The U.S. Department of Labor's Inspector General's office will conduct an audit of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's management of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, U.S. Rep. Phil English said.

The audit is being done after an April 4 request by the 3rd District congressman from Erie. The request came after the state said it was unable to fund current federal TAA retraining programs. English, a Republican, said the federal government recently gave the state $11 million to administer the program, but the state said it had to use that money to pay off back debts accrued under that program.

"I applaud the Inspector General's decision to look into Pennsylvania's suspension of the federal TAA program,'' English said. "This audit will hopefully uncover the mismanagement of the program and give us clues into how we can get it back up and running.''

TAA pays for job retraining, educational expenses and extended unemployment benefits for industrial workers who lost their jobs because of foreign trade.

"As unemployment continues to rise, the training program included in the TAA benefit is absolutely critical for workers to learn new skills and find new jobs,'' English said. "It is unfair and unjust to punish our neediest because of bungled administration by the Commonwealth. The TAA program is critical to help our workers who have been displaced by trade, and Pennsylvania is one of the largest recipients of those benefits.''