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Legislative Network Alerts Alert Number 119 March 28, 2005 For Your Information WIA Plus To: Members of the Legislative Network From: Patricia Leahy, Director of Governmental Affairs We are attaching Dr. Fredric Schroeder's Policy Notes regarding the WIA PLUS BLOCK GRANT PROPOSAL which the U.S. Department of Labor continues to promote as it's number one priority in the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The Workforce Investment Act includes, as you know, VR in Title IV. Dr. Schroeder is a former Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). As Deputy Assistant Secretary Mason Bishop advised at NRA's 24th Annual Legislation Summit held on March 13-15, the Administration (DOL) is continuing to do a full-court-press on WIA PLUS to ensure that it becomes a part of the WIA reauthorization. All National Rehabilitation Association Members must continue to be mindful of the fact that the WIA PLUS BLOCK GRANT PROPOSAL/AMENDMENT could raise its ugly head in any vehicle (bill) in the Senate and on almost any vehicle in the House, which has a germaneness rule. This also includes in the Conference Committee, where differences between the House WIA bill (H.R. 27) and the yet-to-be-introduced Senate WIA Reauthorization bill will be reconciled. Indeed, Conference Committee deliberations are almost always held behind closed doors and that protected environment could provide a friendlier forum in which to introduce the WIA PLUS BLOCK GRANT AMENDMENT. AND, REMEMBER, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN CONFERENCE. The National Rehabilitation Association continues to monitor closely all developments in this and related regards and will keep you advised via the Washington Wire of any and all information on WIA reauthorization, as well as the proposed closing of RSA's Regional Offices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Policy Notes Fredric K. Schroeder, Ph.D. Saturday, March 26, 2005 Volume II, No. 6 Re: Department of Labor Promotion of WIA Plus Issue: Even though the Administration's WIA Plus super waiver authority was not added during the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act in the House of Representatives, Dr. Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary for the Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy, is spending the month of April touring the country seeking support for the Administration's WIA Plus proposal. What has prompted this action and what does it mean for the Rehabilitation Act as the reauthorization process moves to the Senate? Response: Dr. Grizzard's tour of the states is part of an administration strategy to push for consolidation of job training programs, including vocational rehabilitation (VR). When the Administration announced its intention to seek super waiver authority known as WIA Plus, giving states the ability to consolidate a number of job training programs, the idea was that the House would include WIA Plus language in its reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. Although the Administration pushed hard for the House of Representatives to include the super waiver authority, the WIA Plus language was not added. Advocates overwhelmed the House with calls and visits making WIA Plus politically untenable. Nevertheless, those who thought the battle was over and that WIA Plus was dead are sadly mistaken. Shortly after the House passed its bill reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act, Emily DeRocco, Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training within the Department of Labor issued a statement making it clear that the Administration did not consider the WIA Plus issue to be over. Specifically, she stated, 'The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress to incorporate the President's 'WIA Plus' reforms in the final bill.' Assistant Secretary DeRocco was signaling that the Administration plans to press WIA Plus as the reauthorization process continues. While it is unclear whether the Administration will be successful in getting the Senate interested in pushing WIA Plus as it takes up reauthorization, it appears that the Administration does have the support of a number of key House leaders. The latest step to push WIA Plus is again coming from the Department of Labor, which has been the lead for the Administration on the super waiver issue. Dr. Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Disability Employment Policy in the Department of Labor will be spending the month of April traveling from state to state promoting the Administration's WIA Plus super waiver proposal. He is scheduling meetings with governors, state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency directors, and disability leaders and organizations. The stated purpose of the meetings is to discuss the Workforce Investment Act and how it affects the disability community; however, Dr. Grizzard's visits could be better described as a campaign intended to gin up local and state support for WIA Plus. It is no accident that Dr. Grizzard has been selected to represent the Administration in its promotion of WIA Plus. Dr. Grizzard runs the federal agency that was created to be the Administration's lead on disability employment policy. Beyond