Fighting to Solve the Debt Crisis

It is August 3, and, phew, it looks like we will live to fight another day when it comes to solving the debt crisis.  The political showdown on the debt ceiling has set the stage for even more drama as required cuts begin to be implemented in the annual appropriations Congress must enact for the federal fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2011.  A likely target will be workforce programs.  On the heels of January’s GAO report citing duplication in workforce programs and services, we can expect a continued push for consolidation and budget cuts.  When looking at where to consolidate, Iet’s hope policy leaders will remember that overlap is not always ineffective or inefficient duplication.  One size does not fit all with our diverse workforce – from out of school youth, to migrant workers, to mature workers, to newly returning veterans – the list goes on.  By the way, we have already gone from more than 160 federal workforce programs to less than fifty such programs since enactment of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.   In a year when so many of our neighbors and friends are unemployed, it is time for a scalpel and not an ax in the next round of workforce program appropriations and authorization legislation.