[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 114 (Tuesday, September 21, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9414-S9417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 1261

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I have heard a lot of talk by my colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle about jobs and workers. But I have to 
tell you that their actions don't match their words. It is a little 
disingenuous to come talk about jobs and then block a job training 
bill.
  I point out one very important program we have that helps American 
workers improve their skills and get a new or better job so they can 
make a better life for themselves and their families. It is the 
nation's job training program created under the Workforce Investment 
Act. This job training legislation would help over 900,000 unemployed 
workers each year get back to work.
  We keep talking about jobs and work, but we haven't been able to get 
this important bill into conference.
  If the other party really wanted to provide working families with the 
help they need, they would be a lot less talkative, and they would be a 
lot more active when it comes to moving this bill on job training to 
conference and enacting it into law.

[[Page S9415]]

  This obstruction by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
hurts our workers, it hurts our businesses, and it hurts our ability to 
compete in the global marketplace.
  Let us look at the facts. The economy has shown 12 straight months of 
job gains. Last month, payroll employment increased by 144,000 jobs. 
Nearly 1.7 million new jobs have been created over the past year. The 
unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for regular order.
  Mr. ENZI. I believe under regular order that for our time we have up 
to 60 minutes, that there was no set time for adjourning for the policy 
committees.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. I say to the Democratic whip that the time is 
now controlled by the Republicans. We are under a unanimous consent 
agreement that time was divided between the two sides. There is 41 
minutes 19 seconds on the Republican side.
  Mr. REID. I apologize to the Chair. I thought we were going out for 
our recess. So how much time is left for the Republicans?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is now 41 minutes 8 seconds on the 
majority side. There is no time left on the minority side.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I apologize for interrupting my friend.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming is recognized.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, we have laid the groundwork for the economic 
recovery we are experiencing today. President Bush's economic policies 
continue to create new jobs and move the economy forward. This all adds 
up to good news for the American people; not good news if you do not 
have a job. But this is a job-training program I am talking about so 
you can get a job, or if you have a job and want a better job, you can 
get skills improvement. We have weathered the storm and we are poised 
to enter a new period of prosperity.
  However, I have to caution you about some serious roadblocks that 
stand in the way of prosperity for our workers and businesses alike. 
The first roadblock is a gap between the skills our workforce has and 
the skills our employers need. The second roadblock is the Democrats' 
obstruction of the job-training legislation that will help close this 
skills gap.
  First I will talk about the skills gap so you can understand just how 
damaging the Democrats' obstruction is to our workers and our economy.
  It may surprise you to learn that many good jobs in this country will 
remain unfilled because employers cannot find workers with the skills 
they need. This skills gap is not about politics; it is about education 
and training; it is about demographics; it is about America's 
competitiveness in the global marketplace.
  This chart shows the expected labor force and labor force demand from 
2002 to 2031. You can see the line with the boxes on it which shows the 
labor that is going to be needed. You can see the other less-increasing 
line that shows the labor that will be available. You can see the gap 
we will have between the number needed and the number available. We 
will not have enough workers to fill our jobs and we will not have 
enough workers with the right skills for those jobs. And we do not 
right now.
  According to a 2003 survey by the Center for Workforce Preparation, 
an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, half of the employers 
reported difficulty in finding qualified workers. The problem is 
greatest for small employers. Small business--our greatest source of 
economic growth--cannot create jobs if they do not have skilled workers 
to fill them.
  The gap between the demand for high-skilled workers and the supply 
will only widen in the future. Looking ahead 2 years, only 30 percent 
of the employers surveyed by the Center for Workforce Preparation 
believe the skills of their workers will keep pace. As policymakers, we 
too must look ahead to the growing skills gap that demands our 
attention and our action now.
  Another chart shows the projected skilled- and unskilled-worker gap 
in 2010 and 2020. In 2010, the skilled-worker gap will be 5.3 million; 
by 2020, it will be 14 million. The unskilled-worker gap will move from 
1.7 million in 2010 to 7 million in 2020. That is 7 million total by 
2010, and 21 million total by 2020.

