Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued the following statement after the Committee passed workforce development and retirement legislation:
“Education and Labor Committee Democrats keep missing opportunities to work across the aisle. These bills, however well-intentioned, do not work for workers, job creators, or retirees; not to mention, they hasten the creep of the federal government into the individual decisions of Americans. We should be trying to preserve self-government in this country, not expand the federal government’s control over the workforce or the retirement system. I hope my Democrat colleagues will reconsider these bills.”
H.R. 7309, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022:
- Fails to protect taxpayers at a time of rampant inflation by expanding supportive services, which risks turning the workforce system into a welfare program, and opening taxpayer funding of WIOA up to fraud and abuse.
- Pushes a radical left-wing agenda that promotes progressive gender ideology and critical race theory.
- Expands federal control over workforce standards and limits the rights of job-seekers to determine worthwhile employment while expanding union representation on state and local workforce boards.
- Makes Job Corps less accountable, a program with rampant safety, security, and performance concerns.
- Makes damaging changes to the list of providers approved to offer skills education.
- Overemphasizes the burdensome registered apprenticeship program and fails to expand access for job seekers to innovative work-based learning opportunities.
- Makes it more difficult for retirees to withdraw their own money during emergencies and hardships.
- Expands the role of the federal government in retirement planning.
- Establishes new grant programs that direct taxpayer dollars to specific types of retirement plan programs over others.
- Allows funds to be used on annual conferences and sent to unions and worker centers.
- Fails to address the Department of Labor’s overzealous enforcement against employee stock ownership plans.
- Forces automatic re-enrollment upon American workers who have already opted out.
