Mr. Speaker, each year hardworking American taxpayers send $18 billion dollars to Washington for federal job training and workforce development programs.
While training unemployed Americans is a worthy goal, even after spending billions of dollars, only a fraction of workers receive and complete the necessary training to get a job. That's not only an unacceptable return on investment, that's an unacceptable outcome for the millions of Americans who are trying to get ahead in this economy.
A bipartisan majority in the House and Senate is working to take action to close the Skills Gap that's keeping Americans from filling the nearly 4 million available jobs right now.
This week the House will finalize work on a bill that originated in this chamber. We will vote on final passage of the SKILLS Act [Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act] which modernizes and reforms federal job training programs to be more efficient and effective.
This bipartisan action is a true jobs bill. I hope this serves as a starting point for further Senate action on the dozens of other jobs bills waiting in that chamber that would invest in our nation's competitiveness.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back.