IAWP LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION
June 2005 Archives

***Weekly Update***
From Legislative Committee Chair: Todd Kolden, Aberdeen Central Office

Week of June 6, 2005


HOUSE APPROPRIATORS SET TO MOVE LABOR PROGRAM SPENDING BILL NEXT WEEK

  • The House Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to markup its spending bill for FY 2006 on Thursday, June 9. Although the FY 2006 appropriations bill has yet to be introduced, details have emerged including the bill's overall cost of $142.5 billion, $163 million less than was appropriated in FY 2005. Last year, House appropriators approved a bill largely in-line with the Administration's Budget request including proposals to reduce funding for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs and the Employment Service (ES) program. The House could again find cost savings by adhering to the Administration's FY 2006 request, which proposes reducing the WIA Adult, Youth and Dislocated Worker programs by a combined $210 million and the ES program by $86 million.

    • Week of June 27th, 2005


    HOUSE NEARS APPROVAL OF FY 2006 LABOR PROGRAM SPENDING BILL

  • The House is expected later today to approve its FY 2006 Labor, HHS and Education spending bill (H.R. 3010), sending it to the Senate where consideration is expected before the beginning of the Congressional summer recess on August 1. The House spending bill is reflective of much of the Bush Administration's FY 2006 Budget request for the nation's publicly funded workforce system, but does deviate in a few notable areas.

  • Funding for the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Dislocated Worker program would be cut by $70 million from FY 2005 levels under the House bill for a total appropriation of $1,405 million. The Administration had proposed a $149 million cut to this program in its FY 2006 request. The House bill would appropriate $20 million less than requested by the Administration for its Prisoner Reentry Initiative, for a total appropriation of nearly $20 million, the same level as provided in FY 2005. The Administration's Prisoner Reentry Initiative is a four-year effort designed to improve employment related transitional services for inmates released from prison.

  • The House spending bill would rescind $125 million in FY 2005 funding earmarked for the Administration's Community Based Job Training Initiative (CBJTI) because of House members' concerns that the solicitation for grant applications (SGA) has been limited to community colleges. The House conference report (House Report 109-143) accompanying H.R. 3010 expresses concern the Department of Labor has "misunderstood or ignored the Committee's interest in including one-stop career centers as eligible applicants for funding," and directs future SGAs to include one-stop career centers as eligible applicants. The $125 million rescission would eliminate the portion of "new" funding that was to be available for CBJTI beginning on July 1, leaving the remaining $125 million for the program to come entirely from the Secretary of Labor's discretionary funds. The House FY 2006 spending bill would appropriate $125 million for CBJTI in FY 2006, $125 million less than was requested by the Administration.

  • An amendment introduced by Congressman David Obey (D-WI), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, approved yesterday to restore approximately $100 million in funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), would take $58 million from "training and employment services" programs in the Department of Labor's budget. According to a preliminary review of the House language in the amendment, it appears some portion of the $58 million taken from Department of Labor's training and employment programs could reduce formula allocations to states under WIA beginning in PY 2006.

  • Under the House FY 2006 spending bill, the Employment Service (ES) program would be cut by approximately $85 million, the same as the Administration's request, for a total appropriation of $696 million. The cut to the ES program was first requested by the Administration in its FY 2005 Budget request justified from "administrative efficiencies" that would result from a consolidation of WIA programs and the ES program in its WIA reform package. The bill would cut the WIA Adult program from its FY 2005 level by $25 million, the same as the Administration's request, for a total appropriation of $866 million. The WIA Youth program would be cut by $36 million, the same as the Administration's request, for a total appropriation of $950 million.

  • Appropriations for administration of Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs would be provided under the House bill at the same levels requested by the Administration. UI state operations would be appropriated $2,622 million with UI National Activities funded at $10 million. The House bill would earmark up to $10 million from the state operations appropriation to station staff in one-stop centers to conduct UI eligibility interviews. On a side note, language included in the House conference report suggests the Department of Labor "encourage states to consider supporting Rapid Reemployment Pilot demonstration programs that use an already-developed tool for building resumes over the phone." This language may have been inserted in the House conference report at the request of Advanced Workforce Systems (AWS), a private company that has developed an application to produce resumes by telephone. No funding has been earmarked for this purpose.

