Since the 1930s, federal job training and employment programs and policies have sought to connect vulnerable youth to work and school. Generally, these young people have been defined as being vulnerable because they are low-income and have a barrier to employment, such as having dropped out of school or spent time in foster care. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 ( P.L. 105-220 ) is the most recent federal law to provide job training and related services to unemployed and underemployed individuals, including youth. WIA includes titles that authorize programs for job training and related services for adults, youth, and dislocated workers (Title I); adult education and literacy (Title II); employment services (Title III); and vocational rehabilitation (Title IV). All youth job training programs and related services are authorized under Title I of WIA and are carried out by the Department of Labor (DOL). These programs include the WIA Youth Activities (Youth) formula program, Job Corps, and YouthBuild. Under the pilot and demonstration authority in Title I, DOL has carried out the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders program. Together, these programs make up the federal job training system for youth. Although the programs have distinct activities and purposes, each program seeks to connect youth to educational and employment opportunities, as well as leadership development and community service activities. WIA authorized funding through September 30, 2003; however, WIA programs continue to be funded through annual appropriation acts. In the 112 th Congress, policy makers had signaled that the law may be reauthorized in the near future. This report provides an overview of issues pertinent to the WIA youth programs, particularly Youth Activities and Job Corps. It also discusses relevant provisions of two bills: (1) H.R. 803 , which was reported by the House Education and Workforce Committee on March 6, 2013, and passed the House on March 15, 2013, and (2) Workforce Investment Act of 2013 ( S. 1356 ), which was ordered reported by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on July 31, 2013. Job training and employment services for youth under WIA include WIA Youth Activities , a formula program that includes employment and other services that are provided year-round; Job Corps , a program that provides job training and related services primarily at residential centers maintained by contractor organizations; YouthBuild , a competitive grant program that emphasizes job training and education in construction; Reintegration of Ex-Offenders , a demonstration program for juvenile and adult offenders that provides job training and other services and is authorized under WIA's pilot and demonstration authority; and Youth Opportunity Grants (YOG) , a multi-site demonstration program funded through FY2003 that created centers in low-income communities where youth could receive employment and other services. Although WIA's authorization of appropriations expired at the end of FY2003, Congress continues to appropriate funds, including those for youth job training programs—except for the YOG program, which has not been funded since FY2003. Except for Job Corps, all of the programs are (or were) carried out by the Division of Youth Services in DOL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Office of Workforce Investment. Job Corps is administered by ETA's Office of Job Corps. Table 1 summarizes key features of Youth Activities, Job Corps, YouthBuild, the youth component of the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders program, and Youth Opportunity Grants. Each of the programs has a similar purpose of connecting youth to educational and employment opportunities. All of the programs serve mostly low-income youth who have specific employment barriers. Unlike Youth Activities and Job Corps, students in YouthBuild must be high school dropouts. The youth component of the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders program focuses on youth offenders and those at risk of dropping out. Although each of the programs provides employment and educational services, these services are carried out differently and by distinct entities. For example, under the Youth Activities program local areas (local workforce investment boards, WIBs) must provide 10 specific elements, including mentoring and follow-up, to youth in the program. YouthBuild program participants engage in employment and other activities primarily related to housing and other types of construction work. Job Corps is the only one of the programs that provides residential services, where youth can live onsite and receive employment and educational services. The youth component of the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders program activities vary, and can include mentoring, educational services, and reentry services for youth returning from a secure facility to the community. The programs are also funded somewhat differently. DOL allocates funding for Youth Activities to states based on a formula, and states in turn distribute the funds to local WIBs. DOL enters into competitively awarded agreements with nonprofit and for-profit organizations to operate Job Corps centers. DOL also enters into cooperative agreements with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service to carry out Job Corps programs on USDA lands. YouthBuild and the youth component of the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders program competitively awards grants to nonprofit and other organizations and local communities. For further information about the programs, see CRS Report R40929, Vulnerable Youth: Employment and Job Training Programs . Congress has taken steps toward reauthorizing WIA since the 108 th Congress. Recent hearings and listening sessions have addressed multiple issues regarding the WIA youth programs. During the 111 th Congress, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a series of listening sessions in April 2009 to address the positive aspects of WIA and to increase understanding of the issues that can be addressed as part of any reauthorization legislation. One of the listening sessions focused on the Youth Activities grant program. Youth advocates, researchers, and other stakeholders spoke about the ways the committee could consider refining the law to improve the program. The Senate HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety subsequently conducted a hearing in July 2009 to discuss how WIA could be updated to help workers and employers meet the demands of a changing economy. In October 2009, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing on declining youth employment. During the 112 th Congress, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training held hearings on removing inefficiencies in job training programs and modernizing WIA on May 11, 2011, and October 4, 2011, respectively. The full committee held a hearing on a bill to reauthorize WIA, the Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012 ( H.R. 4297 ), on April 17, 2012. The committee marked up and favorably reported the bill on June 7, 2012. Also during the 112 th Congress, the Senate HELP Committee released discussion drafts in June 2011 of legislation to amend and reauthorize WIA, but it did not receive further action in that Congress. In the 113 th Congress, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has ordered reported H.R. 803 —the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act (SKILLS Act). This bill was introduced on February 25, 2013, by Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training. A legislative hearing on H.R. 803 was held before the full Committee on Education and the Workforce on February 26, 2013. The committee ordered the bill reported by a vote of 23 to 0 on March 6, 2013. The House passed the bill on March 15, 2013, by a vote of 215 to 202. In the Senate, Senators Patty Murray, Lamar Alexander, Tom Harkin, and Johnny Isakson introduced the Workforce Investment Act of 2013 ( S. 1356 ) on July 24, 2013. The Senate HELP Committee held a markup of S. 1356 on July 31, 2013, and ordered the bill reported by a vote of 18 to 3. Issues that have been raised as part of the WIA reauthorization process in Congress and elsewhere generally include the following: Some policy makers have proposed consolidating workforce programs for adults, dislocated workers, and youth. Under such a proposal, states would generally have greater ability to target funds to certain activities and populations. Advocates for consolidation say that it could make the programs more efficient and less costly. Other stakeholders assert that at-risk youth and other groups with barriers to employment could be overlooked if workforce programs were collectively funded. If youth programs were consolidated, Congress may wish to consider the role of one-stop centers and oversight bodies, such as youth councils, to help meet the needs of youth. Another issue is the perceived lack of coordination between the workforce system and other systems that serve youth, such as the education system. Stakeholders have suggested that greater coordination can help meet the varied needs of youth, as intended by WIA. Members of Congress and others have also continued to inquire about the effectiveness of youth workforce programs in meeting their objectives and serving the most at-risk youth. To date, only an impact evaluation of Job Corps has been completed; however, DOL recently awarded a contract to a social policy research organization to conduct an impact evaluation of YouthBuild. In addition to these broader concerns, Congress is interested in issues specific to Youth Activities and Job Corps: Since the start of the Youth Activities program, as authorized under WIA, policy makers and others have discussed the extent to which youth should have to prove their eligibility for the program. State and local workforce officials have said that income eligibility requirements for the program may exclude some needy youth, and that obtaining proof of income can be challenging for some youth. Still, others assert that the requirements are necessary in order to ensure that vulnerable young people enroll in the program. A separate concern is how much of an emphasis the program should place on serving older youth. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, P.L.