Norton Secures Department of Transportation Support for Training Funds (10/1/09)
Norton Secures Department of Transportation Support for Training Funds
October 1, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC - At a Transportation and Infrastructure hearing today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) got a commitment from U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to support her bill to require that a portion of federal highway funds be dedicated to on-the-job training to combat a serious training deficit. Her bill also will assure that women and minorities get a foothold in the highway construction industry in the next highway and transit reauthorization bill. Norton also released a letter she sent to Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar requesting that her bill, HR 2444, the Pre-apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Training Act of 2009, be included in the upcoming highway and transit reauthorization. Her bill requires that one-half of one-percent of federal highway funds be mandated for training in the transportation reauthorization. Norton told the Secretary and the Committee that the retiring "Baby Boomer" workforce is opening opportunities to bring women and minorities into the largely white male construction labor force through mandatory training programs. The one-half of one-percent provision, worth more than $250 million, in the Norton bill has appeared in previous laws, but was discretionary, and only a handful of states inconsistently took advantage of the provision.
Norton said in her letter to Oberstar, "Without an actual requirement for training in the highway transportation reauthorization bill...the government has been pouring billions of dollars into construction projects performed by a largely white male construction workforce, in possible violation of federal law. If such funding continues, it will not be long before the federal government is sued under the civil rights laws, especially in this job-short climate, if my experience as a chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is any guide."
Norton said at the hearing that the mandatory funds she got included for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs in the stimulus bill currently are being put to use in D.C. and some states around the country, and are the model for the full highway transportation reauthorization bill expected this session. The leadership of Secretary La Hood is important to her amendment because it assures administration support, she said.
At an upcoming hearing on Oct. 7, the Congresswoman also will hear from the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO, a District of Columbia group that received $1.2 million of the $3 million she put into the stimulus bill for training in General Services Administration projects here.
Letter attached.
September 30, 2009
The Honorable James L. Oberstar
Chairman
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Jim:
Thank you for your outstanding leadership in producing the truly revolutionary highway/transit reauthorization bill. Your work appears prescient and more necessary than ever, as unemployment mounts and another stimulus bill appears unlikely.
As you know, I have been particularly focused on training for women and minorities in this economic downturn and on preparing replacements for the baby boom cohort of skilled construction workers who are aging and retiring and creating shortages of skilled journeyman. I very much appreciate that funds were added to the stimulus package specifically for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs both for highways and public buildings construction. This funding was directly patterned on the existing SAFETEA-LU section titled "non-discrimination" that you created to reduce discriminatory practices in TEA-21. Without an actual requirement for training in the surface transportation reauthorization bill, however, the government has been pouring billions of dollars into construction projects performed by a largely white male construction workforce, in possible violation of federal law. If such funding continues, it will not be long before the federal government is sued under the civil rights laws, especially in this job-short climate, if my experience as a chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is any guide. I believe it would be a profound mistake to reauthorize the highway/transit bill without requiring local jurisdictions to use some of the funding we authorize to rectify continuing discrimination and to improve opportunities for women, minorities and others left out of the construction trades.
Under your strong leadership, Congress began to cure the problem when you responded to my request for mandated use of certain stimulus funds for training and included $3 million specifically for training in the General Services Administration, the first important step to include training as an essential part of building our infrastructure. Importantly, the Highway and Transit Subcommittee recognized the same problem and $20 million was included in the stimulus for highway training programs. Continuing with required spending and following the example of a
TEA-21 training initiative, I have introduced the Pre-Apprentice and Apprenticeship Training Act of 2009, H.R. 2444, to require that the one-half of one-percent of federal highway funds available under the title "Non-discrimination," Section 23 USC 140(b), be used to provide on-the-job training and related services to combat a serious training deficit. Your TEA-21 provision allowed the same training, but, in the absence of a requirement, only 17 states have used funds available for training, and this participation has been spotty and shows little diversity.
There is another important reason that additional training is necessary. The current cohort of journeymen and other skilled workers is retiring. Before the collapse of the economy, shortages of trained journeymen were widespread. The official unemployment rate already is 15 percent for blacks and 8.8 percent for whites, a gap typical throughout economic cycles. The surface transportation reauthorization bill provides the best opportunity to begin replenishing the dwindling supply of trained construction workers and to increase the opportunity for minorities and women to enter the high-wage construction industry. The shift towards requiring states to focus on outcome- based highway and transit projects, rather than simply projects, will fit nicely with these new funds.
I therefore ask that the enclosed required training provision be incorporated into the surface transportation reauthorization bill. I have enclosed my opening statement from H.R. 2444, which makes the non-discrimination training funds in title 23 USC 140(b) mandatory instead of discretionary.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Holmes Norton