On January 21, 2011, the Department of Labor's (DOL's) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) published in the Federal Register a notice of solicitation for grant applications (SGA) for the TAA Community College and Career Training Grant (CCCT) Program. The notice of availability of funds and solicitation for grant applications set April 21, 2011, as the closing date for the receipt of applications. H.R. 1 , the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (sections 4106-4018), as passed by the House on February 19, 2011, would prohibit the DOL from using the annual appropriation to implement the mandatory FY2011 program funding appropriated in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 ( P.L. 111-152 ) in FY2011. None of the funds that would be made available by H.R. 1 could be used to carry out the provisions of P.L. 111-152 or to pay an employee at the DOL to implement the relevant provisions of P.L. 111-152 . On August 18, 2009, the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) published in the Federal Register final rules and regulations governing the implementation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Communities (CTAA) grant program. The regulations outline the responsibilities of EDA in administering the program including determining a community's eligibility for CTAA planning and implementation grants, providing technical assistance to impacted communities, and evaluating grant applications. On January 11, 2010, EDA published in the Federal Register a notice soliciting applications for CTAA grant assistance. The notice set April 20, 2010, as the deadline for the submission of applications for CTAA grants, established the criteria for awarding funds and directed potential applicants to the grants.gov website for the complete application. On September 20, 2010, DOC announced the awarding of $36.768 million in CTAA grant funds to 36 grant recipients. The CTAA grant program was created with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, P.L. 111-5 , as part of a larger effort by the Obama Administration and the 111 th Congress to address an economic recession that began in December 2007. Included among the subtitles of Division B of ARRA was the Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act (TGAAA) of 2009. TGAAA amends the Trade Act of 1974, extending and revising trade adjustment assistance provisions affecting various constituencies including trade-impacted workers, farmers, firms, and communities. Included among the amendments to the Trade Act were provisions reestablishing a Trade Adjustment Assistance for Communities (CTAA) grant program. The CTAA program, as authorized by ARRA, comprises four subchapters: Subchapter A establishes the CTAA programs within the Department of Commerce; Subchapter B creates the Community College and Career Training Grant program (CCCT); Subchapter C establishes Industry or Sector Partnership Grants program for Communities Impacted by Trade (ISP); and Subchapter D includes general provisions related to program implementation. The 2009 amendments to Chapter 4 of Title II of the Trade Act of 1974 directed the Department of Commerce (DOC) to establish a trade adjustment assistance program for communities by August 1, 2009. The act identified key components and processes of the CTAA program, including provisions governing the responsibilities of the DOC, eligible program activities, and cost sharing and reporting requirements. Within the DOC, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) was designated as the agency responsible for administering the new CTAA grant program. EDA was charged with: making affirmative determination of a community's eligibility for assistance; providing technical assistance to eligible communities; awarding strategic planning and project implementation grants to eligible communities; and establishing an Interagency Community Assistance Working Group responsible for coordinating federal assistance to trade-impacted communities. Regulations published in the Federal Register in August 2009 outlined the rules governing the definition of an affirmative determination of a community's eligibility for assistance. Specifically, a community could apply for CTAA if on or after August 1, 2009, it met one or more of the following certifications: 1. a Department of Labor certification that a group of workers in the community are eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers (TAAW); 2. a Department of Commerce certification that a firm or firms located within the community are eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF); or 3. a Department of Agriculture certification that a group of agricultural producers in the community are eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance to Farmers (TAA-Fm.). In addition, EDA was required to determine if a community was or would be significantly affected by a threatened or expected or actual loss of jobs related to one of the certifications identified above. A community was allowed to submit an affirmative determination petition for designation as a community impacted by trade at least 180 days after the date of the most recent certification. The regulations also included a grandfather provision allowing communities that met one of the three affirmative certifications related to workers, firms, or farmers issued between January 1, 2007, and August 1, 2009, to submit a petition for CTAA designation. The deadline submission of the petition was February 1, 2010. Regulations governing the program required that the petition for an affirmative determination be submitted to the appropriate EDA regional office and include the following elements: sufficient information that would allow EDA to make a determination that the petitioning community was significantly affected by the threat or actual loss of jobs associated with certification as a trade-impacted community; and information about the adverse impacts on the community from the actual or threatened loss of jobs. The regulations directed EDA to use the petitioning community's most recent civilian labor force statistics when measuring such impacts. These data are available from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Upon making an affirmative determination that a community qualifies for CTAA assistance, program regulations require EDA to promptly notify the state's governor and officials of the trade-impacted community of the availability of CTAA funds and other appropriated economic development assistance. The notification also identified the appropriate EDA regional office responsible for providing CTAA technical assistance to the community. Upon EDA's determination that a community had been impacted by trade, program regulations directed EDA to provide comprehensive technical assistance to aid the community in developing or updating a strategic plan aimed at diversifying and strengthening the community's economy. In doing so, the community's strategic plan was required to identify trade-related impediments to economic developments and address economic adjustment and worker dislocation. EDA is responsible for the coordination of federal assistance to trade impacted communities, including identifying all federal, state, and local resources available to address economic distress and assisting a trade-impacted community gain access to other federal programs. To facilitate this assistance EDA was charged with establishing the Interagency Community Assistance Working Group (ICAWG) comprised of representatives from at least eight other federal agencies. One of the principle roles of the ICAWG is to provide access to other federal programs when the trade-impacted community undertakes implementation grant activities. Program regulations require that a community must have an EDA-approved strategic plan before it can receive CTAA implementation grant funds. In developing its strategic plan each community was directed to seek the involvement of both public and private sector entities, including local educational institutions; federal, state, and local government entities serving the community; labor organizations representing workers in the impacted community; businesses; and local workforce investment boards. Program regulations outline elements that EDA must consider when evaluating a community's strategic plan. These elements can be grouped into three broad categories that are intended to assess a community's needs and assets, long-term economic adjustment prospects and commitments, and cost of implementation. Elements EDA will evaluate when reviewing a community's strategic plan are outlined in Table 1 . Implementation grants are awarded by EDA to fund projects and programs included in a community's approved strategic plan. An implementation grant may not exceed $5 million and may not cover more than 95% of the cost of a project or program. EDA must give priority in awarding grants to small and medium size communities. Program regulations also require EDA to submit an annual report to Congress identifying grants awarded during the fiscal year and assessing the impact of the grant activity on the affected community. Program regulations identified six specific categories of eligible activities including infrastructure improvements, including site acquisition and preparation, construction, rehabilitation and equipping of a facility; market and industry research and analysis; technical assistance including feasibility studies, business networking and restructuring; public services; training; and other activities included in the strategic plan that satisfy statutory and regulatory requirements. Implementation grant applications must include a copy of the EDA-approved strategic plan and a description of the proposed project or program to be funded. In addition, EDA will consider additional evaluation criteria identified in the applicable Federal Funding Opportunity announcement (FFO) when selecting recipients of implementation grants. Applicants seeking assistance under Subchapter B (community college and career training grants) or Subchapter C (sector partnership grants) must include in its implementation grant application a discussion of how projects or programs funded with implementation grants will use these two programs and other federal grant assistance. The act authorized funding totaling $337.5 million for implementation and strategic planning grants for the period that includes FY2009, FY2010, and a 90 day period from October 1, 2010, to December 31, 2010 (see Table 2 of this report). For FY2009, Congress appropriated $40 million and directed that it be split between CTAA activities and Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF), which is also administered by the EDA. This was far less than the amount authorized. In addition, Congress did not provide instructions covering the distribution of funds between the two programs. When it approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, P.L.