Workers who lose their jobs because of unfair trade deals will have to battle teenagers, veterans and other workers for a smaller pool of training money, under President George Bush's proposed budget.
In his budget for the year starting Oct. 1, the president wants to combine the Trade Adjustment Assistance program -- currently serving workers dislocated by trade deals -- with others serving jobless adults and teens into one big block grant--and let states decide how to spend the money.
And there would be less to spend, too: The programs involved get $7.9 billion in this fiscal year, but Bush would give them--through the governors--$7.53 billion, a cut of 5.3 percent.
By contrast, Trade Adjustment Assistance, which includes aid to workers who lost jobs to NAFTA, used $1.08 billion this year to help 475,000 workers, last year's budget says.
The Bush budget got negative reviews from top union leaders.
"As manufacturing continues to lose jobs at a relentless pace, this is not the time to cut programs that offer job training opportunities for laid-off factory workers," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
The fate of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program was repeated elsewhere in Bush's $2.5 trillion spending plan, as he proposed block grants, program cuts, outright elimination or all of the above in education, housing and other areas.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities--the only group that uses the same mathematical precision and calculation as the government for crunching budget numbers--said the cuts and changes would trim $20 billion from domestic programs this year and $616 billion over the next decade, if enacted.
And it's too early to tell if Bush's idea will succeed. He proposed a variation on the block grant scheme last February, for this year, too--and the GOP-run Congress turned it down.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao defended the block grant plan by saying governors could each decide top job training priorities--for veterans, all jobless adults, for dislocated workers who get TAA aid, or teens--for their states.
"Right now, there's a plethora of funding streams" for the unemployed "and there's a lot of work a jobless worker needs to do" to figure out what money to seek, she declared.
"The last thing (jobless workers) need is to face a federal bureaucracy that is unresponsive. We hope that by allowing governors the option of consolidating these programs, including adult education, the one for dislocated workers, and the one for youth, they can decide how to best allocate the money."
While outlining Bush's budget proposal, Chao laid great stress on what she called "protecting union members." But her protection was reflected in one of the few increases in the budget: A proposed 17 percent increase--to $48.8 million--in the Office of Labor-Management Standards.
That's the part of the Labor Department, strongly pushed by the so-called National Right to Work Committee, that jammed through new union "reporting rules" last year. The rules force unions nationwide into new mountains of paperwork, specifying spending on everything from paychecks to paper clips.
The paperwork could cost up to $1 billion, the AFL-CIO says --money unions otherwise could devote to helping their members. Chao said the new rules bring "transparency" to union finances.
Other points of the proposed Labor Department budget:
* Another $250 million doled out to community colleges for job training programs.
* An 86.7 percent cut, to $12.4 million, in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs. ILA fights child labor and helps represent the U.S. at the International Labour Organization.
Chao said she wants to take the international bureau out of grantmaking. She said it got into that field under the Clinton administration. Bush and Chao would return it just to its "core mission" of ILO representation. Her budget also says the bureau "would continue to support the president's trade agenda."
The bureau was one of the 150 federal programs that Bush wants to sharply cut or kill. Another was training for migrant farm workers, which Chao said would fall to zero. She said departmental studies show the program is ineffective.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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Workers who lose their jobs because of unfair trade deals will have to battle teenagers, veterans and other workers for a smaller pool of training money, under President George Bush’s proposed budget.
In his budget for the year starting Oct. 1, the president wants to combine the Trade Adjustment Assistance program — currently serving workers dislocated by trade deals — with others serving jobless adults and teens into one big block grant–and let states decide how to spend the money.
And there would be less to spend, too: The programs involved get $7.9 billion in this fiscal year, but Bush would give them–through the governors–$7.53 billion, a cut of 5.3 percent.
By contrast, Trade Adjustment Assistance, which includes aid to workers who lost jobs to NAFTA, used $1.08 billion this year to help 475,000 workers, last year’s budget says.
The Bush budget got negative reviews from top union leaders.
“As manufacturing continues to lose jobs at a relentless pace, this is not the time to cut programs that offer job training opportunities for laid-off factory workers,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
The fate of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program was repeated elsewhere in Bush’s $2.5 trillion spending plan, as he proposed block grants, program cuts, outright elimination or all of the above in education, housing and other areas.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities–the only group that uses the same mathematical precision and calculation as the government for crunching budget numbers–said the cuts and changes would trim $20 billion from domestic programs this year and $616 billion over the next decade, if enacted.
And it’s too early to tell if Bush’s idea will succeed. He proposed a variation on the block grant scheme last February, for this year, too–and the GOP-run Congress turned it down.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao defended the block grant plan by saying governors could each decide top job training priorities–for veterans, all jobless adults, for dislocated workers who get TAA aid, or teens–for their states.
“Right now, there’s a plethora of funding streams” for the unemployed “and there’s a lot of work a jobless worker needs to do” to figure out what money to seek, she declared.
“The last thing (jobless workers) need is to face a federal bureaucracy that is unresponsive. We hope that by allowing governors the option of consolidating these programs, including adult education, the one for dislocated workers, and the one for youth, they can decide how to best allocate the money.”
While outlining Bush’s budget proposal, Chao laid great stress on what she called “protecting union members.” But her protection was reflected in one of the few increases in the budget: A proposed 17 percent increase–to $48.8 million–in the Office of Labor-Management Standards.
That’s the part of the Labor Department, strongly pushed by the so-called National Right to Work Committee, that jammed through new union “reporting rules” last year. The rules force unions nationwide into new mountains of paperwork, specifying spending on everything from paychecks to paper clips.
The paperwork could cost up to $1 billion, the AFL-CIO says –money unions otherwise could devote to helping their members. Chao said the new rules bring “transparency” to union finances.
Other points of the proposed Labor Department budget:
* Another $250 million doled out to community colleges for job training programs.
* An 86.7 percent cut, to $12.4 million, in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs. ILA fights child labor and helps represent the U.S. at the International Labour Organization.
Chao said she wants to take the international bureau out of grantmaking. She said it got into that field under the Clinton administration. Bush and Chao would return it just to its “core mission” of ILO representation. Her budget also says the bureau “would continue to support the president’s trade agenda.”
The bureau was one of the 150 federal programs that Bush wants to sharply cut or kill. Another was training for migrant farm workers, which Chao said would fall to zero. She said departmental studies show the program is ineffective.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.