Labor Secretary Chao Urges Congress to Pass President’s “Back-to-Work” Plan for Displaced Workers

Plan Would Strengthen Safety Net for Displaced Workers Without New Bureaucracy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao today urged Congress to move quickly to enact President Bush’s “Back to Work” plan to strengthen the safety net for displaced American workers and their families.  The Back to Work Act (H.R. 3112) was introduced October 12^th by Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH), 21^st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA), and Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX). 

“This Administration is committed to going even further than current programs allow to help families, industries and regions that have been hardest-hit by the terrorist attacks and their aftermath,” Secretary Chao told members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.  “Workers need help regardless of what industry they work in – not just a chosen few.  The President’s plan gets money to wherever people are hurting.” 

Chao emphasized that the President’s worker relief proposal is one that can be implemented quickly, flexibly, and without creating new bureaucracy. 

“That is the strength of the President’s proposal: rather than creating new programs that may take years to get up-and-running, we take the current structure and turbo-charge it for the crisis we face right now,” Chao said.  “Workers need help now, not down the road.  The President’s plan achieves that by creatively expanding current programs, instead of starting from scratch.”  

The Back to Work Act would strengthen the safety net by giving governors additional tools and funds to help ensure that dislocated workers (1) maintain health insurance coverage, (2) receive income support during the recovery period, and (3) return to the workforce as quickly as possible with the help of job training and assistance.  Among other features, the grants could be used by states to pay up to 75 percent of health care premiums covered by COBRA for up to 10 months for laid off or dislocated workers.  COBRA is a federal law that gives many workers the option of continuing their employer-provided health insurance – at their own cost – when they are laid off.

“Most important of all, our workers need to get back to work – not just lost in a bureaucracy of dead-end social services,” Chao said.  “That’s why the President focuses not only on workers who are currently laid off, but also on the economy that will hire them back.” 

“The President’s plan is a compassionate one – not just because it provides the flexibility and resources to help workers in need, but because it recognizes that a displaced worker’s true goal, ultimately, is to return to work,” Chairman Boehner agreed.  “A government program can help a worker survive.  But until a worker returns to work, no economic recovery is complete.” 

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