Media General News Service
Rep. Mel Watt said trade agreements have caused a domino effect of lost jobs.
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WASHINGTON -- The House easily passed a bill Wednesday that would increase the number of people eligible for job training and unemployment benefits because their jobs moved overseas.
The bill would expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to displaced workers in service industries and make it easier for any worker who loses a job to overseas competition to get education and employment help.
It passed 264-157 and now heads to the Senate where it is expected to come for a vote by the end of the year.
Since the program started in 2002, more people in North Carolina have participated than in any other state. Proponents say if the expansion is approved, displaced workers will find it easier to get benefits.
"The standards were so high you had to trace to a particular trade agreement that caused you to lose your job," said Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C. "In North Carolina, we have had a domino effect of lost jobs because of trade agreements. Tracing it back to a direct connection is very difficult."
The Bush administration has threatened to veto the bill if it gets to the president's desk in the form passed by the House. The White House said the bill transforms a program to help workers displaced by trade agreements into "a universal income-support and training program."
Republicans offered an amendment that would have scaled back the bill to make it acceptable to the president. It failed 196 to 226.
Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., said bill makes even public employees eligible for benefits. "They're not affected by trade layoffs," he said.
The program now is aimed at factory workers who have lost their jobs because of international trade agreements.
The program will expire at the end of this year unless it is renewed.
The bill would extend the program through 2012 and open up assistance to service workers, such as data processors who lost their jobs to India and telephone operators who now compete with Filipinos and Salvadorans.
In addition, it expands a health care tax credit and wage subsidy for workers who have lost their jobs and offers incentives to expand state unemployment insurance. The bill pays for the new benefits by delaying a corporate tax break for overseas income.
The bill would expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to displaced workers in service industries and make it easier for any worker who loses a job to overseas competition to get education and employment help.
It passed 264-157 and now heads to the Senate where it is expected to come for a vote by the end of the year.
Since the program started in 2002, more people in North Carolina have participated than in any other state. Proponents say if the expansion is approved, displaced workers will find it easier to get benefits.
"The standards were so high you had to trace to a particular trade agreement that caused you to lose your job," said Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C. "In North Carolina, we have had a domino effect of lost jobs because of trade agreements. Tracing it back to a direct connection is very difficult."
The Bush administration has threatened to veto the bill if it gets to the president's desk in the form passed by the House. The White House said the bill transforms a program to help workers displaced by trade agreements into "a universal income-support and training program."
Republicans offered an amendment that would have scaled back the bill to make it acceptable to the president. It failed 196 to 226.
Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., said bill makes even public employees eligible for benefits. "They're not affected by trade layoffs," he said.
The program now is aimed at factory workers who have lost their jobs because of international trade agreements.
The program will expire at the end of this year unless it is renewed.
The bill would extend the program through 2012 and open up assistance to service workers, such as data processors who lost their jobs to India and telephone operators who now compete with Filipinos and Salvadorans.
In addition, it expands a health care tax credit and wage subsidy for workers who have lost their jobs and offers incentives to expand state unemployment insurance. The bill pays for the new benefits by delaying a corporate tax break for overseas income.