Schumer Fights to Extend Essential Trade Adjustment Assistance Program That Helps Displaced Workers Get Back on Their Feet - Program on the Brink of Expiring

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer released a letter to leaders in the House of Representatives, written with twelve other Senators, urging the House to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (TAA) which will expire on February 12th without Congressional action. The program has helped thousands of New Yorkers find new jobs, afford healthcare, and provide for their family when their jobs are shipped overseas. In the letter, Schumer and his colleagues urge Congress to take into consideration the difficult economic times and extend the program before it sunsets.

"During these difficult economic times, Congress needs to focus like a laser on the middle-class and help put New Yorkers back to work, and TAA does just that for workers whose jobs are shipped overseas," Schumer said. "Without immediate action, an essential program that helps workers retrain, find new jobs, and support their families during the transition to new employment is at risk of running out. Too many middle-class New Yorkers still need help finding work and ways to support their families, and this program is an essential part of solving that problem and it must be extended immediately."

Trade Adjustment Assistance helps workers and farmers who either lose their jobs or face reduced wages as a result of outsourcing or other factors related to global trade. Benefits can include retraining, relocation allowances in the event a family must move to find new work, help with job search expenses, as well as income benefits.

Over the last two years workers at over 160 businesses around New York successfully petitioned for TAA benefits in the wake of layoffs, resulting in thousands of New Yorkers receiving TAA benefits when they lost their job. In 2009 alone, nearly 6,000 workers received assistance under the program, when it was determined that their job loss came about as a result of global trade. Over 2,000 New Yorkers participated in jobs training programs in 2009, helping to learn new skills that increase their competitiveness in the search for new employment.

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) provides assistance to qualifying workers who lose their jobs directly due to increased imports or shifts in production out of the United States. Certified workers whose unemployment compensation has ended and who are in approved training may receive income support payments (Trade Readjustment Allowances, or TRA) for a maximum of 156 weeks. Some workers age 50 or older are eligible to receive Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance (RTAA), a wage supplement program. Both TAA- and RTAA-eligible workers can receive a Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC), which provides a refundable tax credit to offset 80% of the health insurance premiums of TAA- and RTAA-eligible workers. The Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers program provides technical assistance and cash benefits to producers of agricultural commodities and fishermen who experience adverse economic impacts caused by increased imports.

The reforms to TAA in 2009 helped 5,963 workers in New York alone. 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 2009. The 2009 improvements also help ensure TAA program accountability and results by requiring data on performance and worker outcomes, enabling Congress to identify where improvements are needed.

Senator Schumer and his colleagues are urging that the TAA program and all of its improvements be preserved and extended immediately.

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