House to vote on Senate-passed state-aid bill.
Having adjourned for the August recess, the House will temporarily reconvene this week to vote on a state-aid bill (HR 1586) that would provide $16.1 billion in federal Medicaid assistance to the states (FMAP) and another $10 billion to states to prevent layoffs of teachers and other public employees. After months of unsuccessful efforts, the Senate approved the measure on August 5 by a vote of 61-39, with Maine Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe joining all Senate Democrats in favor of the bill. The House vote is currently slated for Tuesday, August 10.
A version of the FMAP extension was included in the original draft of the wide-ranging tax “extenders” bill (HR 4213), but was quickly stripped out in an effort to reduce the overall cost of the measure. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. David Obey (D-WI) led efforts within their respective chambers to include up to $23 billion for education and other public sector jobs as part of the war supplemental bill, but this effort was ultimately unsuccessful as Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats balked at including non-defense spending in that package.
While the current legislation will certainly provide important relief for cash-strapped states – including preserving as many as 140,000 teaching positions – the measure has proven controversial. In order to help pay for the bill, Senate leaders agreed to a provision phasing out increased Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) benefits authorized under the Recovery Act. Nutrition advocates and other groups working with low-income individuals and families have strongly opposed using SNAP reductions to offset costs for other priorities, a tactic that was also used to help pay for a child nutrition bill approved by the Senate last week.
The bill does not include funding two priorities for the workforce development field: additional funding for summer youth employment programs (SYEP) under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), and an extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF). More than 30 states have used ECF funds to create an estimated 240,000 subsidized jobs for low-income workers, but the program expires at the end of September, which likely will put an end to many if not all of those subsidized jobs. Funding for both programs was included in early versions of the extenders bill, but did not make the final version, which ultimately only included a six-month extension of unemployment insurance benefits. It now appears unlikely that Congress will take action on either of these programs when they return in September.
The Senate is expected to complete work in September on a long-stalled bill (S 5297) that would establish a $30 billion lending fund for small businesses, as well as provide a range of tax breaks and investments in federal small business programs. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) introduced an amendment to the bill in late June that would have authorized competitive grants to states and localities to support on-the-job training (OJT) activities, but it now seems unlikely that this amendment will be considered as part of the final legislation. National Skills Coalition worked with Senators Shaheen and Cochran to develop the On-the-Job Training Act of 2010 (S 3459), which the amendment mirrors.
National Skills Coalition will continue to monitor these and other bills of interest to the workforce development field, and provide updates as new information becomes available.
