mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
i would just reiterate that what we believe is that taxpayer money should not be used by faith-based organizations to discriminate against people based on religion . 
what we feel is that this provision in this bill is offensive and it turns the clock backwards on civil rights . 
mr. speaker , i include for printing in the record a letter opposing this bill signed by 67 religious organizations and civil rights organizations that have great concerns not only with the provision on religious-based employment discrimination but on a whole series of other provisions . 
february 28 , 2005 . 
dear representative : the undersigned organizations are writing to urge you to vote against h.r. 27 , the job training improvement act , unless it is modified to address the concerns outlined in this letter ; and to oppose any effort to expand the block grant authority in the bill along the lines of the administration 's `` wia plus '' proposal . 
h.r. 27 fails to make meaningful improvements to the workforce investment act ( wia ) that would enhance the training and career opportunities of unemployed workers . 
instead , the legislation would eliminate the dislocated worker training program , undermine state rapid response systems , end the federal-state labor exchange system , roll back protections against religious discrimination in hiring by job training providers , and potentially undermine the stability of other important programs . 
in particular , we are concerned about the following provisions in h.r. 27 : h.r. 27 consolidates into a single block grant the wia adult and dislocated worker programs with the wagner-peyser employment service program and reemployment services for unemployment insurance recipients . 
in doing so , it will eliminate job training assistance specifically targeted to workers dislocated by off shoring and other economic changes , pit different types of workers against each other , and lead to future funding reductions . 
the block grant also eliminates the statewide job service , which provides a uniform statewide system for matching employers and jobseekers , replacing it with a multiplicity of localized programs that would have no incentive or ability to cooperate and function as a comprehensive labor exchange system . 
eliminating the employment a principal criticism of wia has been the substantial decline in actual training compared to its predecessor , the job training partnership act . 
while there are various reasons for the reduction in training , including the sequence of services requirement in current law , the use of wia resources by local boards and operators to build new one-stop facilities and bureaucracies , without any limitation , has contributed substantially to the decline in training . 
this is despite the fact that many wia partner programs also contribute operating funds to one-stop operations . 
h.r. 27 gives governors even broader discretion to transfer additional resources from the wia partner programs to pay for wia infrastructure and core services costs -- without any assurance that more training would result . 
these programs include the vocational rehabilitation program , veterans employment programs , adult education , the perkins post secondary career and technical education programs , unemployment insurance , trade adjustment assistance , temporary assistance for needy families ( tanf ) , and , if they are partners , employment and training programs under the food stamp and housing programs , programs for individuals with disabilities carried out by state agencies , the infrastructure and related provisions start the commingling of funds from these non-wia programs . 
in doing so , they transform the original one-stop idea of a better-coordinated workforce system into a mechanism for reducing resources for and block granting these programs in the future . 
a more effective and simple solution to ensuring adequate training services would be to require that a certain percentage of wia funds be used for training as provided in previous job training programs and to create a separate wia funding stream for one-stop operations , if necessary . 
h.r. 27 includes permanent and unlimited authority for the secretary to conduct `` personal reemployment account '' ( pra ) demonstratious even though the department of labor recently initiated a pra demonstration without strong interest among the states . 
although nine states could have participated , only seven are doing so . 
since this demonstration already is in process , we see no justification for this provision and can only surmise that it is an attempt to implement pras more broadly , despite a lack of congressional support for a full-scale program in the past . 
unlike current wia training programs , the pras would limit the cost of training that an unemployment insurance recipient can receive and would bar that individual from wia training services for a year after the pra account is established . 
this is the wrong way to go . 
with long-term unemployment at historically high levels , there is a much greater need for continued unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed who have found it so difficult to become reemployed . 
h.r. 27 repeals longstanding civil rights protections that prohibit religious-based employment discrimination by job training providers . 
these protections have been included in job training programs , which received bipartisan support , since 1982 . 
at no time have the civil rights provisions prohibited religious organizations from effective participation in federal job training programs . 
this rollback of civil rights protections is especially incongruous in a program designed to provide employment and career opportunities in an evenhanded manner and should be rejected . 
the administration has proposed giving governors authority to merge five additional programs into the wia block grant . 
the proposal would eliminate specialized assistance to unemployed , disabled and homeless veterans , critical job training services for workers under the trade adjustment assistance act whose jobs have been outsourced or lost to foreign competition , and specialized counseling and customized help for people with disabilities through state vocational rehabilitation agencies . 
these individuals would have to compete with each other for a declining share of resources without the protections and requirements under current law . 
furthermore , the in summary , h.r. 27 strays far from the appropriate mission for federal job training programs of enhancing training opportunities for workers and providing skilled workers for employers . 
we strongly urge you to oppose this legislation unless amendments are adopted to delete the block grant , pra demonstration and religious-based discrimination provisions and to modify the infrastructure provisions as recommended . 
american association of people with disabilities . 
american civil liberties union . 
american counseling association . 
american federation of government employees ( afge ) . 
american federation of labor-congress of industrial organizations ( afl-cio ) . 
american federation of state , county and municipal employees ( afscme ) . 
american federation of teachers ( aft ) . 
american humanist association . 
american jewish congress . 
american psychological association . 
american rehabaction network . 
americans for democratic action ( ada ) . 
americans for religious liberty . 
americans united for separation of church and state ( au ) . 
association for career and technical education . 
baptist joint committee . 
brain injury association of america . 
brotherhood of locomotive engineers and training . 
campaign for america 's future . 
center for community change . 
communications workers of america ( cwa ) . 
council of state administrators for vocational rehabilitation ( csavr ) . 
easter seals . 
equal partners in faith . 
goodwill industries . 
institute for america 's future . 
interfaith alliance . 
international association of machinists and aerospace workers . 
international brotherhood of teamsters . 
international union of painters and allied trades . 
national advocacy center of the sisters of the good shepherd . 
national alliance for partnerships in equity . 
national association of state directors of career technical education consortium . 
national association of state head injury administrators . 
national council of jewish women . 
national education association . 
national employment law project . 
national head start association . 
national immigration law center . 
national law center on homelessness & amp ; poverty . 
national league of cities . 
national organization for women . 
national rehabilitation association ( nra ) . 
national wic association . 
national women 's law center . 
network , a national catholic social justice lobby . 
omb watch . 
paralyzed veterans of america . 
patient alliance for neuroendocrineimmune disorders ; organization for research and advocacy . 
plumbers and pipe fitters union . 
professional employees department , afl-cio . 
protestants for the common good . 
service employees international union ( seiu ) . 
the arc of the u.s.. 
united cerebral palsy . 
unitarian universalist service committee . 
united auto workers ( uaw ) . 
united church of christ justice and witness ministries . 
united mineworkers of america . 
united steelworkers of america . 
usaction . 
welfare law center . 
wider opportunities for women . 
women employed . 
women work ! 
the national network for women 's employment . 
9 to 5 , national association of working women . 
mr. speaker , i yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. holt ) xz4001840 . 
