WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today called on Congress to immediately extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers program in January. As of today, key portions of the 2009 reforms expire and leave workers without critical retraining supports in the New Year.
"TAA is our commitment to workers competing in a globalized economy and we must immediately extend the improvements that we made in 2009 when Congress returns," said Ranking Member Levin.
Key new parts of TAA expire at the end of this year while the pre-2009 program continues for a year. For example, workers adversely affected by imports from many of our trading partners, including China, will no longer be eligible for TAA. Service workers will no longer be eligible, as a class, to receive TAA. A supplemental program for older workers will end. Funding for training - the key to helping our workers get back on the job - will be cut in half.
