Today I introduced a bill to expand and revitalize the two main federal employment and training programs for persons with significant disabilities, paving the way to create more, better jobs and restore accountability to prevent waste, fraud and abuse.

The bill includes key reforms to solve the problems uncovered by my staff in 2005, when we conducted a six-month investigation and found that programs under the Randolph-Sheppard Act and the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act (JWOD) were failing to produce many jobs, have not been updated in decades, and are vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse, sometimes resulting in worker exploitation. Serving as Chairman of the HELP Committee at that time, I began the investigation at the urging of program participants alleging program improprieties.

These programs are performing dismally and we must improve them. My main goal is to create more and better jobs for individuals with disabilities. This bill will allow greater flexibility and provide real job training so Americans with disabilities can develop marketable skills and knowledge to make meaningful career choices. It also restores accountability to these programs to make sure workers are no longer exploited. The bill specifically empowers a strong regulator to police both programs and protect workers.

My investigation into these programs, and the HELP Committee hearing that followed, revealed several troubling trends, including:

• The programs produced few jobs for individuals with disabilities. Although there are 15 million unemployed persons with disabilities, JWOD and Randolph-Sheppard produced just 48,000 jobs.
• JWOD and Randolph-Sheppard are ancient statutes that have not kept pace with the changing world. While the law, technology, commercial customs and social norms changed dramatically over the past decades, the programs have gone unchanged since 1971.
• Regulatory neglect has given rise to waste, fraud, and abuse. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federal law enforcement agencies conducted raids and pursued criminal investigations in response to the HELP Committee’s investigative findings.

Americans with disabilities deserve better. We owe it to all Americans to improve these programs, and that’s what I’m working toward with the bill introduced today.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 2:34 pm and is filed under Politics .