By U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell
Special to the Courier-Times

After passing the short-term economic stimulus package and during times of economic uncertainty, it is time to do more if Americans are going to make any progress toward long-term economic security for our country.

It is the hard-working American worker and the ingenuity of American business that will help our country maintain its competitive edge.

Government can support these advantages by ensuring workers have the skills they need now and continued training for the future.

A skilled workforce is key to a secure economy. In weak economic times, how are we helping our workforce by not offering pertinent, technical training programs? Workforce training programs should not end after a student leaves high school or college, but should be available throughout years on the job.

As Congress begins to draft the budget for 2009, supporting programs that benefit a skilled workforce must be a priority. However, the President’s proposed 2009 budget does just the opposite. Instead of providing funding for these programs, it cuts job training and workforce development programs by 17 percent.

I believe we need to strengthen our commitment to the American worker during uncertain economic times, not miss an opportunity to invest in our workforce.
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is one such program that provides critical workforce education and job training resources. As our economy expands and changes, our workforce programs need to have the flexibility to partner with the private sector and advance workers into emerging industries such as green jobs. I will continue working with my colleagues to fund and strengthen the WIA to help bring our country into the 21st century global marketplace.

We must provide employees and businesses with the opportunities to invest in training and education opportunities. Last year, I introduced a proposal that would create portable accounts called lifelong learning accounts (LiLAs), similar to a 401(k). This proposal encourages employees to set aside money for continuing education and encourages employers to provide matching funds. This money can help with training costs and address the learning needs of workers.

LiLAs could also help with employees who were laid off because they are portable. This act brings together employees, employers and educators who will make it easier for workers to update their skills.

This year, I will also be working with my colleagues to reauthorize Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to improve services for more trade-impacted workers. Our home state of Washington reaps many benefits from national trade — in fact, one in three jobs in Washington are trade dependent.

Unfortunately, the downside of a robust global trading economy is that not all jobs stay the same and not everyone can keep the same job for life.

TAA provides critical resources to trade-impacted workers including job training and relocation benefits. The TAA program, however, has not kept pace with the changes in our economy, and I believe its time that we expand TAA eligibility to include all trade-impacted workers, including those in the service sector, and provide workers greater flexibility to ensure their training can best prepare them to succeed in new, emerging industries.

With the changing needs of our economy, we must also recognize that the men and women who serve in our armed forces form the very backbone of our American workforce. For more than 60 years, the GI Bill has opened the door to higher education for millions of service members and veterans who wouldn’t otherwise have had the chance to pay for college.

The GI Bill has provided our country with more than 450,000 engineers, 238,000 teachers, and 91,000 scientists. The GI Bill has had a tremendous impact, not only helping veterans go back to school, but transforming America’s middle class. It has been an important tool in a soldier’s transition from military service to civilian life. But access to education should not have an expiration date.

It is clear that now is time to modernize the GI Bill to better fit the needs of today’s soldiers.

I have introduced legislation, the Montgomery GI Bill for Life Act, which would give our service members and veterans, who are eligible for the GI Bill, an unlimited amount of time to use their earned education benefits by repealing the 10 year and 14 year time limit.

The GI Bill for Life would ensure that education opportunities are life-long, allowing service members and veterans the flexibility to seek education and job training opportunities when the time is right. By removing time limits, we can ensure that veterans get the valuable skills, training and education they need to succeed in life outside the military.

At the end of the day it’s clear, we need a new national commitment to invest in the skills of the American workforce. I look forward to working with the new administration to address these issues and look to the future to make America’s workforce stronger than ever.