Tag: Budget

As the nation’s largest provider of job training services, Goodwill® knows that work is one of the keys to successful reentry from prison. Congress is on the verge of advancing the Second Chance Reauthorization Act, which expands existing correctional education and employment initiatives; increases the number of grant programs available to nonprofits; and improves accountability. Goodwill supports this bipartisan legislation and urges Congress to pass the bill this year.

READ MORE from Urge Your Members of Congress to Support Programs That Reduce Recidivism

Congress recessed last week until after Labor Day for its traditional August recess. For most of us, it’s a time for travel and vacations. Here in Washington, it’s also a time for reflecting on what has been accomplished and what remains to be done that can be done. So, here is a quick recap of this Congress’ achievement and what remains.

READ MORE from Congress Breaks on a High Note—But Defers Tough Decisions ‘Till the Fall

This week I had the great pleasure of working with Sandra Collins, assistant store manager from Goodwill Olympics and Rainier Region (Tacoma, WA), as she testified before a House Ways and Means subcommittee during a hearing titled Subsidized Job Programs and Their Effectiveness in Helping Families Go to Work and Escape Poverty.

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Time is melting away on the 113th Congress. Just a few short weeks remain to take care of business. The House is scheduled to be in session 38 more days until the fiscal year ends on Oct. 1, 2014; the Senate for 51. And there is much to be done in those critical days.

READ MORE from Tick, Tock … The Congressional Clock Is Running Out

This week, Goodwill advocates from around the country will visit Capitol Hill and meet with hundreds of lawmakers to advocate on behalf of Goodwill. You can help by participating in Goodwill on the Hill Virtual Advocacy Day!

READ MORE from Join the Goodwill® on the Hill Virtual Advocacy Day!

Last week, the GOP-led House of Representatives passed a budget resolution that would seem to balance the budget by gutting domestic discretionary spending, boosting military spending, cutting taxes for the wealthiest and raising them for working Americans. In fact, the Ryan Budget Resolution cuts discretionary programs more deeply than the continuation of sequestration would, by a whopping $791 billion.

READ MORE from For What It’s Worth—The House Budget Resolution

In the movie Casablanca, Louis the French gendarme played by Claude Rains is forced by the evil Nazis to shut down Rick’s Café American. Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, is furious about the shutdown and demands to know on what grounds his café is being closed. Louis states, “I’m shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here!” Of course that Louis is the most prolific gambler of any of Rick’s customers is what makes the announcement so ironically funny. So, too, in Washington: I am amused when one side announces that the other side is playing politics with an issue. Really, politics? In Washington? I’m shocked!

READ MORE from Budget Politics Returns to Washington

If the old adage that there is strength in numbers has any truth, then funding for job training programs could see a boost next year. Goodwill Industries International and Goodwill® members are joining hundreds of national and state organizations to make the case to Congress that it’s time to invest in America’s job training system.

READ MORE from Goodwill® Aligns with Hundreds of Groups to Boost Job Training Funding

I’ve written before about how this Congress seems to have started to move past the intensely bitter ideological battles that marked much of the past three years. Another sign of that came this week as the GOP-controlled House and the Democrat-led Senate approved a one-year extension of the nation’s borrowing authority, otherwise known at the debt limit. What made this event so newsworthy wasn’t the passage of the legislation, but rather what didn’t happen.

READ MORE from Congress Finds a Lost Art —The Possible

After years of wrangling capped by a surprise defeat last year in the House, Congress finally mustered the votes to clear a five-year reauthorization of the farm bill. The bill includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. Under the bill, funding for SNAP would be cut by $8 billion over the next decade. The cuts are slightly higher than the $4 billion reduction in the original Senate farm bill but far less than the $40 billion reduction advocated by House Republicans.

READ MORE from Congress Passes Farm Bill – SNAP Cuts Minimized