Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Hearing
Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. |
Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Moran and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to testify today. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the Fiscal Year 2015 budget request for the
The core principle is as American as they come - if you work hard and play by the rules, you should have the opportunity to succeed. In America, your ability to get ahead should be determined by hard work and personal responsibility - not by the circumstances of your birth.
Making good on the promise of opportunity has always been central to the
We have come a long way since the depths of the Great Recession. We have seen 48 consecutive months of private sector job growth, which has added 8.7 million jobs, and the unemployment rate has reached its lowest point in over five years. Moreover, our manufacturing sector is experiencing the largest and most consistent growth since the mid-1990s. Over 600,000 manufacturing jobs have been added since
By those measures, we are well on our way to a full recovery. But the statistics do not tell the whole story as economic growth is still hamstrung by stubbornly high unemployment. They are cold comfort to the underemployed construction worker who continues to be laid off in between sporadic jobs. They do not encourage the factory worker whose application never gets a second look after the human resources department sees she has been unemployed for six months; or the waitress or bank teller who works full-time but must depend on public assistance to feed her family. They do not help the country's youth for whom so much depends on that critical first job. So while we have come a long way, much work remains.
The President's budget outlines a comprehensive agenda to make America a magnet for middle class jobs and business investment. Equipping workers with the skills they need and for which employers are hiring is not just a workforce development issue, it is an economic development issue. No matter what your political party, we can all agree on one thing: good jobs and low unemployment are good for the country. As part of the effort to achieve this shared goal, the President is acting on a set of specific, concrete proposals that will make sure American workers have the skills they need for in-demand jobs of today and the jobs of tomorrow. These initiatives will allow industry to identify the skills and credentials required for jobs they are seeking to fill now and tomorrow; give workers and job seekers access to education and training that meets those needs; and provide employers with easy ways to find workers who have or can acquire those skills. Some of these proposals will require new legislation while others can be done within existing program authorities. I am eager to work with all who are willing to roll up their sleeves with me to enact these critical programs.
The President's budget also supports the extension of emergency unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. If not extended, 3.6 million additional people are estimated to lose access to extended UI benefits by the end of 2014, despite remaining unemployed and looking for work.
As I will explain, the President's budget request creates opportunity for all Americans while continuing long term deficit reduction through:
* Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative.
* Investing in a Competitive Workforce.
*
OPPORTUNITY, GROWTH AND SECURITY INITIATIVE
While the 2015 Budget will adhere to the spending levels agreed to in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 and reflect the tradeoffs that are required to maintain those levels of spending, the Budget also presents the President's vision for an economy that promotes opportunity for all Americans. As part of this vision, the Budget sets forth a fully paid for Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative (OGSI), which will include additional policies to grow the economy and create jobs without adding a dime to the deficit. The OGSI would increase the FY 2015 discretionary caps to make room for priority defense and non-defense investments, paying for
*
* Supporting and Improving Training and Employment Services. The Initiative would provide
* State Paid Leave. The OGSI also proposes an additional
INVESTING IN A COMPETITIVE WORKFORCE
To continue the economic recovery, the 2015 Budget proposes a set of initiatives that would reduce long-term unemployment and hasten reemployment including the New Career Pathways program (formerly the
* New Career Pathways. The 2015 Budget proposes mandatory funding for a New Career Pathways (NCP) program that will provide workers with a set of core services by combining the best features of both the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers (TAA) and Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Dislocated Worker (DW) programs. Upon enactment, NCP will streamline administrative steps and integrate proven practices, service delivery platforms, and infrastructure of the TAA and WIA DW programs to offer a universal suite of training and reemployment services to a broader number of displaced workers.
To invest in the Nation's youth and the long-term unemployed, the 2015 Budget also includes a package of mandatory funding for job-driven training proposals. These proposals would be designed with employer needs in mind, putting an end to what I call the "train and pray" era of training workers for jobs with limited demand or with credentials employers do not value. This
* Bridge to Work. The
* Back to Work Partnerships. The Back to Work Partnerships will support partnerships between education and training institutions and businesses to get the long-term unemployed back to work. Funded with
* Summer Jobs Plus. This is a
I am working closely with the Vice President to continue other evidence-based efforts to replicate approaches that have been proven to work, move funds from those that have not, and continue to encourage and evaluate innovative and promising strategies. As that process unfolds, there are steps that we can take right away. The Budget proposes to maintain a strong foundation with funding for existing programs, while taking steps to foster innovation and improvement. The Budget includes:
* Training and Employment Services. The 2015 Budget includes more than
*
* Incentive Grants. The 2015 Budget requests
* Reemployment and Eligibility Assessments/Reemployment Services (REA/RES). For those who have lost their jobs, the budget request would reconnect unemployed workers to jobs more quickly through an investment of
* Sector Strategy. The Department requests
*
PROTECTING AMERICA'S WORKERS AND THEIR INCOME
AND RETIREMENT SECURITY
Worker protection programs are crucial to protecting the health, safety, wages and working conditions of America's workers. The American people rely on the Department to fulfill our responsibility to make these protections not just words in the statute books, but real safeguards against threats to their lives and livelihoods. The Budget includes nearly
* Wage and Hour. The 2015 Budget proposes an increase of almost
*
* Employee Misclassification. The 2015 Budget provides nearly
*
*
* Federal Contract Compliance. The 2015 Budget proposes an additional
* Defined Benefit Pension System. The Budget proposes to give the Board of the
*
In addition, the Budget request includes legislative proposals to modernize two worker benefit programs to improve the operation of both programs.
* Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA). The FY 2015 request for the
*
ADDITIONAL PRIORITIES
The Department's budget request also includes other programmatic increases outside the training and employment services and worker protection areas that support the well-being of American workers.
*
* Information Technology Modernization. The goal of the Department's IT Modernization effort is to provide the foundation for the technology needed to transform the way the Department provides services to, and interacts with, the American public. It continues the integration of the Department's many infrastructures and consolidation of data centers to provide a more robust, reliable, cost-effective, and energy-efficient computing environment. Additional resources are being requested for a new Digital Government Integrated Platform, which will be used to provide a foundation of mobile computing and open data services that can be leveraged by agencies to enhance and deploy mission-specific applications and capabilities. These services will contribute to improved customer service and collaboration opportunities and maximize the return on investment in technology to support agency business operations.
* Evidence and Evaluation. The Department continues its evidence-based approach incorporating rigorous evaluation in all agencies and in every discretionary grant program, ensuring the best and most secure technology is used to make administrative data available for program management and evaluation. The 2015 Budget proposes to continue the provision for a setting aside funding for Departmental evaluations, preserves dedicated funding for Labor's Chief Evaluation Office, and also includes an additional
* Legal Services. The 2015 Budget proposes an increase of
* Adjudication. The 2015 Budget proposes an increase of
CONCLUSION
In FY 2015 the
That's why I am so eager to tackle these challenges every single day. As it's been for all 101 years of our existence, I believe the work of the
Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting me today. I look forward to working with you during the coming year and I am happy to respond to any questions that you may have.
Read this original document at: http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/Secretary%20Perez%20April%209%20Senate%20Appropriations%20Testimony%20--%20Final.pdf
Copyright: | (c) 2010 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. |
Wordcount: | 4088 |
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Hearing
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News