[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 81 (Friday, June 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE STRATEGIC TRANSITIONAL EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM (STEP)

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 19, 1998

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the Strategic 
Transitional Employment Program Act or STEP, and I thank Senator 
Wellstone, who will introduce the bill in the Senate today, for his 
leadership. The unemployment rates in many parts of this region are so 
low that almost anybody can find a job. Yet in the District and other 
large cities and in rural areas, unemployment rates remain unaffected 
by the excellent Clinton economy. Entire sections of our society 
scratch their collective heads at daily reports of the splendid 
economy.
  The STEP Act seeks to link long-term unemployed Americans with the 
roaring economy. It provides the three indispensable elements that most 
often are missing: job readiness, job experience and job placement. 
STEP is tightly structured. The program would be available only for 
individuals who meet three criteria: individuals unemployed for 15 
weeks or more, whose families are at or below the poverty line, and who 
live in communities of concentrated poverty and unemployment.
  Clearly, individuals who face all three of these conditions are 
walled off from self-sufficiency. If they have not found jobs after 87 
months of an exceptional economy, we cannot expect jobs for them to 
appear miraculously. They obviously need our help. Transitional jobs 
that provide work experience while some transportation and child care 
services are provided can make the vital difference. Unlike some job 
programs, at the end, STEP would come with vital job placement for 
those who had not found work in 12 months. Moreover, paid part-time 
participation in education and training, including college, would 
insert a vital missing link to decent employment sadly lacking in last 
year's welfare bill.
  I am also preparing an Omnibus Welfare Reform Amendments bill that 
will incorporate amendments from members of the House to last year's 
welfare reform statute, in the hope that one or the other provision 
might be pulled out for passage. However, STEP hops over welfare reform 
and confronts the missing ingredient for all the long-term unemployed--
a realistic way to get them to a real job that pays a liveable wage.
  STEP's $20 billion cost over four years, creating 1.8 million entry 
level jobs, would be money well spent from a budget that now boast a 
surplus. The challenge to those who have no plan for the hard core 
unemployed is, if not this what? The challenge to those who do not want 
to spend the money is, if not in this roaring economy, when?

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