Trade Adjustment Assistance Modernization Act
Sponsored By: Representative Sanchez
Introduced
Summary
Modernizes and expands Trade Adjustment Assistance. The bill widens who can qualify, increases benefit and training limits, and creates new grant programs for communities and community colleges while strengthening outreach and farmer support.
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- Workers: Expands petitioning and covered-worker definitions to include staffed workers and teleworkers, adds successors and public‑agency pathways, lengthens benefit windows up to about 130 weeks in some cases, and creates a Child and Other Dependent Care Allowance capped at $2,000 per minor indexed to inflation.
- Communities and community colleges: Establishes a new TAA for Communities with planning and implementation grants and revolving loan funds. It authorizes about $1.0 billion per year for community grants and about $1.3 billion per year for community college and career training in the 2027 funding window.
- Health coverage: Makes the Health Coverage Tax Credit permanent and raises the credit rate from 72.5% to 80%, with provisions for advance and retroactive payments for eligible coverage months.
*Authorizes substantial new multi‑year funding, including $1.0 billion and $1.3 billion annual authorizations for communities and colleges, which would increase federal outlays if appropriated.*
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
HCTC made permanent and bigger
This bill would make the Health Coverage Tax Credit permanent. It would raise the credit share from 72.5% to 80% of qualified monthly premiums. Advance payments for months after enactment would be required no later than 90 days after enactment. The amendments would apply to coverage months beginning after Dec. 31, 2021, with rules for claiming or amending past returns.
New TAA grants for trade communities
This bill would create a Trade Adjustment Assistance for Communities program within 180 days of enactment. It would authorize $1 billion per year for each fiscal year 2027 through 2031 to fund planning and implementation grants and optional revolving loan funds. Total grants to a single eligible community could not exceed $25 million for FY2027–2031. The program would prioritize distressed and long-term-unemployed areas and aim for at least one award per Economic Development Administration region if applicants exist.
Help and outreach for affected firms
This bill would add $50 million per year for Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms for FY2027 through FY2033. A firm could get adjustment help up to $300,000 (adjusted for inflation), and the assistance would be matched dollar-for-dollar by the firm. The Secretary must make and update an annual outreach plan that targets small, service-sector, minority- or women-owned firms and report it to Congress.
More cash and training help for workers
This bill would increase and add cash supports and training rules for TAA workers. Readjustment allowance timeframes would expand (for example, a 104-week rule would increase to 130 weeks for workers needing prerequisite education) and workers could get up to 26 extra weeks after entitlement in some cases. During a 90-day "period of heightened unemployment" (a State or national 3-month average at or above 5.5%), workers who finish approved training could get an automatic extension up to 26 weeks. Job-search and relocation allowances would be mandatory, rise to $2,000, and be federally reimbursed at 100%. A child and other dependent care allowance would be available up to $2,000 per minor dependent per year. The bill would raise reemployment salary caps (to $70,000 and $20,000 under specified limits), allow reimbursement of training costs paid after separation but before certification, add pre-apprenticeship training, permit waivers for recalled or near-retirement workers, require provider placement-track records and employer placement facilitation, and strengthen worker notices and outreach in native languages.
More community college training funds
This bill would authorize $1.3 billion per year for community college and career training for each fiscal year 2027 through 2033. The Secretary could reserve up to 5% each year for administration, outreach, pilots, and evaluation. Individual grants could be up to $2.5 million, and consortia grants could exceed $15 million. At least 15% of each grant must pay for student supports like childcare, transportation, mental health services, housing help, and direct financial assistance.
More workers qualify for TAA
This bill would broaden who counts as an affected worker. Remote "teleworkers" and "staffed workers" would be eligible in petitions. Public agency workers could qualify if the agency bought like services from abroad that contributed to separations. Workers, State dislocated worker units, and workforce intermediaries could file petitions. The bill would treat successors-in-interest as covered, add Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, allow agencies to decide petitions filed Jan. 1, 2021 through enactment under the new rules, and extend program authorization through 2033.
Stronger TAA help for farmers
This bill would change Trade Adjustment Assistance for agricultural producers. Time-in-eligibility would increase from 90 to 120 days. Monetary thresholds for eligibility would be raised (for example, some examples rise from $4,000 to $12,000). The bill would add an exports-based eligibility test and authorize $50 million per year for FY2027 through FY2033, with most funds available for direct assistance and a 5% limit for technical assistance and evaluation.
New TAA admin rules and outreach
This bill would require State TAA staff to be merit-system employees and require States to measure training completion and placement in living-wage jobs. States could subpoena firms for worker names and addresses to make determinations or do outreach. The Secretary of Labor could reserve up to 1% of appropriated funds each year for administration, technical assistance, pilots, and evaluation. The bill would define "underserved community" and list groups the program must prioritize for outreach.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Sanchez
CA • D
Cosponsors
McGarvey
KY • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Neal
MA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Doggett
TX • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Thompson (CA)
CA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Larson (CT)
CT • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Davis (IL)
IL • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Sewell
AL • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
DelBene
WA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Chu
CA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Moore (WI)
WI • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Boyle (PA)
PA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Beyer
VA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Evans (PA)
PA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Schneider
IL • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Panetta
CA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Gomez
CA • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Horsford
NV • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Del. Plaskett, Stacey E. [D-VI-At Large]
VI • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Suozzi
NY • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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