WIA Remains on the Backburner (2/22/2008)

One item that seems to have fallen off of Congress’s radar is reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). When Congress returns next week, the House Education & Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will be looking to finish work on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA). HELP Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA) also listed No Child Left Behind as one of his top priorities for 2008. Meanwhile the WIA, which was scheduled for reauthorization in 2003, remains untouched this year.

After the 109th Congress failed to reauthorize the law, the 110th began preliminary measures towards a final reauthorization, but did not follow up with subsequent efforts. The White House offered its own WIA proposal last year. Under that proposal, funds appropriated for the WIA Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth Programs and the Employment Service would be consolidated and allocated to states as a single funding stream for Career Advancement Accounts (CAA) and employment services for job seekers and employers. The proposal seeks to increase education and training opportunities for American workers, provide greater flexibility to states and local areas, and strengthen the One-Stop Career Center system.

This proposal is mirrored in the President’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, which has been largely dismissed by the majority in Congress. The House held two hearings last summer regarding the WIA, but aside from a bill proposed by the Republican minority in the House, Congress did not produce any meaningful legislation. This year is not looking any more promising. Committee staff in both the House and the Senate admitted that the WIA is not currently a top priority for the 110th. Unless those priorities are shifted, the WIA is not likely to be reauthorized this year.

Author: SAS