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Legislative Network Alerts Alert Number 113 March 2, 2005 For Your Information WIA PLUS BLOCK GRANT NOT TO BE OFFERED To: Members of the Legislative Network From: Patricia Leahy, Director of Governmental Affairs The National Rehabilitation Association learned earlier this evening from Hill staff that the WIA PLUS BLOCK GRANT AMENDMENT will NOT be offered to the Rule to accompany the bill, H.R. 27, The Job Training Improvement Act of 2005, when this bill comes to the House Floor for debate on Wednesday, March 2, 2005. Debate on the Rule and the bill, itself, are expected to occur around 12 Noon on Wednesday. If you have access to cable, C-Span does cover both House and Senate Floor action. First and foremost, we want to thank the National Rehabilitation Association membership for all the calls and faxes to their Members of Congress in ensuring that this misguided amendment did not find its way into the House WIA legislation. You are to be congratulated on your superb advocacy and we all commend you for it. We also want to thank all of our colleagues in the disABILITY community for their active advocacy which ensured that all Members of Congress were advised of the harm that would most certainly follow to all individuals with disabilities seeking a career and living independently from such a flawed amendment. In particular, we want to thank our colleagues in the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities' (CCD) Employment and Training Task Force, of which NRA is a member, for their advocacy and outreach to all Members of Congress. H.R. 27, however, with or without the WIA PLUS BLOCK GRANT AMENDENT, is still, we are sorry to say, a BAD BILL because H.R. 27 would allow Governors to take whatever amount of money they deemed appropriate to fund the infrastructure of a one-stop system that to this day is neither programmatically, nor in some cases, physically accessible. The Department of Labor has had more than 5 years to implement civil rights laws that ensure a level playing field for all individuals with disabilities at the one-stops. Those civil rights laws include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. THERE IS SIMPLY NO EXCUSE FOR SUCH CHRONIC NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THESE IMPORTANT CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS WHICH, AS WE HAVE SAID ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS, HAS THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF UNDERMINING THESE SAME CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS FOR WHICH ALL OF US IN THE ADVOCACY COMMUNITY HAVE WORKED SO HARD AND SO LONG. Another confounding recommendation in H.R. 27 is the downgrading of the Office of the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) in the U.S. Department of Education from an individual appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed by the full U.S. Senate, to a Director appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education. There is simply no reason for this happen and no reason of any credibility has been given to the National Rehabilitation Association by the U.S. Department of Education or anyone in the Congress for this downgrading. The Office of the Commissioner of RSA is the ONLY office in the Federal Government that has the expertise in the Public/Private VR Partnership. NRA CONTINUES TO OPPOSE THE DOWNGRADING OF THE OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER. WE BELIEVE ANY DOWNGRADING OF THE OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF RSA IS AN INSULT TO THE DISABILITY ADVOCACY COMMUNITY, ESPECIALLY THOSE INDIVIDUALS IN THE COMMUNITY WITH SIGNIFICANT DISABILITIES. H.R. 27, we pleased to report, does place the State Director of the General VR Agency on the State Workforce Investment Boards (SWIBS) but leaves behind the State Directors of the Blind Agencies. NRA SUPPORTS BOTH THE VR DIRECTOR OF THE GENERAL AGENCIES, AS WELL AS THE VR DIRECTOR OF THE BLIND AGENCIES, AS APPLICABLE, ON THE SWIBS H.R. 27 removes VR Directors from the Workforce Investment Boards (WIBS) at the local level. WE ARE OPPOSED TO THIS REMOVAL, SINCE WE ARE AWARE THE MANY DECISIONS INVOVLING POLICIES AND PARTICIPATION AT THE ONE-STOPS WILL OCCUR AT THE LOCAL LEVEL. NRA SUPPORTS BOTH THE DIRECTORS OF THE GENERAL VR AGENCIES AND THE DIRECTORS OF THE BLIND AGENCIES BEING PLACED ON THE WIBS. The National Rehabilitation Association continues to have concerns with the 'efficiency' measure in WIA's Common Performance Measures which fuels a quick, cheap, any-job-will-will-do mentality. Individuals with disabilities, especially those with significant disabilities, require and deserve comprehensive services and supports in seeking the dignity of a career and living as independently as they wish in their communities. The National Rehabilitation Association is OPPOSED to the WIA efficiency measure, as presently structured. The National Rehabilitation Association supports separate and adequate line item funding for the infrastructure funding at the one-stops rather than allowing Governors to take whatever they deem appropriate from VR's administrative funds, which as you know, have no cap. Allowing Governors to take whatever they deem appropriate from VR's Title I funds to fund the one-stop infrastructure is tantamount to a SUPERWAIVER in allowing the funding (and eligibility) provisions of the Rehab Act to be WAIVED and will harm all individuals with disabilities who want to work and become independent. The National Rehabilitation Association supports the restoration of the 750 MILLION dollars that has steadily, but most assuredly, been extracted from the one-stops appropriation, which money is in addition to the many other expenses The Department of Labor and others expect VR and the other mandatory one-stop partners to assume in the interest of being a good partner. THIS IS A MISGUIDED APPROACH AND IS ONE THAT WILL HURT ALL JOBSEEKERS IN AMERICA TRYING TO COMPETE IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY. The National Rehabilitation Association supports and expects the Congress TO KEEP ITS WORD that the programs authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, would/will always maintain their IDENTITY; would/will always maintain THEIR OWN FUNDING STREAM; WOULD/WILL ALWAYS MAINTAIN THE INDIVIDUALITY AND COMPREHENSIVENESS OF SERVICES AND SUPPORTS THAT HAS ALWAYS CHARACERIZED THE VR PROGRAM. Washington is a town where 'WORD IS YOUR BOND.' That Bond, should never be broken. The National Rehabilitation Association and all in the disABILITY community need to continue to take this message to the Congress. The National Rehabilitation Association supports (although with some apprehension because of continued, chronic inaccessibility) the participation of the VR Program at the one-stops on a cost-allocation/memorandum of understanding basis. And, finally, the Public/Private VR Partnership needs to be recognized -- and we commend all in the Partnership -- public and private providers, alike -- for the good partner that VR continues to be in the one-stop system. The National Rehabilitation Association opposed last year's House WIA bill. We regret to say that because of the foregoing concerns, we must again OPPOSE the HOUSE WIA BILL, H.R. 27. FIGHT ON, VR, FIGHT ON. |
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