Senate cloture vote on ‘Extenders Bill’ set.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed for cloture Monday on the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (HR 4213), the tax cut ‘extenders’ bill that includes a range of investments in job training and other social services programs to help unemployed and other disadvantaged workers. The cloture motion sets up a critical vote on Wednesday to end debate on the bill and allow the Senate to move to final consideration on the legislation, but it is unclear at this time whether the bill has the 60 votes necessary to overcome this procedural hurdle. Senate leaders are working to craft a bill that will attract sufficient support, which means that final details on bill language are still subject to change.

The most recent public draft of the Senate bill has much in common with the version passed by the House on May 28 – one significant difference is the inclusion of a six month extension of federal Medicaid assistance to states (FMAP) that House leaders were forced to strip out of their bill due to concerns from Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats about adding to the federal deficit. President Obama strongly supported the FMAP extension as part of a broader $50 billion package of state assistance he proposed in a June 12th letter to Congressional leaders, which also included a renewed call for a “Teacher Firing Prevention Fund” to preserve state and local education and public safety jobs. Congress is not expected to act on this latter proposal as part of the extenders bill, but may try to move the funding as part of a supplemental war spending bill or other legislation in the near future. 

In its current form, the Senate bill would retain several key training and worker support provisions that were included in the House bill, including:

• A one-year extension, through September 2011, of the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund, which was established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) and provides for partial federal reimbursement of certain state TANF expenditures, including subsidized jobs programs. The bill would also provide an additional $2.5 billion for the program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011. Approximately 30 states are currently operating, or are implementing, subsidized jobs programs for 185,000 low-income workers under the emergency fund.
• $1 billion for summer youth employment programs, which will help to place as many as 350,000 individuals between the ages of 14-24 in summer jobs.
• Expansion of participant eligibility under the Community College and Career Training Grant (CCCTG) Program to include individuals who are eligible (or are likely to be eligible) for UI, or who have exhausted their UI benefits. The CCCTG program was established as part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program reauthorization under the Recovery Act and recently received $500 million per year in FY 2011-14 as part of the reconciliation bill. 
• Extensions through November 2010 of expanded Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits originally authorized under the Recovery Act. These benefits, along with the COBRA benefits, expired earlier this month, and it is estimated that as many as 1.2 million jobless workers will prematurely lose access to UI benefits by the end of June if Congress does not extend these programs.

The Senate was expected to consider an amendment to the extenders package introduced by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) that would extend COBRA health care subsidies for unemployed workers through November 30; this extension was also included in the original House bill, but was removed from their final version to cut costs. The Senate was also expected consider – but not expected to pass - a substitute bill from Senate Republicans, which would lower the federal deficit by $55 billion by imposing a five percent cut in funding for all federal agencies other than Defense and Veterans Affairs, and rescinding nearly $40 billion in unspent Recovery Act funds.

With more than 26 million Americans still unemployed or underemployed, it is critical that the federal government continue to invest in training programs to help individuals acquire the skills they need to get and keep family-supporting jobs, and in worker support programs that help jobless workers and their families make ends meet. Workforce development advocates should continue to weigh in with policymakers on the importance of these programs in reducing unemployment and supporting our nation’s economic recovery. National Skills Coalition will continue to monitor developments on HR 4213 and provide updates as additional information becomes available.