TAA reauthorization markup rescheduled.

The Senate Finance Committee announced today that it will hold a “mock” markup tomorrow on a package of free trade agreements that includes a reauthorization of the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. The markup was originally scheduled to take place on June 30, but committee Republicans refused to attend the hearing, thus preventing the quorum necessary for the committee to consider the measures.

TAA, which provides job training and other benefits to workers who have lost their jobs as a result of foreign trade, is currently authorized through February 12, 2012. Congress significantly expanded the program as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009—including extending eligibility to service sector workers and nearly tripling the amount of funding available for training services—but these expanded provisions were allowed to lapse earlier this year, and the program is now operating according to the more limited provisions of the pre-ARRA program. The White House and congressional Democrats have been seeking to renew the 2009 amendments as part of a compromise to advance long-stalled free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, but have faced strong resistance from Republicans.

The legislation to be considered tomorrow is the product of a deal struck between the White House, Finance Committee chair Max Baucus (D-MT), and House Ways and Means chair Dave Camp (R-MI). The draft bill largely extends the 2009 amendments through the end of FY 2013, though it makes a number of changes designed to address concerns regarding program costs, including:

• Capping funding for job training, case management, and other activities at $575 million for Fiscal Years (FY) 2012 and 2013, plus $143.75 million for the first quarter of FY 2014 (under the 2009 amendments, this cap applied only to training expenses);
• Reducing the maximum number of weeks eligible workers could receive income support from a maximum of 156 weeks to 130, and eliminating a provision that allowed additional support for workers engaging in prerequisite or remedial training;
• Restoring the expanded eligibility under the 2009 amendments for service sector workers, but not for public sector workers; and
• Eliminating two grant programs created under the 2009 reauthorization—the TAA for Communities program under the Department of Commerce and the Industry or Sector Partnership grant program under the Department of Labor. The TAA Community College and Career Training Grants would not be affected by this change, although it is expected that the Finance Committee ranking member, Orrin Hatch (R-UT), will introduce an amendment that would strike authorization for the TAACCCT program.

The markup tomorrow is technically nonbinding—by law, Congress cannot amend trade agreements once they are submitted by the President—but it does represent an important opportunity for Senators to shape the final agreement and signal their support for expanded eligibility and benefits under the TAA program. Workforce development advocates should weigh in with their policymakers and encourage them to support a robust reauthorization of TAA as part of any deal to implement the free trade agreements, and to oppose efforts to eliminate the TAACCCT program as part of the final package. National Skills Coalition will continue to provide updates on this issue as new information becomes available.