WASHINGTON - Today, Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA) issued the following joint statement after the Department of Labor denied requests for Trade Adjustment Assistance from three groups of workers - from Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania - due to the fact that they were service workers and no longer eligible for assistance. These were the first denials that resulted from the Feb. 12 expiration of the expanded TAA program. Because of the expiration, service workers are no longer eligible.
“Today real workers have been harmed by Republicans’ refusal to extend 2009 TAA reforms, and thousands of others are being short-changed in their effort to transition to new work. Republicans in Congress let those reforms lapse and today, we are seeing the consequences of that irresponsible decision," said Committee Ranking Member Levin and Subcommittee Ranking Member McDermott. “Republicans have thrown to the side bipartisan TAA reforms simply to get their way on pending trade agreements and there is absolutely no reason workers should be held hostage to these demands."
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 the Senate Finance Committee, 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 185,000 additional trade-impacted workers who may not have been certified under the “old" 2002 TAA for Workers program have become eligible for training opportunities and benefits. In total, more than 435,000 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 February, Republicans Majority leadership, which had scheduled legislation extending TAA, including the 2009 reforms, for a vote on the House floor, decided against doing so. And Republicans in the Senate blocked efforts to extend the TAA reforms as well. As a result, the 2009 reforms lapsed on Feb. 12, 2010 leaving, in effect, only the “old" 2002 more restrictive TAA program. 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, as demonstrated by today’s denial of three requests for TAA by groups of service workers.
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 ineligible for TAA.
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 more restrictive pre-2009 secondary worker eligibility rules are back in place.
Training Funding Significantly Cut. The 2009 legislation more than doubled the TAA training funding from $220 million to $575 million to ensure that workers have full opportunity to retrain for new, better jobs. As a result of the failure to extend these reforms, overall training funding will be reduced and TAA-eligible workers will have fewer training opportunities and in some States, training money could simply run out.
Improved Training Opportunities Denied. The very heart of the TAA program is the opportunity to get trained for a better job so that workers can continue to provide for their families. The 2009 legislation included changes to ensure that workers can complete longer term training and more flexible training options that give them the best opportunity to transition into a new career, including an additional 26 weeks of training eligibility, part-time training, pre-layoff training and prerequisite training. These additional training opportunities have been eliminated.
Cut to the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) at the Worst Possible Time. The 2009 legislation increased the HCTC credit from 65% to 80% - so that workers who have just lost their jobs can afford healthcare. Because of the failure to the 2009 TAA reforms, the credit has once again dropped to 65% and all TAA participants and their families face premium increases of hundreds of dollars a month.
Effectively Denying Benefits By Undoing Fixes to Flaws in the Program. 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. That red tape is in effect once again.
Loosening Reporting Requirements, Diminishing Accountability. Prior to 2009, data on TAA participants’ activities was spotty at best. The 2009 reforms required the Secretary of Labor to collect a significant amount of data on all workers who apply for, or receive, TAA and to make that data available to the public. These requirements, which are no longer mandatory, promoted the ability of Congress to perform its oversight responsibilities and, if necessary, to refine and improve the TAA program performance. #
