Capitol Hill

On Wednesday, the U.S. House and Senate reached a compromise on the economic recovery package, bringing the total cost to $789 billion.

Complete details were unavailable as of press time. According to various news reports, even though the deal had been struck, lawmakers still had not seen a final summary of the bill, which emerged from conference committee talks in a much expanded form, having doubled in size from roughly 778 pages to a whopping 1434 pages.

A New York Times story (“House and Senate in Deal for $789 Billion Stimulus“) said “Even trimmed to $789 billion, the recovery measure will be the most expansive unleashing of the government’s fiscal firepower in the face of a recession since World War II.”

A story in the Washington Post (“Congress Reaches Stimulus Accord“) said, “Despite the acknowledgment of ceding some ground, the president secured many of his biggest priorities in the legislation, including the longer-term health-care and energy investments that the administration views as a down payment on broader reforms.”

Workforce provisions

The shape of the final bill remains to be seen, but both the House and Senate bills include several billion dollars in new funding to support workforce development activities.

Key provisions include:

• $2.7 billion in both bills for WIA adult, dislocated worker, and youth formula grant programs;
• A new competitive grant program at the Department of Labor to support worker training in high growth industries—the House funded at $750 million, while the Senate funds at $250 million; and
• Additional funding to support state unemployment insurance and employment services activities—the House funds at $500 million, the Senate at $400 million.

Though the Senate bill, which was approved earlier in the week, was not as generous as the House bill, advocates are optimistic that the final economic recovery package will include at least $4 billion in workforce development investments.

President Obama hopes to sign the economic recovery bill on President’s Day.