that, Dr. Grizzard is a person with a disability (he is blind) and previously directed the VR program for the blind in Virginia. I believe that it is hoped that, as a blind person, Dr. Grizzard will have credibility with the disability community and that his VR state agency background will give him credibility with VR agency directors. Of course, the Department of Labor knows that winning over state VR agency directors will be a hard sell, but they also know that most VR agencies are under the executive branch of government and, therefore, must support the Governor's policy decisions, even if that means supporting WIA Plus. I believe this is why Dr. Grizzard is trying so hard to meet with governors as he travels around the country. Even if the Administration is successful in winning over the governors, it will need to garner the support of the disability community. A recent Department of Labor publication gives us some insight into the arguments that the Administration plans to use in seeking support for WIA Plus from the disability community. For some time, the Department of Labor has been releasing notices known as the 'WIA Fact of the Day.' These notices provide information and address questions related to the workforce system and, of course, put the Administration's spin on the information provided. On March 17, 2005, the Department of Labor issued a WIA Fact of the Day describing the WIA Plus super waiver authority as 'job training reform' leading to improved services for all people, and in particular, services for people with disabilities. While the notice is short on specifics, relying instead on general references to collaboration and flexibility, it does give some indication of the direction the Administration is taking as it relates to disability employment policy. One statement in the March 17 WIA Fact of the Day is particularly revealing and troubling: '. individuals with disabilities will be trained for jobs that are in-demand and require highly skilled-workers.' Of course, who could object to people with disabilities being trained for high skilled jobs, but the promise of good jobs is conditioned by the job being in an area with a labor shortage (in-demand jobs). The publication ignores the fact that the most prevalent jobs, the jobs hardest to fill, the in-demand jobs are not the high wage jobs but the dead-end jobs no one wants. In addition to the promise of good jobs, the WIA Fact of the Day publication goes on to claim that there are countless employers eager to hire people with disabilities, and somehow, WIA Plus will facilitate the connection between people with disabilities and employers. The document says, In conversations with thousands of business executives nationwide about their workforce needs, the Department of Labor has continuously heard that businesses want to hire individuals with disabilities ... A consolidated approach to workforce investment . offers the opportunity to develop and implement new and creative solutions to ensure businesses make that connection and individuals with disabilities have the greatest opportunities to get the skills and services they need for good jobs with good pay and career pathways in the 21st century economy. Of course, the VR program is already a mandatory partner in the one-stop workforce system. So, where are these employers and what are these high skilled, high wage jobs, and what is keeping people with disabilities from gaining access to them right now? How will WIA Plus change things? How will it increase access to jobs for people with disabilities? And what about training? The generic one-stop system does not invest large sums of money in job training, certainly nothing like the investment VR agencies routinely make. While the WIA Fact of the Day document paints a picture of a workforce system abundant with employers anxious to hire people with disabilities for high skilled, high wage jobs, I am left with the inevitable conclusion that WIA Plus is mostly smoke and mirrors, a way of diverting funds from employment services for people with disabilities in exchange for empty promises. The reality is that the preponderance of jobs available through the one-stop system are not the high end, high tech, good paying jobs the WIA Fact of the Day promises but just the opposite-low wage, low skilled jobs that employers have trouble keeping filled. Pretending otherwise is disingenuous at best. The idea that we would promise good jobs, with no plan for making it happen, is unconscionable. Training people with disabilities for 'in-demand' jobs means relegating them to some of the poorest jobs in our society. The idea of tracking people with disabilities into demand side jobs, while promising something we have no plan to achieve and no interest in providing, is a step backward, not a step forward in disability employment policy. It is a statement that good enough is good enough for the disabled--forget interests and abilities; forget justice and fairness; forget dignity and choice; forget all the progress we have made in opening new jobs and new opportunities; and forget the individual's hopes and dreams. The Administration is determined. To keep WIA Plus from becoming a reality, advocates will have to be even more determined. |
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