Trade Adjustment Assistance Coalition

"Any argument that Lehman's collapse served the positive purpose of letting the world financial system participants know there was a risk to be had, that message lasted 24 hours," said Doug Rediker, Director of New America Foundation's Global Strategic Finance Initiative and former Lehman Brothers investment banker. "We may now have the inverse message: There are banks that are too big to fail."... Original Article

Washington, DC -- President-elect Barack Obama has called for an ambitious program of public investment in infrastructure, including but not limited to short-term stimulus spending. Proposals for rebuilding America have received broad bipartisan support.

In 2002, Congress passed the most far-reaching reform and expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) since the program was established more than 40 years ago. Now, two years later, it is time to ask, how successfully have these changes been implemented and how effective is TAA in addressing the needs of workers and communities facing severe dislocations as a result of changes in international trade and investment?

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Coalition is a non-profit 501(c)(3) public policy organization, housed… more

In 2002, after a nearly decade-long deadlock, Congress passed the most sweeping international trade legislation in 15 years.

By giving the president authority to negotiate new trade agreements, the United States has begun negotiating free-trade agreements with more than a dozen countries. President Bush has already signed free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore, and he expects to sign at least two more this year.

In exchange for trade negotiating authority, Congress and the administration committed to assist those… more

For more than 40 years, the United States has recognized that -- though international trade and global commerce are certainly in the best interests of the United States -- there are those workers that are hurt by trade and globalization in general. During the Kennedy administration, to respond to the needs of those workers the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was created.

In 2002, the Congress agreed to extend new authority to the Administration to negotiate new trade… more

A little more than a year ago, after a long legislative struggle, Congress passed the most sweeping international trade legislation in 15 years. After a nearly decade-long deadlock, Congress gave the president authority to negotiate new trade agreements. And just before this summer's recess, Congress overwhelmingly passed the first fruits of that authority: new free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore.

Unfortunately, implementation of the assistance for workers who lose their jobs because of international trade has not been as swift. If… more

In this report, the GAO addresses Senate Finance Committee inquiries regarding impact of foreign trade on U.S. manufacturing -- and in particular, how effective the Trade Adjustment Assistance program has been in mitigating those effects.

According to the GAO:

The 12 regional Trade Adjustment Assistance Centers spent an annual average of about $9.8 million for cooperative agreement years 1995 through 1999. Although Centers' expenditures varied, most of these funds (61 percent) were used to fund operational and administrative costs, including the… more