[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 9, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         SUPPORTING CLINTON ADMINISTRATION REEMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, earlier today, I was pleased to join several 
of my colleagues and President Clinton at the White House to announce 
legislation to establish a comprehensive system of reemployment 
services, job training, and income support for permanently laid-off 
workers. I am also pleased to be one of the original cosponsors of the 
Senate version of the President's plan.
  As both the President and Secretary Reich have said many times, the 
Nation must prepare itself for a new, high technology, globally 
competitive, peacetime economy. However, high technology jobs without 
high technology employees are of no value. It is for that reason that 
we must begin to recast the American work force for the jobs of the 
21st century. The industries and the skills that have gotten us to our 
place of prominence in the world today are not the industries and the 
skills that will keep us at the head of the parade.
  For many years, I have had a particular interest in the issues of job 
retraining and defense conversion. My home State of Rhode Island has 
suffered from high unemployment for several years now. And it is not 
coincidental that the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics, one 
of two manufacturers of nuclear submarines in the country and once the 
largest private sector employer in Rhode Island, has laid off thousands 
of Rhode Islanders and has plans, within the next few years, to reduce 
its work force to a mere 1,000.
  The workers who have lost their jobs at Electric Boat are, without a 
doubt, very highly skilled workers. Unfortunately, the skills needed to 
build the best nuclear submarines in the world are not transferable to 
other professions. In an effort to support their families, these Rhode 
Islanders have been forced to search for low-wage/low-skill jobs.
  The submarine workers in North Kingstown, RI, are not alone. Workers 
around the Nation are faced with similar problems--well trained in 
skills that are no longer needed. The legislation the President 
announced today will establish an organized network to evaluate the 
needs of workers, provide a wide range of job counseling, and when 
needed, referral to a wide range of retraining programs complete with 
income support during the period of retraining.
  Mr. President, I look forward to working with the President as he 
continues to restore our economy and move it forward.

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