[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1811-E1812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              CAREERS ACT

                                 ______


                               speech of

                          HON. DAVID E. BONIOR

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 19, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1617) to 
     consolidate and reform work force development and literacy 
     programs, and for other purposes:

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Chairman, the last thing we should be doing is 
eliminating economic opportunities for our young people. Yet, that's 
exactly what the Gingrich majority is attempting to do. The 
Consolidated and Reformed Education, Employment, and Rehabilitation 

[[Page E 1812]]
Systems [CAREERS] Act, H.R. 1617, under the guise of reform, repeals 
the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, most of the Job Training 
Partnership Act, and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied 
Technology Act, among others.
  In addition, the CAREERS Act cuts funding for youth career 
development by 20 percent. The 70 percent of students in Macomb and St. 
Clair counties who don't go to college need the advanced technical 
training that will be threatened by this bill. Our students' earnings 
in the future will be based on what they learn today. We should be 
increasing the opportunities they will have in the future, not cutting 
the very educational tools that help them get ahead.
  School-to-work and job-training programs are vital for preparing 
those who don't go to college for the highly skilled, good paying, 
technical jobs of the future. I believe the best investment this 
country can make is in the education and training of our next 
generation. We must be thoughtful in our approach, consolidate where 
needed and cut wasteful programs that don't work, but we must also 
ensure that we are providing our young people with the opportunity to 
earn and learn for the future. I don't believe the approach taken by 
this CAREERS Act guarantees those opportunities.
  I believe we do need to reform, improve, and demand better 
performance from our employment training programs. The local school 
boards, elected officials, and business leaders must have the input to 
produce effective job-training programs, yet we all have a role to 
play. We ought to be building on the strong local, State, and Federal 
partnerships that we've established over the years to help our 
students, not destroying them.
  While we need to fix education, employment, and job-training programs 
that don't work, we should not eliminate the ones that do. The blanket 
approach that starts from scratch and gives our Governors final 
authority over all school-to-work and job-training programs established 
by this bill is a serious error which will turn back the clock. For 
these reasons and others, I oppose this block grant approach.


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