Posted on 11/01/2007 10:43:53 AM PDT by mnehring
This is a very long, detailed bill so I'm only including the TOC and some highlights. The full bill is found on the link above.
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TITLE I--TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR WORKERS
Subtitle A--Trade Adjustment Assistance for Service Sector Workers; Expansion of Covered Shifts in Production; Expansion of Downstream Secondary Worker Eligibility
Sec. 101. Extension of trade adjustment assistance to services sector; shifts in production.
Sec. 102. Determinations by Secretary of Labor.
Sec. 103. Monitoring and reporting relating to service sector.
Subtitle B--Industry-Wide Trade Adjustment Assistance
Sec. 111. Industry-wide determinations.
Sec. 112. Notifications regarding affirmative determinations and safeguards.
Sec. 113. Notification to Secretary of Commerce.
Subtitle C--Program Benefits
Sec. 121. Qualifying requirements for workers.
Sec. 122. Weekly amounts.
Sec. 123. Limitations on trade readjustment allowances; allowances for extended training and breaks in training.
Sec. 124. Special rules for calculation of eligibility period.
Sec. 125. Application of State laws and regulations on good cause for waiver of time limits or late filing of claims.
Sec. 126. Employment and case management services.
Sec. 127. Training.
Sec. 128. Prerequisite education; approved training programs.
Sec. 129. Eligibility for unemployment insurance and program benefits while in training.
Sec. 130. Administrative expenses and employment and case management services.
Sec. 131. Job search and relocation allowances.
Subtitle D--Health Care Provisions
Sec. 141. Modifications relating health insurance assistance for certain TAA and PBGC pension recipients.
Sec. 142. Extension of COBRA benefits for certain TAA-eligible individuals and PBGC recipients.
Subtitle E--Wage Insurance
Sec. 151. Reemployment trade adjustment assistance program for older workers.
Subtitle F--Other Matters
Sec. 161. Restriction on eligibility for program benefits.
Sec. 162. Agreements with States.
Sec. 163. Fraud and recovery of overpayments.
Sec. 164. Technical amendments.
Sec. 165. Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Sec. 166. Collection of data and reports; information to workers.
Sec. 167. Extension of TAA program.
Sec. 168. Judicial review.
Sec. 169. Liberal construction of certification of workers and firms.
TITLE II--TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR FIRMS
Sec. 201. Trade adjustment assistance for firms.
Sec. 202. Extension of authorization of trade adjustment assistance for firms.
Sec. 203. Industry-wide programs for the development of new services.
Sec. 204. Demonstration project on strategic trade transformation assistance.
TITLE III--TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR FARMERS
Sec. 301. Eligibility of certain other producers.
TITLE IV--UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
Sec. 401. Short title.
Sec. 402. Special transfers to State accounts in the Unemployment Trust Fund.
Sec. 403. Extension of FUTA tax.
Sec. 404. Safety Net Review Commission.
TITLE V--MANUFACTURING REDEVELOPMENT ZONES
Sec. 501. Manufacturing redevelopment zones.
Sec. 502. Delay in application of worldwide interest allocation.
TITLE VI--WORKER ADJUSTMENT AND RETRAINING NOTIFICATION
Sec. 601. Short title.
Sec. 602. Amendments to the WARN Act.
Sec. 603. Effective date.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Since January 2001, the United States economy has lost nearly 3 million jobs in the manufacturing sector alone.
(2) Today, over 7.1 million people in the United States are unemployed, and nearly 1.2 million of those individuals have been unemployed for 6 months or longer.
(3) While the United States manufacturing sector has been the hardest hit by increased unemployment, the United States service sector has also seen declines as jobs have moved to low-cost labor markets, such as China, India, and the Philippines.
(4) Promoting the economic growth and competitiveness of the United States requires--
(A) opening substantial new markets for United States goods, services, and farm products;
(B) building a strong framework of rules for international trade to level the playing field for United States workers and businesses in all sectors of the economy; and
(C) helping those affected by globalization overcome its challenges and succeed.
(5) Congress created the trade adjustment assistance program in 1962 to provide United States workers who lose their jobs because of foreign competition with government-funded training and associated income support to enable such workers to transition to new, good-paying jobs.
(6) Unfortunately, the trade adjustment assistance program has not kept pace with globalization and it is failing to ensure that all workers adversely affected by trade receive the assistance they need and deserve.
(7) Workers in the service sector, who make up approximately 80 percent of the United States workforce, are ineligible for trade adjustment assistance.
(8) Inadequate funding for training leaves many dislocated workers without access to the retraining they need to find good-paying jobs.
(9) Unnecessary, unduly burdensome, and confusing program eligibility rules prevent workers from gaining access to benefits for which they are eligible.
(10) The health coverage tax credit suffers from fundamental flaws and, as a result, the credit is not being used by the vast majority of people who are eligible for it, despite a clear need for access to affordable health care.
(11) To meet the challenges posed by globalization and to preserve the critical role that United States workers play in promoting the strength and prosperity of the United States, the trade adjustment assistance program must be reformed.
mnehrling, you are free trade booster AFAIK, what is wrong with this bill? Is it some sort of Govt Creep or ?
No, I have a series of posts on what Congress is passing each day to review and discuss. This is not a promotion of the bill. My profile lists other such posts under “Daily Congressional”.
This looks like a democrat sponsored bill. The fine print will probably do us in. I see Ron Paul didn’t bother to vote.
Hunter and Tancredo voted against it.
Here are the votes:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll1022.xml
“TITLE I—TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR WORKERS”
This is all about throwing more tax dollars to subsidize the globalist traders.
Can you post some specifics to support your contention?
Or maybe even a little bit of analysis?
Look at the bill. This is about retraining, etc. of our workers being displaced by trade, so they’ll stay on the democrat handout bandwagon. They simply want the US Taxpayer to cover the workers displaced by cheap global labor.
Subtitle A—Trade Adjustment Assistance for Service Sector Workers;
-Program Benefits
Sec. 121. Qualifying requirements for workers.
Sec. 122. Weekly amounts.
Sec. 127. Training.
Sec. 128. Prerequisite education; approved training programs.
Sec. 129. Eligibility for unemployment insurance and program benefits while in training.
Sec. 130. Administrative expenses and employment and case management services.
Sec. 131. Job search and relocation allowances.
Subtitle E—Wage Insurance
Sec. 151. Reemployment trade adjustment assistance program for older workers.
“This is all about throwing more tax dollars to subsidize the globalist traders.”
I think it’s more about pretending to care that Americans are being dispossessed, their economic well-being strip mined. It also soothes the little guilt the politicians have by giving them the feeling they aren’t hurting anyone, but will “retrain” them for some imaginary other job.
Agreed.
From my post #7.
“Look at the bill. This is about retraining, etc. of our workers being displaced by trade, so they’ll stay on the democrat handout bandwagon. They simply want the US Taxpayer to cover the workers displaced by cheap global labor.”
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