National groups urge WIA reauthorization.

Today, National Skills Coalition joined with more than forty other national organizations in sending a letter to leaders of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), commending the committee for its bipartisan efforts to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), and supporting efforts to advance the bill through the committee markup process.

Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) – respectively, chair and ranking member of the full HELP committee – and Patty Murray (D-WA), and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) – chair and ranking member of the Employment and Workplace Safety subcommittee – have been working to develop the WIA reauthorization bill for more than a year. The committee released discussion drafts of Titles I-V of the proposed legislation earlier this month, and has tentatively scheduled committee consideration of the draft bill for July 13.

While the organizations signing the letter may not support every provision of the committee draft, we are united in our support for reauthorization of this vitally important legislation. Failure to reauthorize WIA in a timely manner will leave federal job training programs vulnerable to future funding cuts, disrupting key services for jobseekers and impacting the ability of the nation’s employers to find the skilled workers they need to grow and compete. We encourage the committee to continue bipartisan efforts to advance the bill, and look forward to working with the committee to strengthen the draft to ensure the final legislation addresses the skill requirements of U.S. workers and businesses in today’s global economy.
 
National Skills Coalition has prepared analyses of key titles under the current draft bill, and provided the HELP committee with recommendations and detailed legislative language to strengthen the bill in five key areas - sector partnerships, career pathways, credential measurement, system-wide measures, and the workforce innovation fund. We will continue to monitor developments relating to the WIA reauthorization process and will provide updates and analysis as new information becomes available.

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