[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         WORKFORCE REINVESTMENT AND ADULT EDUCATION ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. TAMMY BALDWIN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 8, 2003

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1261) to 
     enhance the workforce investment system of the Nation by 
     strengthening one-stop career centers, providing for more 
     effective governance arrangements, promoting access to a more 
     comprehensive array of employment, training, and related 
     services, establishing a targeted approach to serving youth, 
     and improving performance accountability, and for other 
     purposes:

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Chairman, last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
announced that the unemployment rate rose to 6 percent. In my home 
state of Wisconsin, we had the fourth highest number of massive layoffs 
in the country behind much larger states like California and Texas. 
Sadly, it seems like many here in Washington have gotten used to these 
grim statistics; after all, under the economic stewardship of President 
Bush we've lost close to more than 2.7 million jobs since he took 
office. We have been losing 73,000 jobs a month, which accounts for 
President Bush having the worst jobs creation record of any President 
in U.S. history.
  We can't count on the stewardship of the Bush administration to get 
America back to work. It has become clear that this Congress needs to 
step up and put the task squarely upon its shoulders. This week we have 
a chance to do this as we take up the reauthorization of the Workforce 
Investment Act (WIA) and the proposed tax cut. Both of these bills are 
important in how we not only help people find and maintain jobs, but 
how we will create new ones. However, I believe we may miss our 
opportunity to accomplish these goals unless both bills are torn up and 
rewritten. Today, I would like to specifically talk about the WIA.
  The WIA was signed into law in 1998 with the intent of cementing the 
Federal government's commitment in helping states improve their 
employment, training, literacy, and vocational rehabilitation programs. 
Before the act was signed into law, states had a fragmented and 
duplicative number of programs that were meant to help prepare workers 
for jobs and to assist them in their searches.
  Since its inception, thousands of displaced workers, veterans, and 
young adults have taken part in--and relied on--programs implemented by 
the WIA. The ``one-stop'' system created by WIA has provided them with 
consolidated services, such as job retraining classes, to get them out 
of unemployment lines and back onto the payrolls. Title II of the Act 
has played a critical role in helping adults with low-literacy, basic 
skill levels and limited English proficiency, by providing them with 
the training, tools and skills necessary to compete in today's 
knowledge-driven workforce.
  The bill before us today takes the progress made over the last four 
years and stops it in its tracks. The WIA was custom designed to be 
effective in an economic downturn like the one we are experiencing now. 
American workers need the WIA strengthened, not scaled back, but that's 
exactly what the House Republicans want to do.
  Those who have are unemployed will run out of unemployment insurance 
benefits in 23 days. The last time we extended unemployment benefits 
was shortly after Christmas and the holidays--when many people had 
already run out of benefits. For many families, the restoration of 
benefits was too little, too late. By not including the extension of 
unemployment benefits in this bill, we will in all likelihood delay 
helping workers who need it most. Not only does this diminish the 
original intent of this legislation, but it's also a slap in the face 
to the unemployed moms and dads who will to worry if they will be able 
to pay their mortgage and put food on the table. This is just wrong.
  The bill today also block grants adult, dislocated worker, and 
employment service funding streams. In doing so, the bill would 
eliminate the funding focus for dislocated workers and terminates the 
existence of the employment service--the very service which connects 
individuals to jobs. By block granting the money, it also permits 
Governors to take funds from partner programs such as Adult Education, 
and Veterans Reemployment and job training programs for individuals 
with disabilities to fund other state workforce programs or other 
administrative costs. Governors would be allowed to take any amount of 
funding from any of these programs. Given the fact that 45 states have 
budget deficits, I believe the opportunity to use these funds for other 
purposes will be too tempting of a fruit for Governors not to pick.
  To make matters worse, the bill removes a civil-rights protection 
that bans employment discrimination based on religious affiliation. 
This bill allows organizations receiving funds--taxpayers dollars--
through WIA to discriminate in hiring based on religion. I believe this 
provision only serves to politicize the debate surrounding this bill 
and takes away from the debate we should be having, which is that we 
should be doing everything we can to help any unemployed worker find a 
job, not making it easier to discriminate against someone because of 
what they believe.
  The WIA has played a critical role in coordinating state efforts to 
find people jobs and provide essential services to some of our most 
vulnerable citizens. At a time when our President's economic plan 
continues to fail in creating jobs and putting our economy back on the 
right track, now is not the time to weaken the WIA. I urge my 
colleagues to vote ``NO'' on H.R. 1261 and to bring a better bill--one 
that reflects Congress' commitment to putting Americans back to work--
to the floor.

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