Sharon, Pa.   -  U.S. Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.) is stumping for legislation that will bolster the programs created to help U.S. employers and their workers adjust to foreign competition and the rapid changes of the global market.  H.R. 6208, the American Competitiveness and Adjustment Act would strengthen and expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Workers, Firms and Farmers Programs.  English was joined by Executive Director for Precision Manufacturing Institute (PMI), Jerry Knight during his announcement at the Mercer County CareerLink Center in Sharon, Pa.

First established in 1962, as part of the Trade Expansion Act, TAA was created to help American workers that have been displaced by trade.  Congress most recently expanded the program in 2002, establishing a program for farmers, adding a health care tax credit and doubling the training authorization among other changes.  The English bill would move to further overhaul the program and improve overall benefits for workers, firms and farmers.

¡§The TAA programs provide a vital service to employers seeking to retain their competitive edge against imports and invaluable assistance for workers displaced by trade to get back on their feet,¡¨ said English, a member of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the legislation.  ¡§TAA must, however, be modernized and expanded if it is to continue to serve our economic interests as ably as it has.  Today, I¡¦m pleased to announce legislation that will update these critical programs and provide employers and workers of all sectors with adequate resources so that we can continue to push for the revitalization of our local economy.¡¨

The American Competitiveness and Adjustment Act enhances the ability of American employers and workers to better compete and adjust to the impact of increased imports by updating the TAA for Workers, Firms and Farmers programs.  Under the TAA for Workers program, displaced workers receive cash benefits on top of regular unemployment compensation as well as training and tax credits for the purchase of health insurance. H.R. 6208 would extend eligibility to service workers, such as engineers, increase overall access to the program and boost benefits for eligible workers.  The measure would speed the delivery of benefits by establishing an automatic industry certification system for workers negatively affected by trade.  This would replace the current slow and bureaucratic system which requires the Department of Labor (DoL) to individually approve the petitions for assistance.  In addition, if three or more petitions are certified by the same industry within a six month timeframe, H.R. 6208 would require the DoL to certify the entire industry for the program as well.                                                      

¡§A key provision in my bill is going to protect the livelihood of American workers by expanding the program to cover all workers whose job loss results from a shift in production to any foreign country, regardless of its trade relationship with our country,¡¨ said English, a member of the Founding Board of Advisors of the co-chair TAA Coalition. 

Under current law, workers are only eligible to receive benefits if there is a shift in production to a country in which the U.S. is party to a trade agreement. H.R. 6208 would ensure that all workers displaced by shifts in production will be eligible to receive benefits from the program.

English has provided assistance for workers throughout Pennsylvania¡¦s 3rd Congressional District, helping them to enroll in the TAA for Workers program and receive proper compensation and valuable retraining to help them re-enter the workforce. 

A Quality Control Inspector at Werner in Greenville, Pennsylvania, Rick Nichols of Crawford County, was unexpectedly laid off from his job in 1994 due to a shift in production to Mexico.  In need of full time employment, Nichols took advantage of the TAA for Worker program and received monetary benefits while he went back to school at PMI in Crawford County.  Today, Nichols is working as a Grinder at Greenleaf Corporation in Saegertown, Pa.

¡§The TAA for Workers program gave me another opportunity to work for a meaningful employer that gives back to their employees,¡¨ Nichols said.  ¡§I now have a good paying job with full medical coverage.  It is plain and simple; I like the work that I am doing today.¡¨

The American Competitiveness and Adjustment Act would also modernize the TAA for Firms program which provides technical assistance to help trade-impacted firms retain workers and remain competitive in the global market.  Specifically, H.R. 6208 would change the criteria a firm must meet to become certified in order to reflect the import situation facing many industrial sector firms.  According to the measure, increases in imports for high import penetration industries, such as textiles, would be made a less important factor than job loss and declining sales in determining eligibility.  This will ensure that firms in markets with historically high import saturation are not disadvantaged to those firms without the same high import penetration.

¡§For more than 30 years, the TAA for Firms program has assisted thousands of American manufacturers in strengthening and reinforcing their competitive stance,¡¨ English said. ¡§As a longtime advocate for improving the TAA program, I believe the elements of this program are an important tool for our manufacturing sectors impacted by international trade.¡¨

Due to a loss of jobs and sales in 2001, Butler Technologies, a small manufacturer in Butler, Pennsylvania entered the TAA for Firms program and began to receive technical assistance to help the firm learn how become more competitive in the international market.  Through the TAA for Firms consultation program, Butler Technology was able to develop a new marketing plan that helped their company survive in today¡¦s global market.  Today, the company, which has 60 employees, is thriving.

Finally, H.R. 6208 would amend the TAA for Farmers program, which provides technical assistance and cash benefits to farmers who experience low farm prices as a result of increased imports. H.R. 6208 would correct difficulties farmers have experienced in utilizing the program as well as increasing the cash assistance benefit provided under the program.

