|
FEDERAL ISSUES:
Federal
Appropriations
WIA
Reauthorization
NATIONAL
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
SAVE
THE DATE! MWCA Winter Meeting
Washington Update
WIA
REAUTHORIZATION STALLED, MAY MOVE QUICKLY NEXT YEAR
(Information
provided by the National Workforce Association)
Authorizers
in both chambers have told us not to expect any movement on WIA this year,
no Conference Committee meetings have taken place and there is little
reason for optimism, due to the lack of any compromise on the faith based
issue.
However, there is reason for optimism early next
year, as key Committee staff in both chambers told us in the past two weeks
that both Chairman Enzi and McKeon would both like to get this bill done
early next year before moving on to the most pressing reauthorization bill,
No Child Left Behind.
The bill could also be completed quickly next
year if Democrats take control of the House, as the major sticking point in
the bill, the faith based issue, will be off the table in the House and has
never been included in any version of the Senate reauthorization bills.
Democrats have told us that they will be supportive of the local system and
will focus their reauthorization efforts on making system improvements.
However, it remains to be seen under this scenario, whether a bill without
a faith based component would either have a hold placed on it by a Senate
conservative or face a veto threat from the Administration.
MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS REMAIN FOR
POST ELECTION LAME DUCK SESSION
(Information provided by the
National Workforce Association)
No
substantive legislative initiatives affecting the workforce system were
considered during the pre-election recess, as Members’ focus remained
on the campaign trail. Upon returning to Washington on November 13th, Members are
faced with the daunting prospect of trying to complete nine appropriations
bills and a last minute flurry of remaining bills. Congress will be in
session for one week in November and Members at this point expect to return
to return to Washington
on December 4th. The leadership in both the House and Senate now indicate
that they expect to be in session through mid-December.
However,
the election results could change these plans. If Democrats capture at
least one chamber in Tuesday’s elections, both parties may choose to
return the week of November 13th and pass a long term Continuing Resolution
until some time in the new year, as Democrats may want to revisit the
appropriations bills in the majority and if Republicans are returning to
Washington after a difficult election cycle, they may not have the desire
to work through contentious appropriations bills during a lame duck
session. A determination of how long to extend the lame duck session will
need to be made soon after Members return, as Congress will need to pass
the next Continuing Resolution to receive President Bush’s signature
before he leaves for a trip to Asia on
November 15.
Whenever
the appropriations bills are ultimately taken up, insiders tell us that
they are very concerned that the bills will be vastly under funded. The
remaining nine bills, including Labor-HHS, will need to be reduced by a
total of $5 billion to absorb a last minute funding increase to the DOD
appropriations conference bill. As the Labor-HHS bill is the largest
remaining appropriations bill, it is expected to receive the largest
overall cut.
Despite
the encouraging public statements this week by Congressman Mike Castle, who
is leading the House moderates effort to add $3 billion to the Labor- HHS
funding allocation and the efforts of Senators Arlen Specter and Tom Harkin
who sent a Dear Colleague letter to the leadership in support of additional
funding for the Labor-HHS funding allocation with fifty-seven Senators
signatures, there is little expectation in either chamber that the
Republican leadership will be able to provide additional funding for the
Labor-HHS bill as promised to moderates in the budget debate. Appropriators
expect that their allocation will be at the House levels at best (which is
$1 billion below the Senate level and $3 billion below the level promised
by the leadership), with the potential for even less funding than the House
bill provided. The leadership will not provide Appropriators with a funding
allocation for its remaining bills until after the election.
Our
efforts during the recess have been focused on two areas - gathering
opposition to the House WIA rescission and fixing a modification made to a
provision we inserted in previous years preventing states from redesignating
local areas or allowing changes by DOL to the definition of administrative
costs until WIA reauthorized. The language this year has a proviso allowing
changes to be made “after April 1, 2007 or whenever WIA reauthorized,
whichever comes first”, which could devastate the local system. We
are actively engaged in eliminating the April 1 date from this provision.
