October 29, 2007
Expansion will help workers, communities impacted by unfair trade policies
LANSING - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and U.S. Representative Sander Levin today urged swift congressional action to reauthorize and expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program so Michigan can help workers who have been impacted by the unfair trade policies of the Bush Administration. Granholm and Levin made their remarks during a discussion with workers, community leaders, and Michigan Works! Agency officials.
"No state has been ravaged more than Michigan by unfair trade policies that have led to the outsourcing of jobs under the Bush Administration," Granholm said. "Strengthening and expanding the TAA program is a critical component in our plan to train workers and get them into 21st century jobs," Granholm said.
The federally funded TAA program is designed to provide support and training benefits to workers displaced from their jobs because of U.S. trade policies. Approximately 15,000 Michigan workers are currently enrolled in TAA training programs. While TAA is supposed to help any worker whose job has been impacted by trade policies, Michigan has routinely exhausted funding and been forced to appeal for additional monies.
"At the same time we are taking steps toward a new trade policy that stands up for U.S. businesses and workers in the global marketplace, it is also vital that workers, firms, and communities have a reformed and strengthened trade and globalization assistance program," Levin said.
The TAA bill would double the funding available for workers and create a new component called TAA for Communities, which would offer a new set of tax incentives designed to encourage redevelopment of areas that have faced reductions in manufacturing employment. Qualified areas would be designated as Manufacturing Redevelopment Zones and would be able to offer low-income housing credits and tax credits to new businesses.
Fighting for workers affected by unfair trade policies and globalization has been a priority of Granholm's. In August, the governor launched the No Worker Left Behind initiative, first outlined in her State of the State address earlier this year. The program provides up to two years of free tuition at any Michigan community college, university, or other approved training program for qualifying participants. Participants must earn a certification or degree in a high-demand occupation or gain the entrepreneurial skills needed to start their own businesses.
The TAA reauthorization bills have been introduced in both the Senate and the House, where a vote could come as early as Wednesday.
Congressman Levin is a co-sponsor of HR 3920, which expands and improves TAA to cover service workers for the first time to ensure that more manufacturing workers are covered, to make the health care tax credit more affordable, and to establish programs to assist entire communities impacted by manufacturing job losses.
"The current Trade Adjustment Assistance program is not working for enough workers and needs to be dramatically overhauled and expanded," said Congressman Levin. "We have worked all year to gather input from states, and this bill responds directly to their concerns and suggestions to make the program work better to address the challenges of globalization."
Granholm thanked Congressman Levin for his bipartisan work on the TAA reauthorization bill and expressed a desire to continue to work with the Michigan congressional delegation on the reauthorization of this program.
"Congress must stand up for workers and communities against the threats and opposition from the Bush Administration," Granholm said. "They must work to quickly enact a new and better TAA program for American workers and Michigan workers," said Granholm.
Both Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow are cosponsors of S. 1848, the Senate version of the TAA Reauthorization bill.
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