House’s FY 2008 Budget Resolution to be Marked Up Week of March 19th

The House Budget Committee’s mark-up of the FY 2008 Budget Resolution, a precursor to the FY 2008 appropriations process, has been postponed to the week of March 19th. House leaders decided to delay the mark-up by a week or so in order to first consider the FY 2007 defense supplemental bill to fund operations in Iraq.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D- SD) says that his proposed budget would be balanced within five years and without tax rate increases in 2011 or 2012. He also said that he would propose more discretionary spending than in The White House’s budget for education, low-income heating assistance, and other domestic programs.

Consideration of the twelve appropriations bills to fund discretionary programs is predicted to begin in May.

GAO Controller General Proposes More Use of Mature Workers

In testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Comptroller General David M. Walker cited a GAO study--see GAO-07-433T at http://aging.senate.gov/events/hr169dw.pdf-- indicating that the American economy would benefit from increased participation and retention of mature workers in the active labor market. Advantages would include increased retirement savings for these mature workers, reduction of projected labor shortages for employers, and defrayal of costs associated with Social Security and Medicare.

Senate HELP Committee Hears Testimony on No Child Left Behind and American Competitiveness

On Tuesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard testimony from a variety of experts on the No Child Left Behind Act, which is expected to command much attention from the HELP Committee this year – thus possibly delaying consideration of both the Higher Education Act and the Workforce Investment Act reauthorizations. The Committee also conducted a hearing on Wednesday on strengthening American competitiveness for the 21st Century, during which Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates shared his thoughts on American education, workforce development, and other factors affecting American competitiveness. Copies of testimony from these hearings are available on the Senate HELP Committee website at http://help.senate.gov/./Hearings.html.

Trade Adjustment Assistance Act (TAA) Up for Reauthorization This Year

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Act (TAA) expires at the end of this fiscal year. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), along with co-sponsor Senator Norm Coleman (R- MN), introduced legislation on January 4th (S. 122) that would extend TAA benefits to more American workers whose jobs are affected by trade agreements, increased imports, and foreign competition. Currently, TAA benefits only workers in the manufacturing sector. S. 122 would include, among others, provisions to:

• Reauthorize TAA until 2012
• Extend benefits to service-sector workers including those in public agencies
• Extend benefits to workers affected by increases in use of imported services
• Extend benefits to workers affected by off-shoring of facilities
• Extend benefits to secondary service workers who supply services to TAA-eligible companies
• Streamline wage insurance applications
• Lower the age threshold from 50 to 40 years old.

In the House, a bill to amend TAA (H.R. 910) was introduced on February 20th by Representative Phil English (R-PA).

A wide variety of information on and analysis of the current TAA law and the proposed TAA reauthorization bills is available from the U.S. Department of Labor (www.dol.gov), the Senate Finance Committee ( http://finance.senate.gov/index.html), the “Thomas” legislative information website ( http://thomas.loc.gov/ ), and the Government Accountability Office (www.gao.gov).

More than 1,700 workforce investment leaders and business executives from across the country gathered in Washington, DC on February 24th- 27th for NAWB’s signature event, Forum 2007. Highlights included:

• Keynote address by Paul Oralea, Founder of Kinko's;
• WIB chairs session with Assistant Secretary for Employment & Training Emily DeRocco;
• Strategy session on regionalism and the future of the workforce system;
• Issue forums on topics such as Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), workforce readiness, and benchmarking of WIBs;
• Presentation of the Theodore E. Small Workforce Partnership Awards (read about the winners at www.nawb.org/forum/awards.html);
• Closing session on innovative and alternative funding strategies; and,
• Several sessions to inform workforce and business leaders about federal policy, legislation, regulations, and appropriations affecting the workforce system.

Many of the Forum presentations and materials are now available via the NAWB website, including session materials and advocacy-related handouts. Click here.

EntrepreneurshipWeek USA Draws Thousands of Participants

NAWB was a proud co-sponsor of the first EntrepreneurshipWeek USA, held February 24th- March 3rd, which drew tens of thousands of participants in activities such as a national policy summit, a competition involving more than 400 teams to create value from a pack of Post-It notes, a live webcast, and additional activities at more than 350 universities and colleges and hundreds of communities across the nation. Young people were inspired, educated, and prepared to consider entrepreneurship and innovation in all aspects of their lives. For more information, see http://www.entrepreneurshipweekusa.com/.

Tips on Developing a Successful Grant Proposal

Before submitting a grant proposal, it is recommended that you ask some trusted readers to review the entire proposal to help determine if your request presents a compelling story and addresses the grantmaker’s usual questions. GrantStation Insider is currently providing tips on grantwriting at http://www.grantstation.com/Public/News_Views_px/tra ckstosuccess.asp

Massachusetts Ranked Highest in Public Education Report

In a recently-released report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts was ranked highest in educational effectiveness, scoring several “A’s” in areas such as academic achievement in math and English, return on education dollars, rigor of standards, and post-secondary and workforce readiness. The top five high-scoring states in their public Education Report Card were Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.

The U.S. Chamber assembled a team of national experts to aggregate and analyze existing state-by-state data and to use that data to construct innovative measures, including evaluating the relationship between spending and student achievement. Principal partners were the Center for American Progress, and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

The report is available online at http://www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/defa ult#top.

email: sewells@nawb.org

phone: 703-778-7900 ext 114

web: http://www.nawb.org