"Many businesses in Maine have been forced to lay off workers due to the impact of increased competition from overseas," said Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. "By offering advice and assistance, TAA for Firms helps to assure that a worker is never unemployed in the first place. Adequately funding for this effort is just one of many ways we can retain and create jobs."
The TAA for Firms program assists hundreds of mostly small and medium-sized manufacturing and agricultural companies that experience loss of jobs and sales because of foreign imports. Qualifying companies receive technical assistance in areas such as marketing, financing, production, product development, distribution, management information systems, and exporting.
Following is the full text of the letter:
Dear Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Mikulski:
We are writing to request your support for $16 million for the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms program (TAA for Firms) in fiscal year 2006.
The Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms program assists hundreds of mostly small and medium-sized manufacturing and agricultural companies that experience loss of jobs and sales because of foreign imports. Qualifying companies receive technical assistance in areas such as marketing, financing, production, product development, distribution, management information systems, and exporting.
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms is a successful and cost-effective program that aids our nation's small businesses. Since 1999, the program has helped to retain or create over 48,039 jobs in communities, and increased sales at participating companies by over $900 million. TAA for Firms averts the need for millions of dollars in unemployment compensation, welfare assistance, and other dislocated worker program costs by saving companies and jobs imperiled by import competition. Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms helps to assure that a worker is never unemployed in the first place. Moreover, by retaining and creating jobs, the program generates federal and state tax revenues at a ratio of $7.98 for every federal dollar appropriated.
Despite its track record, the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms program is chronically underfunded. The list of approved but unfunded projects is growing and includes firms in virtually every state. To address this backlog and ensure effective operation of the program, Congress authorized appropriations of $16 million annually in the Trade Act of 2002. We encourage you to support increased funding of this program at a level of $16 million in FY2006. We believe at least this level of funding is critical to address the needs of American manufacturers and workers in our changing global economy.
We appreciate your consideration of this request.