DeLauro: Fully Fund Department of Labor to Support Job Growth

Makes Opening Remarks at Hearing on Department'sBudget

WASHINGTON, DC--Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), seniorDemocrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the Department of Labor (DOL),today called on House Republicans to increase funding for DOL in order tosupport job growth. DeLauro made her comments at a Subcommittee hearing withActing Secretary Seth Harris on the Administration's proposed 2014 budget.

DeLauro also expressed her concern with the erosion offunding DOL has experienced over the past decade. After accounting forinflation and population growth, DOL's funding has decreased by 30 percentsince 2002. The indiscriminate, deeply harmful budget cuts known as sequestrationare causing even more pain to people who rely on DOL for job training andensuring worker safety and fairness.

In response to questioning from DeLauro, Harris outlined howmuch the middle class would be hurt if sequestration continues. Harris told theSubcommittee that veterans and middle class workers trying to transition to newjobs would particularly suffer if the cuts continue. Since taking power, HouseRepublicans have targeted programs that help ensure workers have the skillsthey need to compete in a global economy.

Included in this attack on the middle class is the so-calledSKILLSAct, which Republicans pushed through the House of Representatives lastmonth. As DeLauro pointed out in her questioning, simply consolidatingprograms and taking a one-size-fits-all approach, which is at the heart of thebill, hurts groups who are already hardest to reach.

The following remarks are as prepared for delivery:

We are here today to talk about the budget for the LaborDepartment – an agency that carries out critical missions for working families,from job training to workplace safety. So it is unfortunate that we have seenso many budget cuts for this agency in recent years.

I would have hoped that the President's budget would haveprovided more resources – more than roughly level funding for the Department ofLabor, given its centrality to creating jobs and rebuilding our country.

The largest part of the Department's budget goes for jobtraining, and there's no doubt as to the need for that investment. Thefuture of the economy lies in jobs that require knowledge and skills, and thosejobs also offer the best chance for decent, livable wages and benefits.

As the economy recovers and grows, we need to be sure thatcompanies can find workers with the skills and credentials they need, and thatworkers have access to the education and training needed to fill those jobs.This is what job training programs do.

In my state, the Workplace, led by Joe Carbone, has takenadvantage of these Department of Labor programs to help long-term unemployedresidents find better, richer, and more fulfilling employment. Joe hasnow launched Platform to Employment, a public-private partnership to help thelong-term unemployed all across Connecticut gain skills and go back towork. It is now expanding to ten cities and could be enhanced withWorkforce Investment Act dollars.

This type of training, and a broad array of other workforceinvestment initiatives, not only helps to put workers back on the job – Itgrows the economy. But despite the obvious need, federal support for jobtraining has actually gone down over the years.

Between 2002 and 2012, appropriations for these LaborDepartment programs decreased by $749 million. Adjusted for inflation andpopulation growth, that is a 30 percent reduction. And sequestration hasadded more than $250 million in additional cuts.

To compound these deep cuts, the House Majority recentlypassed the so-called SKILLS Act, which would freeze investment in this area forseven years. It would also adopt a one-size-fits all approach by collapsing allexisting programs into a single Workforce Investment Fund, thus endangeringimportant services for women, youths, disabled workers, the elderly, andveterans.

To make matters worse, the budget put forward by ChairmanRyan assumes this consolidation, and it keeps sequestration levels in effect.The National Skills Coalition has said that nearly two million individualswould lose access to employment and training programs as a result.

Clearly, the President's budget request before us today doesmove us in a better direction.

I am pleased to see the proposal to increase veterans' jobtraining services by almost $100 million. After our brave men and women haveserved this nation, the least we can do is ensure that they have theopportunity for a good career when they come home.

I also applaud the additional resources proposed for the JobCorps. All across the country, Job Corps centers provide critical support foryoung people to prepare for the job market, and acquire the technical andvocational education that will help them to achieve their dreams.

With that in mind, I am pleased that the student enrollmentfreeze is being lifted, and that we were able to get this program some muchneeded transfer authority in the continuing resolution. I will continue workingwith the Department to put the Job Corps on a sounder footing moving forward.

Another important mission of the Labor Department isenforcing our nation's basic labor standards. Wage and hour laws, forexample, still have a very important role in preserving at least a minimalstandard of living for people who work hard.

A recent survey of workers in low-wage industries in NewYork, Chicago, and Los Angeles found that 26 percent were paid less than theminimum wage, and that overtime violations were widespread.

So I am glad the President's budget includes additionalfunding for enforcement of wage and hour and family medical leave laws.

Occupational safety and health laws are vital to trying tomake sure that people's jobs do not threaten their lives or their health. A great deal of progress has been made since OSHA was created in 1970, but westill have a long way to go.

In 2011, 4,609 workers were killed on the job and there were3.8 million reported workplace injuries and illnesses. The President'sbudget includes at least minimal but important increases of one percent forOSHA and two percent for MSHA to better protect our workers. I amconcerned, however, that those dollars may not be enough. There is a great dealthat needs to be done for mine safety and occupational safety.

While there is much to support in this budget, I do want tomention two particularly troubling aspects– the cut to the Women's Bureau andthe elimination of the Women in Apprenticeship program.

Both these programs continue to serve important functions improvingthe work environment and opportunities for women, and I hope they can bemaintained in their current form and enhanced.

In any case, we have much to discuss today. The work thatthis Department does is so vital to strengthening and protecting our nation'sworkers and maintaining a strong middle class.

So thank you for joining us, Mr. Harris. I look forward totalking with you today about how we can best create a budget that expandsopportunities for people to succeed in today's economy and provides for aneconomically secure and safe workforce.