Washington, D.C. - Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA) today called on the House Majority to bring up a combined extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance and the Andean Trade Preference Act before adjourning Thursday for an 11-day recess.
“We cannot walk away from the tens of thousands of Americans who have seen their jobs get shipped abroad - but that’s precisely what Republicans will do if they adjourn this week without extending the 2009 Trade Adjustment Assistance reforms, which expired on Monday." said Rep. Levin. “Unless Congress acts quickly to demonstrate its commitment to the unemployed, significantly fewer displaced workers will be eligible for the Trade Adjustment Assistance, training funding will be dramatically cut from $575 million to $220 million a year, Trade Adjustment Assistance health care benefits will shrink and program participants will have fewer training options. All of these factors will make it harder for workers to get the support and training they need to get new, good paying jobs."
“This is a 50-year-old program that has been there to help American workers who have lost their jobs after companies have moved their operations overseas," said. Rep. McDermott. “TAA is essential - it invests in American workers so they have the skills needed to get new jobs and compete in the global environment. Over 400,000 workers have been certified for retraining and other job benefits under TAA since May 2009. House Republicans need to get their act together and stop playing politics with the lives of unemployed Americans."
BACKGROUND
The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 created the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program to assist workers laid off as a result of international trade by helping them retrain and acquire skills needed to compete in the global environment. The Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act of 2009 (TGAAA), which was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, made significant improvements to the TAA for Workers program.
These 2009 reforms were supported on a bicameral, bipartisan basis. As Senator Grassley, the Ranking Member on Senate Finance, stated at the time, “…today's achievement is the result of the dedication, hard work and commitment of many individuals. It is the culmination of years of effort, and I am confident that the result will serve to benefit American workers in Iowa and across the United States for years to come."
Since the reforms were implemented in May 2009, more than 170,000 additional trade-impacted workers who may not have been certified under the “old" TAA for Workers program became eligible for benefits and training opportunities. In total, more than 406,000 workers were certified as eligible for TAA support in that timeframe. In FY2010 alone, more than 227,000 workers took advantage of TAA and participated in the program, receiving case management, training and/or income support.
In the face of opposition from the Republican Study Group and other conservative groups, the Republican leadership pulled from the floor this week legislation to extend TAA. As a result of this failure, the 2009 reforms have lapsed and the old, flawed TAA rules are in effect. As a result:
Services Workers Shut Out. The 2009 legislation closed a gaping hole in the TAA program and, for the first time, allowed service sector workers who lose their jobs due to trade or outsourcing to obtain TAA benefits. Going forward, service workers are NOT be TAA eligible.
Many Manufacturing Workers who are Victims of Offshoring Cut Off. The 2009 legislation extended the TAA program to all manufacturing workers who lost their jobs when their factory shuts down and relocates overseas. (Prior law created an additional evidentiary hurdle when the factory was offshored to a non-FTA country.) This hurdle is back in effect and many victims of offshoring will be left out in the cold.
Many “Secondary Workers" Excluded. When a major factory shuts down in a small community, the impact goes well beyond the employees of that factory, and reverberates to the other “upstream" and “downstream" businesses that provided goods and services to the factory. The 2009 legislation expanded “secondary workers" eligibility to ensure that when these workers lose their jobs, they can also retrain for a better job to provide for their families. The pre-2009 secondary worker eligibility rules are back in place.
Trade-Impacted Workers Will Lose Training Opportunities. The 2009 legislation more than doubled the TAA training funding from $220 million to $575 million and authorized longer-term training, part-time training and pre-layoff training to give workers the best opportunity to transition into a new career. Because of the failure to extend the 2009 reforms, all TAA-eligible workers will see fewer training opportunities and in some States, training money could simply run out.
Cut to the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) at the Worst Possible Time. The 2009 legislation increased the HCTC from 65% to 80% to help so that workers who have just lost their jobs won’t also have to pay more for healthcare. Because of the failure to extend the program, the credit has once again dropped to 65% and all laid off workers and their families face premium increases of hundreds of dollars a month.
Undoing Fixes to Program Flaws. The 2009 legislation fixed short and contradictory enrollment deadlines that caused significant confusion among TAA participants and resulted in some workers losing access to TAA benefits. These flawed rules are once again in force.
