[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 16, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  REEMPLOYMENT ACT OF 1994--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
                                 STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on Education and Labor, the Committee on Ways and Means, the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and 
ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  I am pleased to transmit today for your immediate consideration and 
prompt enactment the ``Reemployment Act of 1994''. Also transmitted is 
a section-by-section analysis. This legislation is vital to help 
Americans find new jobs and build sustainable careers.
  Our current set of programs was designed to meet the different needs 
of an earlier economy. People looking for help today confront a 
confusing, overlapping, and duplicative tangle of programs, services, 
and rules. Job seekers--whether unemployed or looking for better jobs--
have a difficult time getting the information they need: What benefits 
and services are available to them? Where can they get good quality 
training? What do they need to know to find and hold good jobs and to 
build sustainable careers?
  The underlying problem is the lack of a coherent employment and 
training system. Instead, we have many disconnected, category-based 
programs--each with distinct eligibility requirements, operating 
cycles, and program standards. We need a true system of lifelong 
learning--not the current hodgepodge of programs, some of which work, 
and some of which don't. The legislation I am transmitting today is an 
important first step in building this system.
  We need to build a reemployment system because our current 
unemployment system no longer delivers what many American workers need. 
In the past, when a worker lost a job, he or she often returned to that 
job as soon as the business cycle picked up again and the company was 
ready to rehire. The unemployment system was designed to tide workers 
over during temporary dry spells. Today, when a worker loses a job, 
that job often is gone forever.
  Our economy has generated new jobs. In 1993 alone, 1.7 million new 
private sector jobs were created--more than in the previous 4 years 
combined. While the jobs exist, the pathways to them aren't always 
clear.
  The Reemployment Act of 1994 strives to fix this. It is based on 
evidence of what works for getting workers into new and better jobs. 
Programs that work are customer-driven, offering customized service, 
quality information, and meaningful choices. Programs that work provide 
job search assistance to help dislocated workers become reemployed 
rapidly, feature skill training connected to real job opportunities, 
and offer support services to make long-term training practical for 
those who need it.
  The Act reflects six key principles:
  First is universal access and program consolidation. The current 
patchwork of dislocated worker programs is categorical, inefficient, 
and confusing. The Reemployment Act of 1994 will consolidate six 
separate programs into an integrated service system that focuses on 
what workers need to get their next job, not the reason why they lost 
their last job.
  Second is high-quality reemployment services. Most dislocated workers 
want and need only information and some basic help in assessing their 
skills and planning and conducting their job search. These services are 
relatively simple and inexpensive, and they have been shown to pay off 
handsomely in reducing jobless spells.
  Third is high-quality labor market information, which must be a key 
component of any reemployment effort. The labor market information 
component of the Reemployment Act of 1994 will knit together various 
job data systems and show the way to new jobs through expanding access 
to good data on where jobs are and what skills they require.
  Fourth is one-stop service. At a recent conference that I attended on 
``What is Working'' in reemployment efforts, a common experience of 
workers was the difficulty of getting good information on available 
services. Instead of forcing customers to waste their time and try 
their patience going from office to office, the system will require 
States to coordinate services for dislocated workers through career 
centers. It allows States to compete for funds to develop a more 
comprehensive network of one-stop career centers to serve under one 
roof anyone who needs help getting a first, new, or better job, and to 
streamline access to a wide range of job training and employment 
programs.
  The fifth principle of the legislation is effective retraining for 
those workers who need it to get a new job. Some workers need 
retraining. The Reemployment Act of 1994 will also provide workers 
financial support when they need it to let them complete meaningful 
retraining programs.
  Sixth is accountability. The Reemployment Act of 1994 aims to 
restructure the incentives facing service providers to begin focusing 
on workers as customers. Providers who deliver high-quality services 
for the customer and achieve positive outcomes will prosper in the new 
system. Those who fail to do so will see their funding dry up.
  The Reemployment Act of 1994 will create a new comprehensive 
reemployment system that will enhance service, improve access, and 
assist Americans in finding good new jobs. This is a responsible 
proposal that is fully offset over the next 5 years.
  I urge the Congress to give this legislation prompt and favorable 
consideration so that Americans will have available a new, 
comprehensive reemployment system that works for everyone.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, March 15, 1994.

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