Led Bipartisan Effort to Help Retrain Displaced Workers for New Jobs

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, US Senator Herb Kohl, applauded the restoration of $250 million in federal funds for job training in the second Senate economic stimulus plan.  Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) yesterday indicated the legislation contains these funds to help workers laid off acquire new skills and find employment.  Senator Kohl, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, had led the effort to re-designate these federal resources, returned by states as unspent funds from federally funded workforce programs, for use again as job training funds for dislocated workers.

"With the reality of Americans losing their jobs, it's more important than ever to ensure resources are in place to retain unemployed workers," Kohl said.  "These job training funds included in the new stimulus legislation will be used to serve their original purpose of helping Americans struggling to find work.

"By targeting federal resources to assist displaced employees learn new skills needed to be hired, we help families and the American economy."

In June, Senator Kohl led a bipartisan letter sent to Chairman Byrd, Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MO), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) to restore job training funds recently rescinded by the US Department of Labor.  Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, states are required to return unspent funds from workforce programs for youth, adults and dislocated workers.  Thirty-one Democratic and Republican members of the Senate signed onto Senator Kohl's letter.

Earlier this year, a hearing held by the Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee revealed many states had to dip into current year funding to pay their portion of the rescission.  Because of this repayment to the federal government, states returned badly needed job training dollars, closing down career centers and reducing services offered at employment offices.  In the first three months of 2008, the economy shed 240,000 jobs, while more than 7 million Americans currently remain unemployed and another 6 million are marginally attached to the country's workforce.

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