Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Reauthorization Prospects for the 118th Congress

In the 118th Congress, bills will likely be introduced to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which includes programs used by community colleges and other higher education institutions pursuing their own workforce development agendas. Passed in July 2014, the WIOA is the primary federal law to increase access to and coordination between workforce development and other related programs. This blog post provides context on what the WIOA accomplishes and highlights recent attempts to reauthorize the law.

Background

There are four major components to the WIOA:

• Title I includes programs related to workforce development activities and authorizes three formula grants through federally-funded, state- and locally-administered delivery systems that are administered by the Department of Labor.
• Title II enacts the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), which authorizes programs for adult education up to the secondary level, as well as English training, and is administered by the Department of Education.
• Title III amends the Wagner-Peyser Act, which authorizes the Employment Service formula grant program that is essential to the WIOA for planning and accountability purposes.
• Title IV amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and provides funding to state agencies to support employment-related services to individuals with disabilities, among other smaller programs.

The WIOA originally funded its programs from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2020 after most WIOA programs went into effect July 2015. Appropriations authorization for the WIOA was set to expire after fiscal year 2020, but Congress has extended authorization through the annual appropriations process since fiscal year 2021. Despite the extended authorization, Congress has tasked itself with producing a reauthorization of the WIOA that will extend appropriations for another five or more years and help modernize its workforce development programs. We will likely see reauthorization legislation in the House and/or Senate before the current term ends in 2025.

WIOA Reauthorization Attempt in the 117th Congress

In the 117th Congress, House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott (D-VA) and 17 committee Democrats introduced the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022 (H.R. 7309, “WIOA reauthorization bill”) and sent it to the House floor for a vote. According to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on H.R. 7309, the bill “would retain the general structure and systems established by the WIOA” and would “authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2023 through 2028, increasing funding for existing systems and establishing several new programs.” The CRS report specifies that the WIOA reauthorization bill focused mostly on amending Title I of the law.

On May 17, 2022, the House passed the WIOA reauthorization bill and sent it to the Senate where the bill stalled in the Senate Help, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee until the 117th Congress adjourned. The WIOA reauthorization bill passed the House among mostly partisan lines with 216 Democrats and four Republicans voting in favor of the bill and 196 Republicans voting against it.

House Republicans criticized Scott and other Democrats on the Education and Labor Committee for failing to collaborate with Republicans to create a bipartisan bill prior to its introduction and during the committee markup. Prior to its final House vote, Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) spoke out against the bill on the House floor stating that the Democrats’ bill did not create a workforce development system that prepares workers for in-demand skills.

Potential for WIOA Reauthorization Attempts in the 118th Congress

Given a divided House and Senate, both chambers will have to work together to pass any meaningful legislation for a WIOA reauthorization. Democrats and Republicans may be incentivized to produce a consensus WIOA reauthorization bill to address the record labor shortages and resulting open positions that employers are struggling to fill across the country. With Foxx now serving as the chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and her interest in WIOA reauthorization during the last Congress, we believe she and other House Republicans will introduce a new bill, though it’s unknown whether they’ll be able to come to an agreement with Democrats in both the House and Senate to finalize and pass a new reauthorization bill.

Without knowing how or when Congress will consider WIOA reauthorization, we are more certain of members who may be House champions of such a bill. In addition to Full Committee Chair Foxx and Ranking Member Scott, House Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee leaders Burgess Owens (R-UT) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL) will be involved in WIOA reauthorization bills that are introduced in this Congress. Less certain is where new Senate HELP leaders Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) will stand on this particular issue given the Senate’s lack of action in the last Congress and each senator’s new ascension to top leadership positions of the HELP Committee.

CUPA-HR will monitor WIOA reauthorization bills this Congress and keep members apprised of any new developments.