Year-end bills may impact workforce.

According to media reports, congressional appropriators may be poised to introduce a $1 trillion “omnibus” spending bill tonight that would include final funding levels for all nine of the remaining Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 appropriations bills, including the measure to fund the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-H). It is expected that the omnibus will comply with overall discretionary spending limits established under this summer’s Budget Control Act, but details have not yet emerged about the possible impact on workforce development programs. The bill could be up for a floor vote in the House as early as Thursday, with Senate action shortly thereafter.
 
The possibility of a comprehensive omnibus package comes after reports late last week that appropriators might be unable to reach agreement on funding levels and policy changes for the Labor-H bill and the bill for Department of Interior-Environmental Protection Agency operations, which would have required Congress to pass those two bills under a separate continuing resolution (CR) rather than as part of the omnibus measure. The House and Senate are particularly far apart in their visions for investing in the skills of the U.S. workforce: while the Senate largely maintained current funding levels, the House proposed to cut more than $2 billion in funding for employment and training programs under the Department of Labor, as well as making significant eligibility changes under the Pell Grant program that would disproportionately limit access to financial aid for working adults and other nontraditional students. The fact that Labor-H may be included in the omnibus is troubling, as it suggests that appropriators may have agreed to significant cuts to workforce programs in order to reach a compromise on the overall bill; under a CR, workforce programs would likely be funded at close to current levels.
 
The potential omnibus is not the only legislation of concern to workforce advocates this week: Congress is also expected to begin consideration of a year-end “extenders” package that would include extensions of federal unemployment insurance (UI) provisions and the TANF block grant program, in addition to the payroll tax holiday and other tax provisions. The House has proposed significant changes to UI that would harm dislocated and low-skilled workers, including reducing the total number of weeks unemployed individuals may receive benefits from 99 weeks to 59 weeks, imposing educational requirements on UI recipients, and deducting funds from worker benefits to cover the costs for providing reemployment services. While the Senate is not expected to agree to the House bill as written, it is likely that at least some changes to UI will be necessary to move extenders legislation through both chambers, which may occur later this week or early next week.
 
In addition, last week the House Education and the Workforce Committee released two bills that would dramatically reduce the size and scope of federal investments in workforce development, eliminating 33 current federal job training and employment programs including the current Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth funding streams under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Job Corps, and the SNAP Employment & Training program. On the Senate side, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Sen. Collins (R-ME) have introduced a “compromise” extenders bill that includes a provision requiring the Office of Management Budget (OMB) to develop recommendations for consolidating or eliminating a range of training programs identified in a January 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. While none of these bills are expected to move this week – the House bills will probably be marked up early next year, and the McCaskill-Collins bill is unlikely to be taken up by House and Senate leaders – they do serve as a stark reminder that even if workforce programs survive through the end of this year, they will continue to be under attack next year.
 
National Skills Coalition will monitor developments relating to the FY 2012 omnibus, the year-end extenders package, and other legislation of importance to the workforce field, and provide updates on how workforce advocates can weigh in with lawmakers on the importance of investing in the skills of the U.S. workforce.