Congressional Research Service (CRS) Summary of ARRA Workforce Provisions

On February 13, 2009, both the House and Senate passed the conference version of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The primary purposes of the ARRA focus on promoting economic recovery, assisting those most affected by the recession, improving economic efficiency by “spurring technological advances in science and health,” investing in infrastructure, and stabilizing state and local government budgets. The House had previously passed its version of H.R. 1 (House-passed bill) on January 28, 2009, while the Senate passed S.Amdt. 570, an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1 (Senate-passed bill), on February 10, 2009.

The ARRA provides funds to several existing workforce development programs administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), including programs authorized by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).

This report provides a brief overview of the key provisions related to workforce development programs administered by DOL that were included in the ARRA under Division A, Title VIII, Department of Labor, and provides estimates of state grants for programs for which these estimates are relevant and for which data needed to produce the estimates are available. It also includes a discussion of relevant provisions that were included in the House- and Senate-passed versions of H.R. 1.

The report will be updated as warranted by legislative action.