IFPTE Member Advocacy Pushes House Committee to Include Aerospace Worker Payroll Support in COVID Relief Package
This week, as committees in the House of Representatives are marking up the budget reconciliation package aimed at COVID relief, IFPTE members and International and Local staff have been campaigning for the inclusion of urgently needed provisions to provide support for jobs and workers in the aerospace manufacturing industry as well as other key priorities such as state and local government aid. See SPEEA's letter campaign to Members of Congress and IFPTE’s letter to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) here [PDF].
On Friday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold an all-day mark up for federal funding for state and local governments. IFPTE and IFPTE Locals are urging Congress to include at least $350 billion in flexible relief for state and local governments as part of state and local government funding provisions that equals $600 billion.
On Wednesday, the House T&I Committee marked up a $96 billion portion of the package that includes $3 billion for partial payroll support for aerospace manufacturing jobs at risk of furlough or layoffs. SPEEA/Local 2001 and IFPTE had identified the inclusion of this provision as a key priority for IFPTE members and the national economic recovery.
While this provision, originally found in the bipartisan Aviation Manufacturing Jobs Protection Act (H.R. 553) sponsored by Aviation Subcommittee Chair John Larsen (D-WA) and Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS), was not included in the original COVID relief framework outlined by President Biden, SPEEA/Local 2001 member advocacy and SPEEA and IFPTE staff's outreach to T&I members led to the inclusion of this language in the T&I markup.
Over the last several months, SPEEA legislative staff worked with Rep. Larsen's office to include strong worker protections in the bill so that aerospace employers who receive federal payroll support funds apply those monies to keeping workers employed and not for stock buybacks or dividends.
The budget reconciliation process allows legislation and legislative packages that impact federal spending and revenues move through the House and Senate in an expedited manner and allows the Senate to avoid the filibuster and the 60 votes threshold necessary to close debate and pass legislation . The current budget reconciliation process began with the Senate Budget Committee setting a $1.9 trillion target dollar amount for the legislative package and the Senate and House passing budget resolutions in the first week of February. This amount is equal to the COVID package that President Biden outlined as the "American Rescue Plan." From there, the budget reconciliation package is split up and sent to the various House committees that have jurisdiction over those sections. The process this week involves the committees deliberating, marking up and amending, and approving the section they're responsible for (a summary of the budget reconciliation process can be found on the House Budget Committee's website). IFPTE's request for COVID Relief Priorities can be found here.
The budget reconciliation has not concluded yet in the House and will return to the Senate in the upcoming weeks, so IFPTE urges you to continue to contact Members of Congress and ask for the inclusion of payroll support for IFPTE members employer in the aerospace manufacturing industry.
TAKE ACTION -- Tell Congress today: Pass Relief for Aerospace Workers
IFPTE’s Letter to House T&I Committee Members requesting support for aerospace manufacturing jobs can be found here.
IFPTE's request for COVID Relief Priorities can be found here.