The
lack of available funding makes the Appropriators’ task particularly
difficult this year. Appropriators face with making significant cuts, regardless
of their potential programmatic impact, to complete their bills, which
makes a long term Continuing Resolution perhaps the best outcome for the
workforce system. In the past, we have been successful in preventing large
funding cuts WIA to the workforce system, in spite of the
Administration’s claim of large WIA formula carryover. This year, the
rescission and any many other programmatic funding cuts are potentially on
the Appropriators’ chopping block, we are trying to limit the damage
to WIA in this process by educating key authorizing and appropriations
staff from both the House and Senate about the potential impact of a WIA
rescission in the Labor-HHS Conference.
Efforts
to protect the workforce system are ongoing and at the highest levels. We have
also informed the other groups representing the workforce system about the
difficult funding environment this year, requesting their assistance in our
effort by contacting their Members of Congress, highlighting the impact of
the rescission locally and asking their Members of Congress to contact
Labor-HHS appropriators and urge a rejection of the House WIA rescission in
Conference.
Despite
these collective efforts, appropriations staff supportive of the workforce
system WIA tell us that it appears likely that some form of rescission may
be included in the Labor-HHS bill if it is moved during the lame duck
session, due the tremendous funding shortfall appropriators expect to face
in their bill this year.
MWCA EFFORTS TO ADDRESS RECISSION AND
FUNDING LEVELS
Senate:
At MWCA’s urging, both Senator Dayton and Senator Coleman have signed
on to the Dear Colleague letter advocating full funding for workforce
programs. MWCA has spoken with
staff in both offices regarding the negative effects proposed recession language
would have if passed through the House.
House:
MWCA has corresponded with the Minnesota Delegation several times to
address the impact rescission language would have on local areas. Funding levels have also been
discussed with staff in several key offices.
THANK YOU to local WIB
members and staff who have also corresponded with Federal Elected
Officials. Contact information
for all of the offices can be found on the MWCA website:
www.mncounties3.org/mwca/Legislative/Legislative.htm
If
you would like talking points or a draft letter to send to your member of
Congress, please contact Anne Olson.
Participation in National Conferences
Two
National Conferences are approaching, both of which are looking for input
from local areas. If you have suggestions or would like to participate,
please contact Anne Olson.
National Workforce Association 2006
One-Stop Center Workforce Development Awards
for Excellence
This
year, there will be awards presented in four categories:
To an
exemplary urban One-Stop System that is responsible for developing and
achieving the nation's
workforce goals within a local area.
To an
exemplary rural One-Stop System that is responsible for developing and
achieving the nation's workforce goals within a local area.
To an
Executive Director that is responsible for developing and achieving the
nation's workforce goals within a local area.
To a region
employing innovative strategies in the delivery of business services to the
employer customer.
Those individuals/agencies selected in each category will be recognized at
the NWA's 2006 Annual Conference in St.
Petersburg, FL,
during the dinner function on December 4th, and will be presented with a
crystal award.
NAWB Innovative Practices Showcase
For
the first time ever NAWB will showcase WIBs engaged in innovative endeavors
in the Innovative Practices Showcase at Forum 2007. NAWB wants WIBs to
“show off” innovative partnerships, business services, best
practices, tools, outreach strategies, and any initiative others could
learn from. The Showcase will be held in the NAWB conference hotel on
Sunday, February 25th, and participating WIBs will be given a designated
table and space for a poster. WIBs will be selected on a first come, first
served basis.
Save the Date!
The
MWCA Winter
Meeting will be held on Thursday, December 14 in St. Cloud. The meeting will be held from 9:30
am until 12:00 pm, with lunch being served following. Election of Officers, Approval of
the Legislative Platform, and other official business will occur, along
with speakers and the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues from other
Workforce Service Areas. Only
official members will have voting rights, but all are invited to attend.
More
detailed agenda information will be sent out shortly. If you have suggestions for officer
nominations, please contact Anne Olson or Trish Taylor (aolson@mncounties.org
or ttaylor818@yahoo.com).
________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you wish to be added or removed from this
distribution list, you may request to
do so by
e-mailing aolson@mncounties.org.
Minnesota Workforce Council
Association
Anne
Olson, Director
125 Charles Avenue, St.
Paul, MN 55103-2108
Phone: (651)
224-3344
Fax: (651) 224-6540 www.mncounties.org3/mwca
|