  This skills gap blocks the way to better jobs and better lives for 
American workers and their families. This skills gap also threatens the 
ability of American businesses to compete in a more complex, global 
economy. In the book called ``The Jobs Revolution,'' by Steve 
Gunderson, Robert Jones, and Kathryn Scanland, they describe the impact 
of this skills gap:

       Every unfilled job translates to products and services we 
     cannot deliver to the global market and, therefore, dollars 
     we cannot return to the U.S. economy. Almost certainly, jobs 
     unfilled in the U.S. will go elsewhere and not return.

  Now, we can change this outcome. We can keep jobs and prosperity in 
America. But we must act now to close the skills gap by improving our 
education and our job training system.
  When Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the 
Senate Banking Committee, he said:

       [W]hat will ultimately determine the standard of living in 
     this country is the skill of the people.

  Why is effective workforce training so important? Because in an 
increasingly knowledge-based economy, people--their talent and their 
ideas--make the difference. People are a company's most important 
resource. The skills and ingenuity of the American workforce will drive 
our economy in the 21st century and beyond. If we want to keep high-
paying jobs in America, our challenge is to equip our workers with 
skills the global economy demands.
  We used to manufacture buggy whips. We do not make them anymore, or 
hardly any of them. The workers who made buggy whips had to learn new 
skills. The new economy creates new jobs and those new jobs demand new 
skills.
  We cannot turn back the clock. To quote again from ``The Jobs 
Revolution'':

       We'll never return to the days before satellites hovered 
     over the globe and the Internet wove us together. We need to 
     go forward, guided by a plan that reflects a new set of 
     American priorities. The plan will marry education and 
     employment. In the old, pre-revolutionary model, we went to 
     school for a dozen or more years and then we went to work. 
     After this revolution we'll need to keep learning to keep 
     working. Education and re-education will be the dominant 
     strategy by which we land and hold our jobs.

  Unfortunately, the current workforce development system is not up to 
the task. It is not effectively equipping our workers with the relevant 
skills. Without any action, technology and other advances will outpace 
the ability of American workers and businesses to update skills needed 
to compete.
  We must improve the Nation's job-training system under the Workforce 
Investment Act to better prepare American workers for the good jobs of 
today and tomorrow. Only a systematic reform of our Nation's job-
training system will enable American workers and businesses to compete 
and succeed in the global economy.
  There is good news. We have a bill that does this. It is a bipartisan 
bill that reauthorizes and improves the Nation's job-training system. 
It will help retrain workers to fill the jobs needed in this country 
now and in the future. It will link workforce development with 
economic development, recognizing that job training and job creation go 
hand in hand. It will partner the public workforce system with private 
sector employers--including small businesses--and with training 
providers to better prepare workers for high-wage, high-growth jobs.

  The good news is that we have bipartisan legislation that does all of 
this--legislation that passed out of the Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions Committee unanimously, legislation that passed on the floor of 
this Senate last November unanimously. That does not happen with 
controversial bills. Where is the bill now?
  Here is the bad news. Here is the roadblock. The Democrats will not 
let us send this important job-training bill to conference. They are 
stopping progress by refusing to appoint a conference committee, which 
is a committee made up of both Republicans and Democrats who would meet 
with Republicans and Democrats from the House to work out the 
differences between the House and the Senate versions of the bill--a 
very common procedure in past years, obviously not in this year.
  This is an important jobs bill, a bill that will help American 
workers and

[[Page S9416]]

