[NCL_Update] Update: WIA Title II Reauthorization

[Jon Randall]

National Coalition for Literacy Update
August 6, 2003

Re: Reauthorization of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II
of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA)

STATUS OF REAUTHORIZATION
Republican staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions (HELP) is writing the draft of its version of the reauthorization
bill during this August recess. When the Senate reconvenes after Labor Day,
the HELP Committee may introduce and quickly mark-up (approve) their bill.
Republican and Democrat staff to the HELP Committee has been meeting in an
effort to develop as much as possible a bipartisan bill. We do know that the
Democrat staffers support and are pushing the NCL recommendations. However,
we do not know how many of our recommendations will make it into the bill
introduced by the Republican majority.

In the past, party affiliation was not as big an issue as it appears to be
today when it comes to adult education legislation. In the past, both
parties worked closely together to produce a bill that enjoyed the support
across the aisle in both chambers. Earlier this year though, the House
passed a decidedly partisan reauthorization bill, H.R. 1261. It was approved
by committee in a straight party-line vote, all of the Republicans voting
for it and all of the Democrats voting against it. At this point, we are
cautiously optimistic that the bill approved by the Senate HELP Committee
will be less one-sided. Republican and Democrat staffs seem to be working
together more on the Senate version of the reauthorization bill.

There is conflicting information regarding whether the WIA reauthorization
bill can be approved by the Senate this calendar year. There are many other
pieces of legislation awaiting consideration on the Senate floor. Early
reports were that WIA definitely would not reach the Senate floor until
early 2004. Lately, we've heard that if the HELP Committee passes a
largely-bipartisan WIA reauthorization bill, it could jump ahead of other
legislation and be passed by the Senate this year. If that were to happen
the House and Senate would have to reconcile the two versions in conference
committee negotiations. I doubt that a reconciled reauthorization bill can
be passed by both chambers and signed by the President during this calendar
year. 

STRATEGY AND PROGRESS
NCL members have been meeting with Senate HELP Committee staff to discuss
the Coalition's recommendations. Also, we have been providing background
information as requested. As indicated above, Democrat committee staff has
been advancing many of our recommendations in their meeting with their
counterparts. However, at this point we can't say for sure which of our
recommendations are in play and which ones aren't. Selectively, we've
mobilized constituents of key committee members. We'll continue with this
strategy until we see a draft. At that point, we'll know on what items
grassroots advocacy is needed.

ACTION NEEDED
Please stay tuned. We'll need to mobilize very quickly as soon as we see a
draft Senate bill. This could come at any time in the next few weeks. If you
Senators are on the HELP Committee
(http://www.senate.gov/~labor/committee_members.html), you could contact
their local offices between now and Labor Day. Urge them to include the NCL
recommendations in the WIA Title II reauthorization bill. Different
constituencies within the NCL are highlighting different recommendations in
their advocacy communications, but every NCL member has agreed to support
them all.

BACKGROUND
Three written sources are influencing HELP Committee staff drafting the
Senate version of an adult ed reauthorization bill:
1.	H.R. 1261 (passed by the House in May of 2003); 
2.	The "Blueprint" for adult education distributed by the U. S. Dept.
of Education; and
3.	The National Coalition for Literacy's set of recommendations (see
attached)

The NCL's document recommends amendments to current law based on the best
elements of the House bill, the "Blueprint", and the NCL's own Omnibus
Literacy Legislation Concept Paper, which is based on field recommendations
via the National Literacy Summit Initiative. You can obtain a copy of H.R.
1261 by going to http://thomas.loc.gov. The Department's blueprint is
available at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/reauth/aeflarev.html. 

ATTACHMENT IN TWO VERSIONS
Attached to this email are the legislative recommendations submitted by the
National Coalition for Literacy. One version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
(to get it, go to www.adobe.com - it's free) to open the document. The other
version is in Microsoft Word. Both are versions of the same document. If
you're comparing notes with someone else, I recommend you use the PDF
version since its line numbers will be the same for everyone. This may not
be true for the MS Word version. In this document, you will find the text of
WIA, Title II with NCL recommendations inserted in blue type and underlined.

Best,
Jon

Jon Randall
Public Policy Committee Chair
National Coalition for Literacy
www.natcoalitionliteracy.org

Action related to this communication is
provided pro bono by FedStrategics, LLC
www.fedstrategics.com

FedStrategics, LLC
8413 Park Crest Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: (301) 588-5304   Fax: (301) 588-5353
jrandall at fedstrategics.com

  

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