Washington DC – The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) today joined with 17 other key business associations and companies in sending a letter to the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, urging them to support the extension of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program before the December 31 deadline.
The groups wrote:
“As the U.S. economy struggles to recover from the global economic crisis, TAA is serving more Americans than ever before. Since the new TAA program went into effect on May 18, 2009, over 360,000 workers affected by more than 3,500 layoffs have been certified to receive TAA benefits. TAA for Firms is also seeing record usage this year with a 30% increase in small U.S. manufacturing and service firms being certified into the program over FY-2009. And the TAA for Farmers program has helped about 5,000 agricultural producers across the country improve their competitiveness.
“An effective TAA program that gives displaced workers the skills and resources they need to re-enter the job market is a central element of U.S. trade policy and key to future U.S. competitiveness. We urge you to act now to extend TAA, providing the certainty of funding that American workers, firms, farmers, ranchers and communities need to retool for success in the global economy. Failure to do so will adversely impact thousands of Americans, decreasing the number of those eligible for benefits, and making the remaining program provisions more difficult to access and administer.”
“TAA is a key part of the U.S. competitiveness strategy. It is instrumental in helping those whose jobs have been adversely affected by trade acquire new skills and new opportunities for employment,” said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. “We urge members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to put politics aside and work together to extend the program as soon as possible before the end of the year.”
To read the full text of the
letter, please click
here.
About the NFTC
Advancing Global Commerce for 95 Years -The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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