businesses, and it is being held hostage to election year politics. If 
we really care about keeping good jobs in this country, we need to send 
that job-training legislation to conference and then to the President 
to become law.
  I owe my constituents more. I think we all do. We owe the American 
people an open legislative process, a process they expect and deserve 
from us. This is not just an academic question of Senate rules and 
procedures. A bill that would help put Americans back to work or find 
better jobs now lies in legislative limbo. Whether a company decides to 
open a plant in Cheyenne or China depends upon a qualified local 
workforce. A skilled workforce can make the difference between success 
and failure in the new, global economy. It will make the difference for 
our workers, for our companies, and for our future.
  There is an American dream. It is to have a family, a nice home, and 
a good job to support that home and family.
  Prior to my coming to the Senate, my wife and I owned some shoe 
stores. As a small-business owner, I saw firsthand the impact of job 
training in achieving that dream. We had an employee, a Vietnam 
veteran, who went to work through a workforce training course and ended 
up managing and then buying two stores from us. He is an example of 
what you can do with effective job training if you teach workers to 
dream at the same time.
  We have to give workers and businesses the tools to turn those dreams 
into reality. Job training under the Workforce Investment Act can turn 
the dream into reality for millions of American workers. By blocking 
legislation that improves job training, my colleagues on the other side 
of the aisle are blocking the way to new and better jobs for American 
workers. They are blocking the pathway to prosperity for American 
families and American companies.
  The job training bill known as the Workforce Investment Act is a 
central part of a combination of Federal education and training 
programs that provides lifelong learning for the workforce of today and 
tomorrow. In this technology-driven global economy, everyone is a 
student who must adapt to changing workforce needs by continuing to 
pursue their education. In turn, Congress must ensure that education 
and job training are connected to the needs of business, including 
small business, now and in the future.
  I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to allow the 
appointment of conferees to the job training legislation known as the 
Workforce Investment Act. The cost of this obstruction is the loss of 
important legislative efforts that will benefit the American people as 
it harms the integrity of the legislative process itself. I hope our 
bipartisan efforts on this bill can continue. I hope regular order is 
restored to the appointment of conferees so we can craft the final 
version of legislation. If we wanted to keep good jobs in this country, 
the Democrats would agree to send this important bill to conference.
  And a conference isn't the last opportunity to obstruct or to 
filibuster. After the conference, if the Democrats don't like the 
results they participated in--and that is a key part to this, in 
conference both sides participate, as I mentioned before--then they can 
filibuster. This is embarrassing because we passed it unanimously last 
November. We asked for more job training last November. It is almost 
November again. And in fact, if a conference committee were appointed, 
there isn't time for that, it would be a bipartisan effort. It would be 
continuing work on the job force because there isn't anything a 
conference committee now could do that could affect this election. They 
have already held out long enough to affect this election and to 
restrict jobs in the economy.
  I am pushing for a conference committee that could meet, that could 
resolve the small differences there are between the House and Senate 
bills. We have already talked about what those are and what the changes 
would probably be. I resolved about six of the issues that were brought 
up before, and we are down to some very minor ones. They need to be 
fixed by a conference committee.
  There is no reason a conference committee should not have been 
appointed last year--not this year, but last year. This should have 
been worked out and people should already be in training for these 
jobs--900,000 of them a year.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the House 
message to accompany H.R. 1261, the job training bill, also known as 
the workforce investment legislation, which is at the desk; provided 
that the Senate insist upon its amendment, agree to the request for 
conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be 
authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate with a ratio 
of 5 to 4.
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, this bill has already 
passed. We are waiting for the House to get together on an amendment to 
send back to us. As I indicated, we have passed numerous bills by using 
this procedure. My dear friend, the Senator from Wyoming, for whom I 
have the greatest respect, is crying these big crocodile tears. We have 
passed numerous bills by doing the very same thing, sending a bill over 
to the House. This can be done without a conference.
  I repeat for the third time, I have the greatest respect for the 
integrity of the Senator from Wyoming. I am sure if we shook hands on a 
deal he would go to whatever bounds necessary to fulfill that 
agreement. But I have to say that on the most important bill, the 
highway bill, another Senator and I shook hands, a Republican with me, 
indicating that if this bill is going to go to conference, if there was 
something in it he didn't like, then I wouldn't sign my name to the 
conference and vice versa. That was done in a personal meeting between 
myself and the other Senator. Then it was put in writing by the two 
leaders confirming the agreement we had reached.
  Suddenly, we are told all bets are off. That deal is no good. So the 
conference is going on with none us of attending. There are meetings 
going on, but we are not part of the conference.
  This is what has happened around here. That is the embarrassment. The 
conference process I have been involved in for 22 years has been turned 
on its head. Conferences are called in name only. You don't know what 
conference is being held, where it is being held, because you are not 
told. And not only that, what happens to many of these bills is other 
items are inserted that have nothing to do with the issue about which 
the conference is taking place.
  I know the sincerity of the Senator from Wyoming. We know the 
importance of this legislation. We want it to pass also. But it has 
passed. We want it to be signed into law. The best way to accomplish 
that is to do what we have done on so many different bills that have 
been enacted into law without using the conference to negotiate the 
differences between the House and the Senate; that is, to work it out 
between the two bodies. We have done it many times. We can do it on 
this.
  I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Talent). Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. I am deeply disappointed. I am not surprised that the other 
side objects to sending this important jobs training bill to 
conference. I am a little disappointed in the comments I just heard 
which try to give some credibility to my not being trusted. I don't 
remember any handshake I have made on any bill that hasn't turned out 
to be that way. I was not a part of that transaction.
  I am on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

