Bill Will Provide Crucial Protection for Americans in Face of International Trade and Globalization
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Today, Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-05) joined a bipartisan majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in passing the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act (H.R. 3920). The legislation will overhaul the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, expanding opportunities for job training, health care options, and helping to transition workers into the new global economy.
“The TAA program was a part of President Kennedy’s vision for America, and helped protect workers in communities adversely affected by international trade. By modernizing this program, we are working to maintain and improve upon the economic opportunities for all American workers in today’s increasingly global market,” said Rep. Matsui.
In the Sacramento region, Earthlink Inc. has undergone major overhauls within the last five years due to outsourcing of jobs to foreign sites. First, Earthlink’s Sacramento call center closed. A mere year later, four Earthlink Inc. centers closed, including the Roseville center, affecting 1,300 employees.
The bill extends TAA job training and health care benefits to service workers who lose their jobs due to global trade and expands opportunities for training to service workers. The current TAA program only offers benefits to workers in the manufacturing industry who have lost their jobs to international trade. This legislation expands current TAA coverage to include service workers. In recent years, the U.S. economy has increasingly depended on service exports, and more than 70 percent of our workforce is in the service industry.
Updating the TAA program to reflect the changes in the nation’s workforce is essential to the long-term economic success of the country’s workforce. H.R. 3920 will:
extend TAA job training and health benefits to service workers who lose their jobs due to global trade and covers more manufacturing workers. It dramatically improves TAA health care benefits and strengthens job training benefits so that workers are given a real opportunity to strengthen their skills for good-paying jobs.
create new benefits and tax incentives for industries and communities that have experienced manufacturing job losses, promote long-needed reforms in unemployment benefits, and strengthen notification of workers laid off in plant closing or in mass layoffs.
double job training funding & expand job training support. The bill authorizes up to $440 million for FY 08, and increases it to $660 million by 2010.
improve the health care tax credit. This legislation increases the tax credit to cover 85 percent of the out-of-pocket cost for private health insurance, removes administrative barriers to obtaining coverage, and improves coverage of spouses and dependents.
“The mark of a strong nation is its ability to create a vision for itself, and adapt to that vision. Our commitment to the American worker is more important now than every before, and we must modernize the vision of our predecessors to change and evolve to meet the new challenges of today,” said Rep. Matsui.
