Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, released the following statement in response to the bi-partisan and bi-cameral agreement on the Workforce and Investment Act. 

After months of negotiation and lack of progress on the reauthorization of the Workforce and Investment Act(WIA), House and Senate leaders pushed for a compromise that was announced today, which will update workforce development programs in states, including Arizona.  It represents a compromise between the House’s SKILLS Act (HR 803) and the Senate’s Workforce Investment Act of 2013 (S 1356) and will now go before both the houses of Congress for approval. 

While the compromise eliminates 15 programs that are currently unfunded, there is a 17% net increase from 2015-2020. Rep. Grijalva is pleased to see that the compromise strengthens the connections between education and success in postsecondary education and the workforce, improves services for English-language learners and requires evaluations and additional research on adult education activities. 

“Currently 6.3% (9.8 million) of Americans are unemployed and seeking work, of which 2.2 million hold a high school level education.  The reauthorization of WIA is crucial increating a 21st century delivery system for adult education and workforce training that leads to educational opportunities and ultimately, economic self-sufficiency for our nation’s increasingly diverse workforce.”Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva said.

A one-page summary of the legislation can be found HERE.

The statement of managers, including a section-by-section summary of the legislation, can be found HERE.

A summary of key improvements WIOA makes to current workforce development programs can be found HERE.

The text of the bipartisan, bicameral agreement can be found HERE.

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