  Mr. REID. Will my friend yield for a comment?
  Mr. ENZI. Yes.
  Mr. REID. I want the record to be spread: I accomplished directly the 
opposite of what I wanted. I would never, ever question at any time the 
veracity, the honesty, the handshake of the Senator from Wyoming. Out 
of courtesy, because the other Senator was not on the floor, I did not 
want to mention his name. But it had no reference to you. We had a 
situation where Senator Daschle and I agreed to a conference on a 
handshake and, in my opinion, the handshake meant nothing.
  It had no bearing whatsoever on the Senator from Wyoming. I want the 
Senator from Wyoming to know--everybody in Wyoming--I have never known 
a more ethical person in Government than the Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. I thank the Senator from Nevada for his comments. I assure 
people that the Health, Education, Labor,

[[Page S9417]]

and Pensions Committee is one of the more controversial committees of 
the Senate. If I didn't have some credibility of following through on 
the things I have talked about in the process, that would not have 
gotten out of committee unanimously, had that not had the same kind of 
confidence on what I would do if a conference committee were appointed. 
And we talked about what kind of differences there are. The House had 
already passed their bill. If they didn't have some confidence in me 
that what I had said would happen would happen, it would not have 
gotten through the Senate floor unanimously. That doesn't happen often 
with Health, Education, Labor, and Pension bills.
  This has been a very important bill for the workforce of America, and 
we had great agreement and cooperative work on it, recognizing what 
would probably be done in conference committee. Now, we could probably 
send this over four or five times to the House--which there is not time 
to do--and resolve some of the differences in each of those. Had I 
known this was going to happen, I would have started that process much 
earlier so we would have had time to send an important bill like this 
back and forth.
  The way this has always been done with the Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions Committee bill--that is the committee I have been on ever 
since I got here--is that we held conferences. Yes, some of them had a 
lot of animosity, but we worked them out and got bills finished. When 
you have difficult issues, the best thing is for people to sit down 
with each other. I have always invited the other side to any conference 
committee I have been on, and we have listened to both sides. What we 
have usually come up with, instead of one side or the other, was a 
third way. That is what ought to be done on this bill.
  We ought to be reaching an agreement so we can get 900,000 people a 
year trained to fill the skills gap we were talking about before. We 
are not just going to have a lack of jobs, we are going to have more 
jobs than we can fill--provided we have people trained to fill them. If 
we don't train the people, those jobs are going overseas and we will 
never see them again. It has been critical for this year, the year that 
is just about over. We cannot afford to do this again next year and 
wait a year or 2 years to reach an agreement to get people trained for 
jobs. That is what is happening.
  If we have to go until the first of the year, all these bills start 
all over again. Everybody's ideas come back in again, we redraft and 
start again, and we get to conference--maybe. But there is no assurance 
of that. We are at the point where we can have a conference committee. 
If we have a conference committee, then there can be agreement or 
disagreement. If there is disagreement, there is an opportunity to 
filibuster at that point. Senators who cannot filibuster a bill through 
the rest of the session, as short as it is going to be now, probably 
ought to be worried about their senatorial capability.
  Our workers and our companies deserve more than election year 
political obstruction. They deserve the tools needed to keep American 
workers and businesses the best in the world. They deserve to see us 
act in a bipartisan manner and send this bill to conference.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator yield the remaining time on 
the Republican side?
  Mr. ENZI. Yes.

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