Continuing Resolution passes without WIOA reauthorization

Posted on by Support

Dec. 20, 2024 – The 118th Congress will conclude without having completed work to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). This leaves our nation’s public workforce system once again at a crossroads as workforce development boards look ahead to the future.

WIOA was last updated in 2014 with an authorization period of five years, concluding in 2019. It remains a national imperative that Congress work to successfully reauthorize this critically important public investment which serves as the workforce ecosystem’s backbone in communities and states across this country.

Newly updated WIOA legislation is needed to ensure services to thousands of employers, learners, and workers as they seek to leverage the public workforce system to find dignity through work, build new skills, change careers, and to secure family-sustaining employment.

The National Association of Workforce Boards–which serves, supports and represents workforce boards–looks forward to working with the 119th Congress to update WIOA to meet the current moment and to help more Americans find success in today’s dynamic economy. We stand ready to work together to that critical end.

Congress Proposes New CR, Does Not Include WIOA Reauthorization

Posted on by Support

Dec. 19, 2024 — Late this afternoon, Congress released a new draft of the Continuing Resolution (CR) to continue funding the government through March 14. This new bill does not contain A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA), which would have reauthorized the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) through 2030. (Note: This is a reversal from the initial CR released earlier this week, which included ASWA, after the CR was criticized by conservative members of Congress and President-elect Trump for the many extraneous provisions that had been added, effectively killing the proposal.)

The new CR includes a two-year debt ceiling suspension — a key request from President-elect Trump — along with a slew of other spending priorities sought by Congressional Republicans.

It is unclear if this newly released CR has the necessary support in Congress to pass. If it is adopted, it will likely mark the end of further consideration of WIOA reauthorization this Congress.

Our public policy team is continuing to engage with this process closely and will keep members informed of any further developments.

Congress Releases the Legislative Text of the Continuing Resolution; ASWA is Included

Posted on by Support

Dec. 18, 2024 — Yesterday, Congress released the legislative text of the Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend funding for the current fiscal year until March 14, 2025. The bill includes a number of pending pieces of legislation, including A Stronger Workforce for America (ASWA), which reauthorizes the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) through 2030. The inclusion of ASWA in this bill is an important milestone for our nation’s public workforce system.

We remain concerned about certain provisions in the bill and their impact on local boards’ ability to fulfill their missions – such as the redesignation process and expanding the Governor’s set-aside allowance. However, we are pleased to see several changes within the proposal that have been made since the bicameral bipartisan Committee agreement was announced a few weeks ago. These changes include:

  • The 50% training mandate has been adjusted so that Supportive Services and Career Services can be calculated as up to 10% of Title I funds, giving boards more flexibility in meeting this mandate.
  • ASWA increases youth work experience obligations to 40% but does not include an employer matching requirement.
  • Extended implementation timelines in serval programmatic areas.

While not aligned to NAWB’s recommendation to fund local and state workforce boards at the level needed to fully meet demand, we note that this authorization would increase in funding over current levels.

Should the CR complete the legislative process and the WIOA system be reauthorized, we stand ready to work with the Department of Labor and other workforce development stakeholders to inform ASWA’s implementation.

A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA) Hotline Process

Posted on by Support
Dec. 11, 2024 — As you are aware, a bipartisan, bicameral agreement, known as A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA), was announced by Congressional leaders just before Thanksgiving. We have previously highlighted that while there are elements of this legislation that are aligned with NAWB’s vision for the public workforce system, our members continue to raise serious concerns regarding specific aspects of this agreement. These concerns continue to be centered around ASWA’s proposed training mandate, increased allowance for state-level Title I reservations, and the wider process for redesignation of local workforce areas—areas of the legislation we highlighted explicitly last week.

At the time of this writing, ASWA is still being considered by the Senate via a “hotline” process which requires the consent of all 100 Senators. There remain several holds on this hotline process, from both Democrats and Republicans, on a range of issues including the concerns raised by NAWB and its members. This process is still ongoing and remains extremely fluid.

Another possible path forward for ASWA is attaching it to another “must pass” piece of legislation under consideration in the current Congress. While these options are limited and have other associated challenges outside of the current hotline process, the need to fund the federal government beyond December 20, 2024 via an extension of current federal funding (known as Continuing Resolution, or “CR”) remains a key outstanding issue that lawmakers must address by next week.

While it remains unclear whether ASWA can be advanced via either of these paths in the coming days ahead, we are continuing to reiterate these concerns directly to lawmakers. Concessions have been made already in certain areas; we remain hopeful that additional improvements to the legislation can be made at this late stage in the reauthorization process.

Updates on WIOA Reauthorization

Posted on by Support

As we reported on November 27, Congressional committee leaders have reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to reauthorize WIOA. Since that time, NAWB, as well as partners from our local coalition, have been actively engaged with committee staff on aspects of the bill which stand to jeopardize the ability of local boards to fulfill their mission.

