helping to facilitate articulation agreements that allow for seamless education from secondary and adult education to post-secondary education.
Community Colleges can and are providing the backbone for green collar jobs. It’s critical that the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act recognizes the role Community Colleges play in workforce development training.
Click below to access his full testimony:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/testimony/20090323ThomasSarubbiTestimony.pdf
Ms. Meiklejohn’s testimony focused primarily on the history of the Workforce Investment Act and aspects of the delivery system that need to be considered in reauthorization.
According to Meiklejohn, as originally conceived the One-stop system was to facilitate access to a wide range of related services, including the WIA adult, dislocated worker and youth programs, Unemployment Insurance (UI), Employment Services (ES), Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), Vocational Rehabilitation and Adult Education.
In moving in this direction, WIA created significant tensions between the publicly operated state programs, such as Vocational Rehabilitation and Wagner-Peyser Employment Services, and the local more privatized WIA programs, particularly where local workforce boards attempted to assert control over the large state public agency operations. For AFSCME, WIA came to represent a mechanism to weaken or privatize the programs in which they work and the services they provide.
Meiklejohn argued reauthorization should: see more balanced membership on workforce boards, including stronger participation by organized labor; see a new stronger partnership among the public and private agencies and state and local governments; see greater attention given to reemployment services for UI claimants by the Employment Service.
In addition, AFSCME believes WIA reauthorization should strengthen the state Employment Service capacity. She argued that state Employment Service employees in merit based personnel systems offer an additional benefit despite efforts by the previous Administration to eliminate this longstanding regulatory requirement. She explained that the merit staffing rule was characterized erroneously as a “labor protection,” but that in fact merit system principles of personnel administration were originally adopted in the interests of government accountability, fairness and transparency.
Click below to access her full testimony:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/testimony/20090323NanineMeiklejohnTestimony.pdf
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