Courtesy of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER – April 15, 2024
“On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, the House passed the bipartisan legislation A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA – HR 6655), which reauthorizes the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
“The bill passed on a vote of 378-26 with 26 Republicans voting against it and all Democrats voting in favor. The legislation’s future in the Senate is still unclear, as top Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee members have other legislative priorities to tackle. House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (NC) is hopeful that the House’s strong bipartisan support for the bill will put pressure on the Senate to move on reauthorization.” Continue Reading Here…
A corporate-level USCM/WDC member, Knowlton R. Atterbeary, KRA President & CEO, commented, “I am extremely pleased to see some headway being made on ASWA since December 7, 2023, when the Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Ranking Member Robert Scott and Chair Virginia Foxx first introduced the legislation.”.
As the Bill Summary states, “WIOA-reauthorization is vital to strengthening our economy and providing economic opportunity for more Americans [and] will increase the amount of skills development provided under the law, strengthen connections between employers and the workforce system, and put more Americans on the pathway to a successful career.”
Though not flawless, ASWA will go a long way in empowering KRA and other WIOA workforce-services providers to better serve its WDB clients, its Business-Services employers, and Career-Services jobseekers in addressing record-setting, skilled-labor shortages that plague our in-demand industries. ‘Closing’ open positions that our businesses are struggling to fill is critical to the resilience and stability of our workforce, the backbone of our nation’s economy.