Seventy-five years ago this Halloween Orson Welles and CBS Radio created panic in several parts of the US when they aired a nearly uninterrupted national broadcast of the H.G. Wells novel War of the Worlds. Congress, maybe hoping to top that effort, recently spooked the entire country and most of the financial world by shutting down most of the US government and nearly driving the nation into default.
READ MORE from Congress: Creating More Panic than Orson Welles
As discussed in last week’s blog, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee recently cleared legislation (S. 1356) that would reauthorize federal investments in the nation’s core job training programs. With the House having passed its Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization bill on March 15, the HELP Committee’s action sets a new high-water mark in the decade-long effort to pass a reauthorization bill. Yet two significant obstacles remain before final passage.
READ MORE from Tea Leaves Reveal Significant Obstacles for Job Training Bill
Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 18-3 to advance bipartisan legislation (S. 1356) to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIA was enacted in 1998, and has not since been reauthorized. As a result, the law is long overdue for an update. Goodwill supports the bill as written and is urging the Senate to quickly bring the bill to the Senate floor.
News of the newest addition to Britain’s royal family has been the most anticipated event since we wondered who shot JR. This week, we learned of yet another much anticipated, if somewhat less newsworthy, event—the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s plan to consider the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 2013 (WIA) – S.1356 — next week.
READ MORE from Senate Committee Vote on WIA Expected Next Week
In recent years, the pool of resources for human services, including job training, has been steadily evaporating despite increased need. In the case of job training, federal funding for job training has steadily eroded over the last decade. Since 2002, funding for the Workforce Investment Act's (WIA) core funding streams has declined by $1 billion — more than 25 percent. Meanwhile unemployment was 5.8 percent in 2002, compared to 8.1 percent in 2012. As a result practitioners are asking themselves, “How do we do more with less?”
This week, Senate appropriators are working to advance a bill that would provide $164.3 billion in discretionary budget authority for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education. Compared to the FY 2013 level, the amount proposed by the bill would result in a $156.5 billion increase. In addition, the Senate bill is nearly 26 percent more than the $121.8 billion provided by the House version. Beyond this week, the prognosis for the bill’s advancement is murky.
READ MORE from Despite Senate Advancement, FY 2014 Funding Prognosis Uncertain
It has been 15 years since Congress enacted the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the nation’s primary job training law. Back then, the U.S. had a budget surplus and the unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. Today, the nation is slowly recovering from the worst recession experienced in a generation and unemployment is stubbornly declining from the peak it reached during that time. Needless to say, the law is long overdue for an update. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing today to consider how WIA could be improved to better develop a skilled workforce for a competitive economy.
READ MORE from Senate Panel Holds Hearing on Improving Workers’ Skills
Twice a year, I sit down with my team and we discuss goals, strengths and areas for improvement as part of our company’s performance review process. It is the season for mid-year reviews and Congress should have theirs. As voters, we “hire” these elected officials for the job and as all good supervisors we should be providing feedback often.
READ MORE from Congress' Mid-Year Review Reveals Room for Improvement
Twice a year, I sit down with my team and we discuss goals, strengths and areas for improvement as part of our company’s performance review process. It is the season for mid-year reviews and Congress should have theirs. As voters, we “hire” these elected officials for the job and as all good supervisors we should be providing feedback often.
READ MORE from Congress’ Mid-Year Review Reveals Room for Improvement
ROCKVILLE, MD — Goodwill Industries of South Texas (Corpus Christi) has been honored with a 2013 Advocacy Leader Award from Goodwill Industries International. The award recognizes a Goodwill® agency that has demonstrated leadership and commitment to advancing Goodwill’s advocacy and policy efforts to further its mission of helping people secure employment and build stronger communities.
READ MORE from Goodwill Industries of South Texas Honored with Goodwill® Advocacy Leader Award