  • Finally, the House spending bill would appropriate $88 million for the America's Labor Market Information System (ALMIS), or about $10 million less than was provided in FY 2005. The House report states funding for ALMIS supports core employment statistics, universal access for customers, improving efficiency in labor market transactions, and measuring and displaying WIA performance information.
    • Week of June 13, 2005


    HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE APPROVES LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FY 2006 SPENDING BILL

  • The House Appropriations Subcommittee met on Thursday, June 9, 2005, and approved on a voice vote $142.5 billion in discretionary spending for health, education, and labor agencies for fiscal year 2006. Included in the bill is nearly $11.1 billion in discretionary spending for the US Department of Labor (USDOL) - a cut of almost $400 million from the 2005 allocation. Nevertheless, the subcommittee's allocation is still higher than the Administration's request, by about $76 million.

  • Of the $11.1 billion slated for USDOL, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will receive almost $10.7 billion; which is $489 million less than its FY 2005 funding. Under this bill, dislocated worker assistance would be cut almost $71 million, while the employment service would be cut $115 million. The adult employment and training programs would be funded at $44.6 million, a $6 million increase. The employment security trust funds would receive $77.9 million, a $29 million increase.

  • Departing from the Administration's budget request, the House spending bill retains current funding levels for migrant and seasonal farmworker employment services - funding this program at almost $76 million. The Bureau of Labor Statistics would receive $542.5 million, an increase of $13.5 million over current funding.

  • USDOL's International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) is slated for an 87% cut (to $12.4 million). Other agencies received a modest increase in their funding levels, generally following the Administration's request: the Employment Standards Administration would be funded at $416 million, a $15.5 million increase; the Employee Benefits Security Administration would receive $137 million, a $5.8 million increase; the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would receive $477 million, a $10 million increase; and the National Labor Relations Board would receive $252.3 million, a $2.4 million increase.

  • The bill is scheduled for consideration by the full House Appropriations Committee the week of June 13, 2005.

    SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE APPROVES FY 2006 SPENDING ALLOCATIONS

  • The Senate Appropriations Committee met on Thursday, June 9, 2005, and approved allocations for the FY 2006 spending bills. The Senate may now consider individual appropriations measures. Majority leadership hopes to pass all measures early on to avoid a year-end omnibus bill, which has become a typical scenario in the last few years.

  • The Committee approved a total of $842 billion in discretionary funds for 12 subcommittees to consider. It also approved the Interior spending bill - which was the first bill to be acted on this year. The allocations significantly depart from both the Administration's budget request and the overall House spending plans. Chairman Thad Cochran's (R-MS) plan moves billions from defense to domestic programs. While the proposed funding shifts are not expected to become law, they provide latitude to help alleviate early battles over domestic program cuts to avoid an omnibus bill. It is most likely that the proposed defense cuts would be augmented by supplemental spending bills - such as those funding military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

  • Committee allocations among the 12 subcommittees is as follows:
    1. Agriculture would be funded at $17.3 billion, up from the President's request of $16.9 billion;
    2. Commerce-Justice at $48.6 billion, up from the President's request of $47.3 billion;
    3. Defense at $400.7 billion, down from the President's request of $407.7 billion;
    4. District of Columbia funding at $593, up from the President's request of $573;
    5. Energy and Water at $31.2 billion, up from the President's request of $29.7 billion;
    6. Homeland Security at $30.8 billion, up from the President's request of $29.6 billion;
    7. Interior at $26.2 billion, up from the President's request of 25.7 billion;
    8. Labor and Health and Human Services at $141.3 billion, the same as the President's request;
    9. Legislative Branch at $3.9 billion, down from the President's request of $4 billion;
    10. Military Construction/Veterans Affairs at $44 billion, up from the President's request of $43.1 billion;
    11. State-Foreign Operations at $31.7 billion, down from the President's request of $32.7 billion;
    12. Transportation-Treasury-HUD at $65.4 billion, up from the President's request of $63.1 billion.

  • The Senate's total allocation for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments is $141.3; $1.2 billion less than what is allocated in the House bill, and matches the President's request. It is expected that four bills - Defense; District of Columbia; Labor, HHS, Education; and Transportation-Treasury-Housing-Judiciary-HUD would move through the committee in July. Mismatched House and Senate subcommittee jurisdictions appear to be complicating matters for appropriators, who have not yet demonstrated how they will structure conference negotiations on affected bills.