WIA Reauthorization

The voice vote passage of WIA reauthorization on the Senate floor in the waning moments before the July 4th recess gave hope to the prospects of many locals that WIA can be reauthorized this year, after months of stagnation. Senate floor passage was incremental progress forward, as the hold that blocked the bill was removed only under the condition that a resolution regarding faith based language be found before convening a formal Conference Committee.

NWA met with key Committee Members and their staff in both the House and Senate last week. Substantive negotiations have not begun on WIA, in large part because the House and Senate Committees are finalizing Conference negotiations reauthorizing vocational education and the Older Americans Act. Passage of these bills and possibly a long stalled pensions bill may help create more momentum to finish WIA this year as well. House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Buck McKeon told NWA that he hopes to complete all of these bills, as well as the Higher Education Act, before the end of the year.

While no ready solution to the faith based issue is apparent, there is still reason for optimism as key Conference negotiators, at the Member level, share a desire to complete WIA reauthorization. Senate HELP Committee Chairman Enzi, Ranking Member Kennedy, and House Chairman McKeon have all publicly declared their desire to complete the bill. Senior HELP Committee staff for Senator Enzi told NWA that the Chairman believes that there is an 85% chance that they will complete the bill this year, while other Committee officials privately put the odds of passage closer to 50%.

The legislative calendar and the post election political environment may pose significant challenges for reauthorization efforts. Less than twenty legislative days remain before Congress adjourns on September 29 until its returns for a lame duck session after the election and House and Senate Committee agreed, in separate discussions, there was little chance that a Conference Committee could complete its negotiations before the election. The lame duck session is expected to last until well into December, providing staff with additional time to complete their negotiations. However, we cannot predict at this point what the post election political environment will look like and whether it will allow for the completion of unfinished bills outside of the appropriations process.

While most workforce groups would welcome the opportunity to reauthorize the bill this year, rather than allow the Department to continue to use regulatory means to enact their unsuccessful reauthorization agenda, Committee staff also indicate that they expect resistance from some quarters. Eleventh hour actions to derail Senate passage were waged by some in the labor movement, who oppose moving WIA reauthorization this year, hoping that a more favorable legislative landscape will allow for the creation of a better bill in the next Congress. While these efforts failed, they are expected to continue in Conference.

We are also are aware that some groups representing states are considering an effort to revive in Conference their failed proposal to allow states optional authority to broadly consolidate WIA funding streams. This proposal was rejected in both the House and Senate, making it unlikely that it would be accepted in Conference, but highlights for the local system the need to complete reauthorization this year – and not refight battles over state vs. local control in the next Congress.