House Subcommittee Approves Annual Funding Bill for Education, Training, Work Supports
In an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote last Thursday, the House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee approved its FY2008 spending bill to set annual funding levels for education, labor, health and other social services programs. The bill would provide $151 billion in discretionary funding, a 4.6 percent increase in funding from FY2007.
While the subcommittee rejected most of the President's proposed cuts to key education and training programs, some funding fell short of the increases advocates believe are necessary. Specifically, funding levels for career and technical education (Carl D. Perkins) and job training through the Workforce Investment Act were held flat at last year's levels.
Still, the bill does contain modest increases for several programs that help unemployed and underemployed women, including the Department of Labor Women's Bureau, child care assistance, and funding for financial aid. The bill would raise the maximum Pell Grant from $4,310 to $4,700—the largest increase for the program in nearly a decade.
The following chart lays out specific funding numbers for key programs that affect women in economic and employment transition:
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FY2007 Funding |
President's Request |
House Subcommittee Approved |
Perkins Basic Grants to States |
$1.18 billion |
$600 million |
$1.18 billion |
Tech Prep |
$104.8 million |
$0 |
$104.8 million |
WIA Adult Training |
$864.2 million |
$712 million |
$864.2 million |
WIA Dislocated Worker Training |
$1.5 billion |
$1.1 billion |
$1.5 billion |
WANTO |
$1 million |
$0 |
$1 million |
Women's Bureau |
$9.7 million |
$9.8 million |
$10.5 million |
Community Services Block Grant |
$630 million |
$0 |
$660 million |
Pell Grants (annual maximum per student) |
$4,310 |
$4,050 |
$4,700 |
Child Care Assistance |
$2.06 billion |
$2.06 billion |
$2.14 billion |
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Next up: the full Appropriations committee is scheduled to debate the Labor-HHS-Ed bill this Thursday, June 14th. The House would likely then hold a floor vote on the bill next week. The Senate is expected to begin this same process soon. Once both chambers have completed their respective bills, the different versions must be reconciled into a final bill that is passed by Congress and signed by the President.
Workers in Twenty-One States Will See Minimum Wage Increase on July, 24th.
Workers in twenty-one States will receive a long-deserved pay raise July 24th, when the first phase of a new federal minimum wage law is set to go into effect.
On May 25th, President Bush signed the first national minimum wage increase in over a decade as part of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 2206). The new law will mean a pay increase for 12.5 million workers in the United States—the majority of whom are women.
How the new minimum wage increase will work:
The federal minimum wage will increase in three 70-cent increments over the course of two years, until the federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 in 2009.
July 24, 2007: The minimum wage will increase from the current $5.15 to $5.85—resulting in an increase in twenty-one States.
May 25, 2008: The minimum wage will increase to $6.55
May 25, 2009: The minimum wage will finally increase to $7.25
Click here for a chart that shows how your State will be affected by the new law.
Increasing the federal minimum wage for millions of working women has been a Women Work! policy priority for several years now. Thank you to every Women Work! member who has advocated on and raised awareness about this critical issue. We look forward to continuing to work with you to make work pay for working women.
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