Last Monday, NAWB along with 12 other national organizations wrote to the leadership of the Senate HELP Committee-Senators Kennedy, Enzi, Murray, and Isakson-urging enactment of the WIA reauthorization bill this year.  For the full text of the letter, click here.

Last Thursday and Friday, several members of the NAWB Board's Advocacy Committee held a series of meetings with the staff of the House Education and Labor Committee, House Labor Appropriations Subcommittee, the Senate HELP Committee, and Senate Labor Appropriations Committee to discuss WIA reauthorization and FY 2008 funding for education and labor programs.

It appears that the Senate HELP Committee is getting ready to move forward later this month on the WIA reauthorization bill, and that the House Education and Labor Committee will turn its attention to WIA reauthorization toward the latter part of June.

Also, the Democratic leadership is looking toward approval of the budget resolution in both the House and Senate by the end of this week so that work may begin on FY 2008 appropriations.  It appears that the House/Senate compromise version of this approximately $2.9 trillion budget resolution will likely include $20-$22 billion more in discretionary spending than requested by the Bush Administration.  However, due to the many competing interests for the additional funding, it is unclear at this time how much of the additional funding would go to workforce development.    

While NAWB is working hard on your behalf, there has never been a more critical time than now for the local workforce system to stand up and extol its accomplishments.  Please consider holding an event at your local One-Stop Center and inviting your congressional representatives to attend.  Or, sending them newspaper clippings or data sharing your success stories.  Or, having your local elected officials contact them.  With the outlook for appropriations looking uncertain and WIA reauthorization looking favorable, please leave no stone unturned during this critical window of opportunity! 

Update on Defense Supplemental Bill

Congress is expected this week to make a second attempt at the defense supplemental bill.   Following the President's veto last week of the first version of the bill due to his opposition to deadlines for withdrawal from Iraq and to "extraneous" spending, there have been talks between The White House and Congress.  Opinions vary as to whether a bill acceptable to both is possible in the short-term.  There is some talk of stop-gap funding for defense purposes through July 2007.  Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, continues to insist that the small-business tax relief/minimum-wage provisions remain in the defense supplemental.

Legislation Introduced to Give Tax Break to Master Teachers in Underperforming Schools

Last week, Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) joined with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to introduce bipartisan legislation that would create a group of highly-qualified "master teachers" who would receive a break on their federal income taxes for teaching in schools that fail to meet standards defined under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).   For more details regarding this proposed legislation, see http://cardin.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=273518.