Letter to Barbara Mikulski, Chairman, and Richard Shelby, Vice Chairman, of the Senate Appropriations Committee - Trade Adjustment Assistance Program

Letter

November 26, 2014

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski
Chairwoman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
S128 Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Richard Shelby
Vice Chairman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
146A Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairwoman Mikulski and Vice Chairman Shelby:

As you continue to prepare the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus appropriations bill, we write to thank you for your support for the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program. In addition, we ask you to maintain the Senate position on TAA in negotiations with the House of Representatives on appropriations legislation.

For decades TAA has provided workers and companies with resources to better compete in the face of imports or offshoring. We strongly support reauthorization of TAA before the program expires on December 31, 2014. Unfortunately, that seems unlikely, and we anticipate Congress will reauthorize the program early next year. To prevent a lapse in services, we ask you to include a short-term statutory authorization of TAA. Language extending TAA would give administering agencies the certainty they need to implement the program seamlessly.

Absent a full reauthorization or extension passed by Congress before the end of the year, the TAA funding levels in the appropriations bill will determine whether the program can continue in 2015 without a break in services. The Senate included the President's request of $710 million for TAA for Workers in the fiscal year 2015 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill and $15 million for TAA for Firms in the Commerce, Justice, and Science bills. These funding levels will allow TAA to operate even if statutory authority for the program lapses, and we ask you to include them in any appropriations bill negotiated with the House.

Thank you for your consideration of this request. We look forward to working with you to support our workers and companies negatively affected by trade.