DELAURO STATEMENT AT LABOR BUDGET HEARING

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member on the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, made the following opening statement at the Committee's hearing with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis on the Department of Labor's 2013 budget today. As Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Madam Secretary, for joining us today. The work that you are doing to create not just jobs but good jobs as we have gone through this historic recession is to be commended. I look forward to your testimony.

The work that the Department of Labor does for working families in this country, from job training to protecting workers is so critical for this country's middle class. So it is unfortunate that we have seen the Department's budget cut by almost one billion dollars over the past two years – a cut of more than seven percent. Now, we have a budget being put forth by the House Republican majority that is almost certain to force still further cuts. I hope today's hearing will help demonstrate the damage that would cause.

The largest share of the Labor Department's budget is spent on job training. No investment is more critical than investment in our human capital, and job training programs are the essence of good government. They work to make opportunity real, and benefit above all the families and working people who need help and who have played by the rules.

The national network of employment and training programs organized and funded by the Department of Labor has a proven record. One particular strength of the current system is that it is customized for each local community under the guidance of private-sector led workforce boards.

In 2010, nearly 70 percent of adults and dislocated workers receiving services through this workforce system were employed by the end of the first quarter after completion, and of those, 85 percent were still employed six months later. I find this degree of success to be especially meaningful considering that there are more than four jobseekers for every available job in today's labor market.

Still, we need to be looking for ways to make the system work even better. The Administration has some ideas in that regard, and I am sure that others do as well. Unfortunately, we may be going backward rather than forward.

As a result of the Majority's policies, Labor Department employment and training programs have already been cut $664 million since FY 2010. For those who imagine that federal programs just grow every year, these critical job training programs may provide a useful dose of reality, since the trend has been generally downward over the past decade.

Appropriations for DOL job training and employment are now about $779 million less than eleven years ago, in FY 2001. That is in actual dollar terms, before adjustment for inflation, numbers of unemployed, or anything else.

Yet apparently that is still not enough for some. This majority is now walking away from the agreement on appropriations levels negotiated last year, and trying to impose new rounds of cuts on the relatively narrow slice of the federal budget that is non-defense appropriations. If they succeed, it seems inevitable that job training and employment services will shrink some more. That would be bad for workers seeking employment, and bad for businesses seeking qualified workers.

Though employment and training is the largest part of its budget, the Labor Department has a number of other important responsibilities as well. Especially as we see women struggling to recover from the Great Recession at similar rates to men, the work that the Women's Bureau does, in coordination with the Department's worker protection agencies, is essential to working women who still face unequal wages, workplace discrimination, and unique challenges surrounding workplace flexibility and integration into 21st century jobs.

I know that the Secretary shares my commitment to these issues and supporting America's working women. I look forward to continuing the work we have done over the years to ensure women's access to and success within today's labor market.

One of the most important roles of the Department – for men and women workers - is enforcing the laws and rules that set minimum standards for American workplaces: the minimum wage, the obligation to pay overtime, rules against child labor, requirements for employers to contribute to unemployment insurance and workers compensation, and safety and health standards designed to minimize deaths, injuries and illnesses from hazards in the workplace. And again, I want to thank the Secretary for the great work she is leading in these areas during very challenging times.

Having strong, sensible and workable rules in place and enforcing them is vitally important to the workers these laws protect, especially workers with the least bargaining power or economic clout. Good enforcement is also important to employers who want to obey the law and do the right thing by their workers, so that they do not find themselves undercut and out-competed by those who do otherwise.

Some say that there is too much emphasis on enforcing workplace standards and health and safety laws, and that instead we should be relying more on voluntary compliance. I disagree as protecting workers, ensuring that they safely get back home to their families at the end of each working day must be a priority.

If anyone needs further evidence of this, they should look at the reports that have come out over the past several months from investigations into the tragic explosion two years ago at Massey Coal's Upper Big Branch Mine. Those investigations concluded that the explosion was caused by serious violations of safety rules and procedures. As a result, 29 coal miners are dead.

Or in my District, where the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found workplace safety violations that lead to a terrible explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems power plant construction site in Middletown two years ago killing 6 and injuring 50 other workers. The State has since moved to put stronger safety standards in place.

In recent years, there has been a rebuilding of the Labor Department's capacity to enforce the law. Let's not go backward.

The work that the Secretary and her Department does is so vital to protecting the health and safety of our nation's workers. They are literally matters of life and death – protecting our most vulnerable populations, providing economic security and living standards for our working families, and providing opportunities for those looking for the skills to succeed in today's economy.

Madame Secretary, welcome once again to the subcommittee, and I look forward to your testimony.