On October 2, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 1627) to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) (P.L. 105-220). The vote came during a brief mark-up held off the Senate floor. Approved by Congress in 1998, WIA consolidated more than 60 job training programs into block grants to states and established a centralized, one-stop delivery system providing federally funded employment and training services.
The House approved its version of the reauthorization (H.R. 1261) on May 8 (see The Source, 5/9/03), which would consolidate the WIA adult program, the WIA dislocated worker program, and the employment services state grants into on block grant. The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), does not consolidate those programs. Both bills would include pregnant and parenting teens as eligible for youth services that provide the skills and credentials necessary to obtain employment.
