Jon L. Christensen: “the reauthorization of the ``Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act'' is critical to solving our nation's…”

“the reauthorization of the ``Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act'' is critical to solving our nation's economic slump. The unemployment rate rose to 6.0 percent in April and the number of unemployed persons increased to 8.8 million in April. Jobless rates for adult women, teenagers, whites, African-Americans and Hispanics showed little or no change. During this time of economic recession, investing in the workforce benefits both employees and employers and strengthens our economy. Access to job training is critical for our nation's unemployed. But, H.R. 1261 is not a ``simple'' reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. Rather, H.R. 1261 is the beginning of dismantling the federal unemployment safety net that has served our nation for over 70 years. There are several provisions of H.R. 1261 that are particularly troubling. The Republican bill removes nondiscrimination language from the existing law--thereby allowing organizations receiving funds under WIA to discriminate in hiring based on religion. I have received constituent letters urging a vote against H.R. 1261 because this legislation jeopardizes civil rights and religious freedoms by rolling back protection against discrimination or misuse of government funds by religious organizations. Block granting is a bad strategy and one that we have seen often used by the Republicans.”