[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 49 (Thursday, March 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      KEEP THE SUMMER JOBS PROGRAM

                                 ______


                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 16, 1995
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, today the House approved over $17 billion 
dollars in rescissions, the largest package that has ever come to the 
floor which unfairly targets senior citizens, low-income families and 
our children. Many of my colleagues have risen today to argue against 
the bill and the arbitrary, across-the-board cuts it makes to some of 
our most vital programs. I would like to draw our attention 
specifically to the Labor Department's Summer Youth Program, because 
under the package, Summer Youth would be totally eliminated. Mr. 
Speaker, many of us on both sides of the aisle would have fought 
against the rescission affecting our Nation's youth, but we never had 
the chance during consideration of amendments. Make no mistake--
enactment of H.R. 1158 would mean the elimination of summer jobs for 
over 500,000 youths and fewer job opportunities in the future as our 
children enter the job market.
  Many mayors and local officials throughout the country have voiced 
their strong support for maintaining the Summer Youth Program. Mayor 
William Johnson of Rochester, New York, the heart of my Congressional 
district, offered an eloquent defense of the Summer Youth Program in a 
recent testimony before the Economic and Educational Subcommittee on 
Post-Secondary Education, Training and Life-Long Learning. At this 
point, I would like to insert Mayor Johnson's statement into the 
Record. I invite my colleagues to read it carefully to see what a wise 
investment we once made for young Americans across the country.
 Statement of Mayor William A. Johnson, Jr., Mayor, City of Rochester, 
                                New York

       Chairman McKeon and other members of the subcommittee, on 
     behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and my counterparts 
     from hundreds of cities across the country, I want to express 
     my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to testify at 
     these subcommittee hearings on youth training programs.
       This is a subject that I feel especially competent to 
     address, given my long years of professional involvement in 
     this area. Before being elected Mayor of Rochester, I spent 
     21 years as the CEO of a large human services organization 
     that provided job training programs to youths and adults.
       I understand that the primary purpose of the hearings is to 
     review which programs are most effective and determine 
     whether these programs can and should be consolidated.
       If you will permit me, I will address the latter question 
     first. I fully support the consolidation of the various grant 
     programs, to reduce the administrative costs of local 
     governments and to provide them with the flexibility to 
     design local programs based not upon what type of funds are 
     available from Washington but upon what types of needs exist 
     in the community.
       As a group, the Conference of Mayors also supports 
     consolidation. Indeed, for the past three years, it has 
     formally adopted a policy statement endorsing it.
       However, if consolidation takes the form of block grants to 
     states, to permit the benefits of efficiency and flexibility 
     to be achieved, there must be some mechanism to ensure that 
     the funds are directed towards local governments. There must 
     be a mandate within the legislation for the funds to be 
     passed through the states to municipalities, the actual 
     providers of training services.
       Municipalities have convincingly demonstrated their ability 
     to prudently utilize block grants. The success of the 
     Community Development Block Grant program, with its extensive 
     level of citizen participation, and the Job Training 
     Partnership Act program with its committees of business, 
     labor and educational representatives, illustrate the 
     responsiveness of municipalities to community needs.
       The future form of the grant programs should not be the 
     foremost concern, though. The continue existence of the these 
     programs should be our primary objective.
       In a period in which Americans are confronted with 
     increasing economic competition from other nations, it would 
     seem shortsighted to reduce, through major decreases in job 
     training programs, the ability of American workers to 
     successfully meet this competition. In a period in which 
     Americans are being asked to become less dependent on 
     government, it would seem counterproductive to reduce their 
     ability to become independent.
       To be effective an efficient job training must begin at an 
     early age. Youth must be exposed to the opportunities, 
     expectations and realities of the job marketplace.
       For most youth, their initial training and experience 
     begins with summer jobs. While, at one time, businesses may 
     have been able to provide an adequate number of such jobs, in 
     more recent times, the private sector has been unable to meet 
     the increasing demand and need.
       This is most particularly due to the restructuring and 
     transformation that many businesses have experienced in the 
     past decade. Job opportunities that many private sector 
     employees reserved for youth during after-school and summer 
     periods have been ``downsized'' out of existence.
       For example, in Rochester, over the last four years nearly 
     4,000 youths had to rely upon the summer jobs provided 
     through federally funded programs, as each summer the number 
     of non-federal jobs dramatically declined. This year, an 
     additional 900 youth are--hopefully--expected to participate 
     in such programs.
       I say hopefully, because I urge you and the other members 
     of the House to reject the the appropriation recision for the 
     summer youth program that was recently approved by the 
     Appropriations Subcommittee. Nationwide, this recision would 
     result in the elimination of summer job opportunities for 
     615,000 youth, a move that was totally unexpected.
       As Seattle Mayor Norm Rice recently said, ``these cuts are 
     reversals of commitments the federal government has already 
     made to communities across the country. It is difficult 
     enough to adapt to future cuts, and absolutely devastating to 
     absorb retroactive ones.''
       The reduction would mean that 615,000 youth will be not be 
     given a chance to contribute constructively to their 
     communities this summer. The reduction would mean that 
     615,000 youth will be less prepared to successfully enter the 
     job market in the future.
       For New York State youth, the proposed reduction in federal 
     funding comes at a particularly inopportune time. Governor 
     George Pataki has proposed a similar reduction in state 
     funding for youth training programs.
       The need to maintain government funding for summer jobs is 
     readily recognized by the private sector, which realizes that 
     the need for such jobs continues to exist and that 
     businesses, by themselves, will continue to be unable to 
     adequately address this need. Both the Greater Rochester 
     Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Industrial Management 
     Council, as association of large manufacturing and serve 
     companies, have expressed their serious concern over the 
     proposed elimination of federal funding.
       They realistically know that the private sector will be 
     unable to fill the ``job gap'' that would ensue if funding is 
     not maintained. They realistically know that there will be a 
     ``tax switch'' if this gap has to be filled through funding 
     by local governments. In cities across this country, our 
     financial base--largely derived form the property tax--will 
     not support the level of demand that is being pushed down 
     upon us by federal, state and county governments.
       It is imperative that the summer youth job program be 
     preserved. At the annual convention of the Conference of 
     Mayors in Portland, Oregon last year, the program received 
     overwhelming support.
       The assumption was that funding for the program would be 
     maintained at least at the current level of appropriations. 
     The hope was that funding would be increased.
       Because of the obvious need for the program and because of 
     its demonstrated effectiveness, no one expected that there 
     soon would be a proposal to totally eliminate funding for the 
     program. Certainly, I personally did not anticipate the need 
     to testify today before you to oppose such elimination.
       All Americans understand the need to reduce the federal 
     budget deficit. They understand the need to limit the burden 
     that we impose upon future generations.
       They support your efforts to reduce the deficit, to 
     eliminate waste and inefficiencies and to eradicate fraud. 
     These goals can be achieved in my opinion, without crippling 
     or destroying programs that lead to skills training and self-
     sufficiency.
       However, the concern over the future of our youth must be 
     balanced by a concern over this present needs. Unless we 
     address these needs today, unless we prepare youth for 
     meaningful employment tomorrow in an increasingly demanding 
     marketplace, our youth will have no future at all. And with a 
     poorly trained workforce--and an increasing underclass 
     population--our country will have no future at all.


     

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