Sherrod Brown criticizes cuts to jobs program
Canton Repository – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Avon, visited the local Employment Source office Friday as part of his effort to defend the job search assistance agency from drastic budget cuts Brown said have been advocated by congressional Republicans.
“We obviously need to work on deficit reduction,” said Brown. “But most importantly we’ve got to work on economic growth and jobs. … we can’t be cutting workforce training dollars at this most crucial time.”
Guy Pietra, the director of human resources at Union Metal, said at the event that using the Employment Source to find 15 new employees since December 2009 for positions paying $37,000 to $80,000 a year had saved the company $100,000 in recruiting and head hunter’s fees.
Tonya Wheeler of Massillon said the federal funding had paid a portion of her tuition fees for nurse’s training.
Brown’s office said that the House Republicans’ budget plan, which the House passed last month, cuts the part of the federal budget that funds job training programs under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 by $6.2 billion in the fiscal year starting this Oct. 1. Brown’s office said the federal government is expected to spend $6.7 billion this year on that portion of the budget that includes Workforce Investment job training programs.
Brown said the cuts to “investments for the future” can be avoided by returning tax rates for high-income earners to 1990s levels and eliminating several tax deductions for oil companies.
