John,

A critical program that assists workers who have lost their jobs is set to expire at the end of the month and we need Congress to act fast!

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was started during the Kennedy administration to provide retraining for workers who’ve lost their jobs due to high tariffs. Over the past 12 years, over $8 billion in funding has been invested in workers across the country. In the 2021 fiscal year alone, the program enrolled more than 107,000 workers in various industries.

If the TAA is not renewed and strengthened, American workers will lose out on critical training.

The expiration of the TAA program will deal a devastating blow to low-income workers and communities of color who may not have the resources to be trained in a new industry. Investing in U.S. workers is absolutely critical to maintaining American competitiveness.

Write to your members of Congress today and tell them to support America’s workers by renewing the TAA.

A recent longer-term study highlighted that workers who participated in the TAA program have approximately $50,000 greater cumulative earnings ten years out.¹ TAA is a vital safety net for workers who, through no fault of their own, have been abandoned by the greedy corporations they helped build due to unfair trade policies.

Congress needs to not only renew the program, but expand and strengthen it with enhancements such as:

• Streamlining the application process
• Providing a tax credit for childcare
• Extending the TAA to public service workers who lose their jobs when illegal dumping decimates the community’s tax base

Congress needs to get this right. For too long, we have put a bandage on poor policies and it has left workers at the losing end. This is the right time to invest in American competitiveness through stronger trade policies, worker training, and income support.

Write to your members of Congress today and urge them to renew and strengthen the TAA training program!

Thank you for fighting for workers’ rights,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ https://mackinstitute.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/FP0385_WP_2018Nov.pdf