U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis presented her plans for America’s workforce in 2010, emphasizing the importance of COBRA, OSHA, and the reauthorization of Workforce Investment Act, to the House Committee on Education and Labor on Wednesday.
Solis spoke in a similar vein to the President’s State of the Union speech last Wednesday, mostly speaking of job creation with grants and training. Secretary Solis stressed that job losses had stabilized, but that the administration would continue to support Americans who had lost their jobs, by extending COBRA.
“[The President and I will] work diligently to provide a safety net for people who continue to lose their jobs. And [for] those people that are running out of their current insurance benefits, their COBRA benefits [it’s important] that we continue to provide that extension,” explained Solis.
Strengthening the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration continues to be a top priority for the Secretary, as she claimed, “one of the most important things that we can do is focus on enforcement of our current laws that are on the books…in wage and hour and OSHA. [We will continue] providing assistance for those individuals who are robbed because of their wages or not paid overtime…Everyone deserves to have someone fighting for them,” Solis reinforced.
“So far in OSHA we have been able to conduct 2,000 inspections in the workplace when we received our Recovery Act money, which has allowed me to build up my staff to provide more investigators in the field,” she continued. “I can tell you that we’re turning things around in the Department of Labor.”
The Department is also looking forward to reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, a federal act that fosters a range of workforce development activities through statewide and local organizations. Funding for WIA declined approximately 25% between 2000 and 2008, a period fraught by two recessions. At the hearing, Solis expressed hope that Congress would aid her in restoring its efficacy.
“The President wants to let you know that what we are looking for in the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act will include streamlining of service delivery, one stop shopping for high quality services, engaging employers on a regional and sectoral basis, improving accountability, and promoting innovation. These are all the major goals that we will strive to include as we go along with the reauthorization of WIA,” she concluded.
