WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters): The White House threatened yesterday to veto a bill to expand federal assistance for retraining workers who have lost their jobs because of trade, but said it wanted to work with Congress to revamp the programme.
The bill, headed to a vote this week in the House of Representatives, fails to make needed reforms and instead converts the federal trade adjustment assistance programme "from a trade-related programme to a universal income-support and training programme," the White House budget office said in a statement.
"Accordingly, if this bill were presented to the president in its current form, the president's senior advisors would recommend he veto the bill," it said.
The veto threat spotlights sharp differences between the White House and Democrats in Congress that could reduce support for a free-trade pact with Peru the administration has wanted Congress to approve for nearly two years.
The House Ways and Means Committee is schedule to vote on that agreement Wednesday.
Thay committee approved a bill last week boosting the cost of trade adjustment assistance by about $6.2 billion over the next 10 years by extending it to service industry workers and allowing more manufacturing workers to apply for the aid.
It pays for that and other reforms by extending an unemployment insurance surtax due to expire this year and delaying business tax cuts approved by Congress in 2004 until 2012. The programme currently costs about about $900 million a year to operate.
"Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is an important part of our nation's efforts to target these workers with reemployment services that will help them transition to good jobs with good wages," the White House budget office said.
White House threatens veto of trade job-loss bill
FE Team | Published: November 01, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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