Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall today applauded news that New Mexico will receive millions of dollars in federal assistance to provide career training, and employment and case management services to workers who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing or international trade.

New Mexico is slated to receive a total of $3.16 million in Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) funding from the U.S. Department of Labor.  TAA provides aid – such as unemployment insurance, funds for retraining, and reimbursable health care tax credits -- to workers who lose their jobs because of increased imports or because their jobs have been shipped overseas.

“New Mexico’s workforce – like the rest of the country – has suffered the consequences of outsourcing,” Bingaman said.  “This federal assistance will help provide New Mexicans with the training needed to learn new skills needed to reenter the workforce.”

"This additional Trade Adjustment Assistance funding will help more New Mexicans who have lost their jobs get the training they need to find new employment opportunities in this challenging economic environment," said Udall. "With more people out of work in New Mexico and across the nation, Trade Adjustment Assistance is an important program to help qualified individuals build new skill sets to get back to work."

The funding will be administered by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions and is broken down as follows: $2.44 million in career training funds; $367,346 in administrative funds; and $350,000 in case management funds. 

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a reauthorization of all TAA programs through December 2010, as well as an expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance programs.  It also authorized a new program Bingaman helped write called TAA for Communities – an initiative that would allow, among other things, an entire community to be certified as eligible for assistance such as two years of retraining, income support payments at the state unemployment income level for the duration of that training, and job search and relocation allowances. There are alternative benefits that older workers (50+) can opt for.  TAA for Communities would also extend benefits to workers in these communities who are indirectly harmed by trade.