[AAACE-NLA] 2005 Year-end Federal Legislative Update

[David Rosen]

AAACE_NLA Colleagues,

Thanks to the National Coalition for Literacy's Public Policy  
Committee Chairperson, Noreen Lopez, for the message below.

David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
DJRosen at theworld.com
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Lynn Selmser, NCL Policy Director, has prepared an excellent summary  
of the key federal legislation introduced for adult education and  
Even Start for the 2005 calendar year. Reading it will bring you up  
to date on what happened during the year and where we are right now.


LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
2005 YEAR END WRAPUP

WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT:  ACTION DELAYED UNTIL 2006

H.R. 27, the Job Training Improvement Act of 2005, passed the House  
of Representatives on March 2, 2005

S.1021, the Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2005, was  
introduced on May 12 and marked up (amended) and ordered reported by  
the Committee on May 18, 2005.  The Committee report was filed on  
September 7, 2005 and the bill was placed on the Senate calendar.   
Although the HELP Committee tried to get unanimous consent (allowing  
a bill to be brought up for consideration without opportunity for  
amendments) to pass the WIA reauthorization during the final days of  
the 1st Session of the 109th Congress, several Members put holds on  
the bill, thus ensuring it would not receive consideration until 2006.

APPROPRIATIONS:   ADULT EDUCATION SUCCESSFUL IN FIGHTING OFF CUTS

The President released his budget on February 7, 2005, proposing to  
cut adult education funds by $369.71 million.

The House of Representatives passed legislation appropriating funds  
for fiscal year 2006 for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human  
Services and Education (H.R. 3010) on June 24, 2005, by a vote of  
250-151.  It contained level funding for adult education programs.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations ordered reported its version  
of this legislation on July 14, 2005 but it did not receive approval  
by the full Senate until October 27, 2005, after which the House and  
Senate Members met in conference to work out the differences.  The  
initial conference agreement failed to pass the House so the bill was  
sent back to conference for further consideration.  A final version  
was cleared for the White House on December 21 and signed into law by  
the President on December 30, 2005.  It is Public Law 109-149.

The final bill contained good news for adult education but included  
disappointing numbers for Even Start.  After deducting an across the  
board one percent cut for all programs contained in the Labor, Health  
and Human Services and Education bill, the final figures for adult  
education and Even Start were as follows:

								2006                                       2005

Adult Education State Grants:      	 
$563,975,280                       $569,671,872

Adult Education Natl. Programs         
9,005,040                                   	9,095,648

NIFL                                                  	  
6,571,620                               	6,638,464

Even Start                                         	 
99,000,000                             225,094,720




WELFARE  - GOOD NEWS FOR ADULT EDUCATION

H.R. 240, the Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act  
of 2005, was introduced in the House of Representatives on January 4,  
2005.  On February 10, 2005, the Subcommittee on Human Resources held  
a hearing on the bill.  On March 15, the Subcommittee on Human  
Resources approved an amended version of S. 240 and forwarded to the  
full Committee on Ways and Means for consideration.  No further  
action was taken.

S. 6, revising TANF, was introduced in the U.S. Senate on January 24  
and referred to the Senate Finance Committee.  On March 9, the  
Committee marked up the Personal Responsibility and Individual  
Development for Everyone Act (PRIDE), clearing it for consideration  
by the full U. S. Senate.  No further action was taken.  However, the  
House Ways and Means Committee included the provisions of H.R. 240 in  
the budget reconciliation bill passed by the House of  
Representatives, H.R. 4241, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

During a conference with the Senate on its version of this  
legislation, S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation  
Act of 2005, changes were made to the provisions amending TANF,  
eliminating several of the provisions of concern to the adult  
education community.  One such provision was the inclusion of a  
superwaiver which would have permitted the Governor to waive key  
requirements of the adult education law.  A second provision, setting  
forth the amount of time individuals could participate in adult  
education full time was also eliminated.  The agreement did include a  
provision increasing federal oversight of state programs with respect  
to work participation.  One of the items for which the Secretary is  
to provide direction and oversight through regulation is on  
determining whether activities may be counted as “work activities,”  
how to count and verify reported hours of work, and determining who  
is a work-eligible individual.  Although the Senate passed this bill  
prior in 2005, the House is not expected to vote on the conference  
agreement until Feb. 1, 2006.
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