Through all these conversations, we have reiterated the importance of local boards being empowered to serve those individuals seeking paths to employment and businesses needing to hire that talent. Local boards are best positioned to understand economies on the ground, talent needs in their region (which could include training but should not be unnecessarily required), and build strategies to address those needs and connect people with work.

The bill’s training mandate, redesignation, and the additional state set-aside provisions as currently constructed threaten a local board’s ability to meet that objective and would severely limit its ability to be demand-driven. By directing a majority of a local board’s resources to be used for explicit and limited purposes, tens of thousands of employers will no longer be effectively served by the American Job Centers. More job openings will remain unfilled and the system will add fewer new workers to our nation’s tax base.

There are currently a handful of Senators who have placed a hold on the bill, which stops it from moving. The deadline for the hotline process on the Republican side is Thursday, Dec. 5 and the Democratic side is Friday, Dec. 6. As we continue to have ongoing discussions with Senate and House Committees on ways to refine and improve the agreement in the areas of greatest concern to our membership, we urge you to contact your Senators and ask them to place a hold or to continue their hold on ASWA to prevent these harmful provisions from impacting your board’s operations. Please free to share these perspectives and also connect them with NAWB directly for any questions regarding these efforts.

House and Senate Reach Agreement on WIOA Reauthorization Bill But Concerns Remain

Posted on by Support

On Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, leaders of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced that they have reached a bipartisan and bicameral agreement on legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) for the next five years.

Details, including legislative text, have not yet been made public. However, committee leaders provided a high-level initial briefing earlier today highlighting some of the major components of this proposal. The new bill largely appears to build on the House bill, A Stronger Workforce for America Act (HR 6655), about which we expressed significant concerns when it was passed by the House earlier this year.

Similar to H.R. 6655, the bipartisan agreement would maintain a narrowly defined 50% training mandate for Title I Adult and Dislocated Worker funding streams. The emerging agreement would, however, allow for up to 8% of this required training services expenditure to be used for supportive services—a small departure from this provision in the House’s earlier WIOA proposal.

Details regarding state-level set-asides remain unclear, but committee leaders have indicated that these funds would support statewide initiatives similar to the House and Senate’s proposals regarding critical industry skills funds and sector partnership efforts. It also remains unclear how local workforce area redesignation efforts, another area of significant concern for NAWB and other local partners, would be structured in this agreement.

Election 2024: Initial Takeaways

Posted on by Support

Here’s What We Know:

  • Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th President of the United States. In his previous term, the former President supported workforce development policies that emphasized employers’ roles and contributions to the workforce system.
  • Republicans have regained control of the U.S. Senate for the 119th Congress, which begins in January, but the final margin of control is still being sorted out.
  • The Senate Republican conference is expected to begin deliberations to elect a new Majority Leader in the next few weeks. Current frontrunners for this position are Senators John Thune (R-SD), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Rick Scott (R-FL).
  • As the party controlling the Senate, Republicans will serve as Chair of each Senate committee:
  • The Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will likely be led by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
  • The Senate Appropriations Committee will likely be chaired by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).
  • There will be many new U.S. Senators in the 119th Congress, including:
    • Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD)
    • Jim Banks (R-IN)
    • John Curtis (R-UT)
    • Jim Justice (R-WV)
    • Andy Kim (D-NJ)
    • Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio)
    • Pete Ricketts (R-NE)
    • Adam Schiff (D-CA)
    • Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)
    • Tim Sheehy (R-MT)
  • Several races are still too close to call.
  • U.S. House races will take more time to be determined, so control of the House remains uncertain at this time.

Here’s What’s Next:

  • NAWB will share information as it becomes available on committee leadership, the final makeup of Congress, and prospects for workforce policy in the 119th Congress.
  • NAWB will advocate for a strong investment in workforce development in the new president’s budget, inaugural address, and Cabinet nominations. This includes reaching out to the White House Transition Team.
  • NAWB will host a special post-election Public Policy PowerUp for our members on Friday, Nov. 22, at 1pm EST.
  • NAWB is already planning Workforce Advocacy Day, which will take place immediately following The Forum in Washington DC.

Here’s What You Can Do:

  • Tell us about your connections to newly-elected (or re-elected) members of Congress or local officials. This will help us in planning our advocacy throughout the year. Email us at nawb@nawb.org
  • Plan to join us for Workforce Advocacy Day. This is the ideal opportunity to tell the powerful story of workforce development in your community and to build strong relationships with our elected officials in Washington.
  • Congratulate everyone in your community who ran for office, even if they didn’t win. This is a great way to acknowledge community leaders and build relationships with potential future leaders.

Your Voice Matters:

Every new member of Congress will come to Washington with a different level of knowledge about the workforce development system. It will be up to all of us to educate them about how the system serves their constituents and how Congress can bolster it.

NAWB is committed to providing the tools and resources needed to advocate effectively on these issues.