House and Senate Members Announce Bipartisan Workforce Reauthorization Legislation

House and Senate Members Announce Bipartisan Workforce Reauthorization Legislation

May 21, 2014, Washington, DC.

The House and Senate leadership have announced the release of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), bi-partisan, bi-cameral legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which was due for reauthorization eleven years ago.

While the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) passed reauthorization legislation last July, the bill has yet to come to the Senate floor. Instead, Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have been negotiating a compromise between the House-passed SKILLS Act and the Senate HELP Committee’s legislation prior to bringing legislation to the Senate floor. The negotiated reauthorization bill could be brought to the Senate floor this week, but it could occur sometime after the Memorial Day recess.

The reauthorization of the nation’s workforce programs has been advocated for over the last 10 years. The House and Senate leaders are being praised for making the reauthorization of WIA a priority in this Congress. The nation’s primary job training program for adults and youth has been vulnerable to funding cuts due to delayed reauthorization.

Here are some of the documents related to the legislation: