Policymakers urged to protect workforce funding.

Nearly fifty national organizations recently sent a letter to key Members of Congress and the Administration, urging them to prioritize investments in federal employment and training, adult education, and postsecondary education programs in Fiscal Years (FY) 2011 and 2012.

On February 14, the Administration will release its FY 2012 budget proposal. President Obama has already called for a five-year overall freeze on non-defense, domestic discretionary spending.  While not all programs will face funding cuts under the President’s budget, many programs will. Arguing that the nation must make difficult choices in an op-ed published over the weekend, Jacob Lew, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), previewed proposed deep cuts in programs such as the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).  Along with numerous other programs, it seems likely that workforce development programs may face at least some funding cuts under the President’s budget proposal. Unfortunately, it also seems likely that the President’s FY 2012 budget proposal will be the minimum level of funding cuts workforce development programs may face. The House Leadership has made clear that they will propose cuts of more than 20 percent in non-defense, domestic discretionary spending when they take up the FY 2012 federal budget.

The same week that the President will release his FY 2012 budget proposal, House Leadership will likely bring a bill to the floor to continue funding for FY 2011—the federal government is currently operating under a “continuing resolution” (CR) that is set to expire on March 4—that will cut about $34 billion from current fiscal year funding levels. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) released last week the subcommittee allocations for the rest of FY 2011; the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee saw its allocation reduced from $163.6 billion (FY 2010 enacted) to $157 billion (FY 2011 proposed), about a 4 percent cut.  Details at the program level won’t be available until the new CR is released, most likely sometime toward the end of this week.

National Skills Coalition will continue to monitor these issues and will provide additional information as it becomes available.