House Democrats pressing for extension of trade adjustment assistance

By Vicki Needham - 02/15/11 06:59 PM ET

Two House Democratic lawmakers are urging Republicans on Tuesday to extend a program this week that provides job training for those who have lost work because of foreign trade.

House Ways and Means ranking member Sander Levin (D-Mich.) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) want House Republicans to vote on the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) programs, which expired Saturday and saw its programs begin to lose funding today, stopping some services for upward of 170,000 people.

"There's not a sense of crisis and there's a grave misunderstanding as what this bill is about," Levin told reporters today in his office.

"We have an obligation to help people who have lost a job through no fault of their own and TAA is meeting that responsibility."

With the expiration, the program's spending levels drop from $575 million to $220 million, worker-training programs are eliminated and the healthcare credit drops from 80 percent to 65 percent, all changes made in in 2009 that provided a boost to the program.

McDermott argued that the bill could easily be completed this week for Congress leaves Washington for a weeklong recess, even though House lawmakers are bogged down debating hundreds of amendments to a the Republicans proposed continuing resolution this week.

"This has to happen now," Levin said.

They also failed to move along with the ATPA, which reduces tariffs on imports from Colombia and other Latin American nations as part of an effort to stop the illegal narcotics trade.

Levin said on Tuesday that ATPA and TAA should be voted on together saying, "I'm not in favor of doing them separately."

Democrats are seeking to extend TAA for at least the rest of the year and pay for the bill with customs users fee, Levin said.

The proposed bill that was pulled from the floor last week is paid for with a shift in funds from community colleges, McDermott said.

"You're forcing us to decide between community colleges or dealing with unemployed workers," he said.

Levin and McDermott are convinced that some Republicans support the measure and want to move forward so they are trying to build alliances with other lawmakers who support the initiative to push the bill forward faster.

"I think Mr. Camp wanted the bill brought up," Levin said. "We're not trying to undercut anyone who wants to proceed."

Camp has recently indicated that Republican leaders could revive TAA and but he's uncertain of when that bill would be ready.

House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (Calif.), blasted Republicans on Tuesday evening for failing to bring up the bill.

"After six weeks in the majority, House Republicans are making their priorities quite clear," he said in a statement. "No jobs bill to speak of. No committee hearing on jobs. Not a single action to promote jobs in America."

He said the majority "shouldn’t play chicken" with those affected by trade.

"Now, they are doubling down," he said. "They are going to pull the rug out from under American workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas by letting a proven, effective program expire that helps them retrain, retool and transition into a new job."

The TAA program was amended in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to include assistance to service sector workers whose jobs had been outsourced. It also increased the support to cover the cost of health care for displaced workers from 65 percent of premium costs to 80 percent.

Meanwhile, while Levin and McDermott apply pressure on TAA, Camp is ramping up his calls for the Obama administration to accelerate the three pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, completing them by July 1.

"Without this commitment from the administration, other trade measures, such as TAA and ATPA, are now in limbo, and American workers will suffer as a result," Camp said in a statement.

Sen. Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has indicated that he would block TAA until the White House vows to move the free-trade agreement with Colombia.

The South Korean agreement is expected to reach Capitol Hill within the next few weeks and the administration is still in negotiations with Panama and Colombia over several unresolved issues, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk hasn't provided a timeline for Colombia and Panama as the last details are ironed out.

"It's a serious mistake to hold TAA hostage," Levin said.

The Senate Finance Committee also has a bill in the works so, if lawmakers can agree on how to pay for the measure, the legislation could move quickly through Congress, McDermott said.

"This is the clearest indication of the attitude of the other's side to the unemployed," McDermott said.

"By not extending it they're saying we don't care what happens to you," he said. "It's spiteful toward workers."

House Republicans had scheduled a vote last week but pulled the measure from the calendar when party conservatives raised concerns about the program.

The House had scheduled a Tuesday vote but that was postponed after conservative Republicans raised several issues with the measure including that "these programs were either created or greatly expanded by Democrats 'stimulus.'

The Republican Study Committee said the bill would cost $620 million for the remainder of 2011 and $6.5 billion over 10 years and that money would be better spent on deficit reduction, according to a policy analysis.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) recently joined 13 other senators in sending a letter to House leadership urging an extension to TAA.

“Over 360,000 Americans have been certified for TAA assistance over the past two years, and over 40 percent of them were certified because of the improvements to TAA that were enacted in 2006," Brown said. "It is critical that we preserve all these improvements to TAA.”

The House passed an 18-month extension in December by voice vote but the Senate shortened the bill and bickered over other trade issues that halted the bill's clearance by Congress. The program's reauthorization must originate in the House.

Instead, a six-week extension was passed, giving lawmakers until next week to determine the fate of TAA.