Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose to H.R. 803, a fatally flawed and highly partisan bill that would weaken our nation's current public workforce training and adult education system at a time when millions of Americans continue to struggle to find good family sustaining jobs in our nation's economy.
Simply put, H.R. 803 would take our nation in the wrong direction, making it more difficult for individuals with barriers to employment to receive the education and training services they need to get back on track.
The Skills Act repeals and consolidates 35 WIA programs, block granting critical programs that provide invaluable training to adults, youth, farmworkers, dislocated workers, and others.
This fatally flawed bill eliminates the priority of service delivery for low-income adults and out-of school youth, despite the high levels unemployment rates for youth of color and low-skilled workers.
This fatally flawed legislation strikes state and local board representation for unions, community colleges, and community based organizations, moving away from some of the key tenets of WIA: collaboration, inclusion, and strategic partnerships that work to improve people's lives.
Finally, this fatally flawed bill freezes program funding authorization for FYs 2014-2020. I must underscore that job training and reemployment services have already been cut by half since 2001.
For these reasons, it is no surprise that at least 50 organizations strongly oppose or have concerns about this misguided legislation, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, The National League of Cities, he National Council of La Raza, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Skills Coalition, The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, Easter Seals, the AFL-CIO, the National Coalition for Literacy, the National Youth Employment Coalition, The NEA, The Young Invincibles, The Corps Network, and the Center for Law and Social Policy and many others.
Mr. Speaker, as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Higher Education And Workforce Training, I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 803 and help Americans access good jobs a better quality of life.
