The program, which started in 1962, now covers only factory workers and only if they can directly prove they lose their jobs to subsidized foreign imports. TAA\'s present law, which serves tens of thousands of factory workers, expires Sept. 30 and is up for renewal. Baucus and Snowe want to go further, while anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush again wants to roll TAA into a block grant to states and cut its money.
Besides factory workers, Snowe and Baucus would extend TAA to service workers, since services now are four-fifths of the economy and service jobs are getting outsourced, too. They also would have TAA cover workers who lose their jobs to competition from developing countries--besides Mexico--in addition to developed nations. And they would have federal tax credits cover 85%, not 65%, of health insurance premiums for workers who need TAA because they lost their jobs.
"TAA is a lifeline to American workers re-entering an increasingly global labor market," said Baucus, whose Finance Committee handles trade bills. "But for all the good Trade Adjustment Assistance does, the current program is a complicated maze of hurdles and exceptions.
"For instance, workers can qualify for benefits if their jobs move offshore to Canada, Mexico or another free trade agreement partner. But they will not qualify if their jobs move to China or India. Trade-displaced manufacturing workers can qualify for TAA if they lose their jobs. But accountants or any other service providers cannot. Workers can qualify for wage insurance, but only if they give up their right to retraining.
"It does not have to be this way. The Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act authorizes a more fair, flexible, and relevant program," he declared.
Unions have long supported Trade Adjustment Assistance, and indeed demanded it in 1962 as the condition for their support of the first-ever round of world trade talks. They also support its expansion.
But as Baucus noted, fewer workers use TAA than are potentially eligible, because of the hurdles in their way, and because the Labor Department--under Democratic and Republican administrations--has been hamstrung in giving out TAA money by the law\'s requirement that it only go to workers "who make things."
This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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The program, which started in 1962, now covers only factory workers and only if they can directly prove they lose their jobs to subsidized foreign imports. TAA\’s present law, which serves tens of thousands of factory workers, expires Sept. 30 and is up for renewal. Baucus and Snowe want to go further, while anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush again wants to roll TAA into a block grant to states and cut its money.
Besides factory workers, Snowe and Baucus would extend TAA to service workers, since services now are four-fifths of the economy and service jobs are getting outsourced, too. They also would have TAA cover workers who lose their jobs to competition from developing countries–besides Mexico–in addition to developed nations. And they would have federal tax credits cover 85%, not 65%, of health insurance premiums for workers who need TAA because they lost their jobs.
"TAA is a lifeline to American workers re-entering an increasingly global labor market," said Baucus, whose Finance Committee handles trade bills. "But for all the good Trade Adjustment Assistance does, the current program is a complicated maze of hurdles and exceptions.
"For instance, workers can qualify for benefits if their jobs move offshore to Canada, Mexico or another free trade agreement partner. But they will not qualify if their jobs move to China or India. Trade-displaced manufacturing workers can qualify for TAA if they lose their jobs. But accountants or any other service providers cannot. Workers can qualify for wage insurance, but only if they give up their right to retraining.
"It does not have to be this way. The Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act authorizes a more fair, flexible, and relevant program," he declared.
Unions have long supported Trade Adjustment Assistance, and indeed demanded it in 1962 as the condition for their support of the first-ever round of world trade talks. They also support its expansion.
But as Baucus noted, fewer workers use TAA than are potentially eligible, because of the hurdles in their way, and because the Labor Department–under Democratic and Republican administrations–has been hamstrung in giving out TAA money by the law\’s requirement that it only go to workers "who make things."
This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.