**Summary of the American Competitiveness and Adjustment Act follows:

The American Competitiveness and Adjustment Act
Introduced by Congressman Phil English

The American Competitiveness and Adjustment Act, H.R. 6208, amends the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Workers, Firms and Farmers Programs.  Through these amendments, H.R. 6208 will greatly enhance the ability of American employers and workers to better compete and adjust to the influence of increased imports.  With these amendments, workers ¡V including service sector workers ¡V will have greater access to more generous benefits under the TAA for Workers program.  H.R. 6208 will also modernize the TAA for Firms program by altering the criteria a firm must meet to become certified in order to reflect the import situation facing many industrial sector firms.  Finally, H.R. 6208 makes amendments to the TAA for Farmers program to correct difficulties farmers have experienced in utilizing the program as well as increasing the cash assistance benefit provided under the program.

Improvements to the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers Program
H.R. 6208 amends Chapter 2 of Title II of the Trade Act of 1974:
„X Removes the statutory cap on appropriations and replaces it with a flexible, demand-driven formula to determine the cap on appropriations.  The formula provides for $1 for training for every $2 appropriated for income support.  This will ensure adequate training resources are available.
„X Creates an automatic industry certification system.  This provision would require the Department of Labor to certify all workers in an industry as eligible for the program if a like or directly competitive import to that industry is subject to a global or country-specific safeguard, antidumping or countervailing duty order.
„X Creates an industry-wide certification system.  This provision would require the Department of Labor to classify an entire industry eligible for the program if three or more petitions are certified within the same industry within a six month timeframe.
„X Removes the requirement that in order for a petition to be certified as a result of a shift in production, that the shift in production be to a country to which the United States is party to a trade agreement with; makes workers whose job loss results from a shift in production to any country eligible for the program.
„X Removes the criteria for secondary workers whose job loss results from the loss of business with a primary firm made eligible based on an increase in imports from, or a shift of production to, Canada and Mexico; permits eligibility of secondary workers if primary firm experienced an increase in imports or shift in production from any country.
„X Increases the Health Care Tax Credit from 65% to 75% and makes other technical changes to the credit to foster enrollment.
„X Extends eligibility to service sector workers meeting certain criteria.
„X Lowers the minimum age dislocated workers must be in order to be eligible for the Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance program.  Removes requirement that dislocated workers indicate an interest for the ATAA program on the initial petition to be eligible to receive ATAA benefits.
„X Establishes a more adaptable timeframe in which workers must enroll for training in order to receive income support under the program.
„X Remove the penalty imposed on workers who are involved in a successful appeals process with the Department of Labor by extending applicable deadlines by the duration of the appeals process.
„X Discontinues the built-in disadvantage for displaced workers to start their own businesses after dislocation by clarifying that workers that start their own business can continue to receive income support and training.
„X Creates, for the first time, accessible, comprehensive reporting standards for the program.

Improvements to the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms Program and Establishment of a Strategic Trade Transformation Assistance Demonstration Project
H.R. 6208 amends Chapter 3 of Title II of the Trade Act of 1974:
„X Amends the eligibility criteria for high import penetration industries, such as textiles, by drawing a distinction for industries which have an import penetration of 75 percent or more.  For high import penetration industries, imports would be made less of an important factor that job loss and declining sales.  Amends the criteria for eligibility that imports ¡§contributed importantly¡¨ to the job losses to simply ¡§contributed¡¨.
„X Extends eligibility to service sector firms meeting certain criteria.
„X Relocates administration of the program from the Department of Commerce¡¦s Economic Development Administration to its International Trade Administration in order to more closely align the program¡¦s mission to a bureau involved in international trade issues.
„X Establishes a three year Demonstration Project on Strategic Trade Transformation Assistance to build a programmatic framework that will allow American small and medium sized manufacturers to gain access to resources that will help them better compete domestically and globally.  The project will include among its primary goals:
o Expand the number of firms capable of taking advantage of a trade remedy program without drastically increasing the cost of the remedy to the taxpayer;
o Certify and provide assistance to approximately 700 firms;
o Integrate the benefits of other applicable government programs into the project, and make benefits from the project subject to that integration;
o Increase the number of small and medium sized firms that export and increase the value of exports from these firms;
o Increase small and medium sized firm government sales revenues;
o Expand technology availability to the small and medium sized firm segment by increasing access to, and adoption of, the latest technologies being developed at federal laboratories and universities;
o Improve the business and manufacturing practices of small and medium sized firms to enable them to become competitive in a global marketplace.

Improvements to the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers Program
H.R. 6208 amends Chapter 6 of Title II of the Trade Act of 1974:
„X Remove the administrative limitation that producers may only ¡§opt-in¡¨ to an active or pending petition for a limited period; permit producers who were not part of the original petition to ¡§opt-in¡¨ and join the original petition at any time during the certification year.
„X Permit petitioners to amend their original petition when it is being considered annually for recertification; specifically petitioners will be able to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers (i.e. from 10 digits to 8 digits) as well as the countries identified in the petition.  This will allow petitioners to adjust their petitions from year to year to reflect the current international market without having to reapply for the program.
„X Increases the cash assistance benefit for certified petitioners that do not receive direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, marketing loans by 50 percent: creates a new formula of 80 percent of the difference of the five year average price per ton and the most recent year¡¦s price per ton for crops not receiving assistance.

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