Two noteworthy steps toward the “worker-centric” trade policy promised in the last election have recently been taken by Congress and the president’s U.S. trade representative.
In Congress, the House has approved and sent to the Senate the Trade Adjustment Assistance Modernization Act. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, chair of the Trade Subcommittee, was the driving force behind this measure.
The Act would extend for four years and substantially enlarge the principal federal program to help workers, firms, farmers and communities hurt by trade. It is now part of the Build Back Better bill and will be subject to the usual horse trading.
But approval by the House demonstrates a new readiness of legislators to recognize government responsibility for the domestic costs of trade.
The revised TAA, administered by the Departments of Labor, Commerce and Agriculture, would double funding for training workers from $450 million to $1billion per year expand eligibility criteria for workers.
