[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 13, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Career and 
Technical Education Month. I'm proud to be joined by Mr. Thompson of 
Pennsylvania, who I know spoke earlier this morning. Mr. Thompson is my 
good friend and fellow cochair of the bipartisan Congressional Career 
and Technical Education Caucus.
  CTE is an investment in the future of our economy, our workforce, and 
our country. From skills training in high schools to community colleges 
and professional programs, CTE plays a critical role for workers of 
every age. And I'm so proud that President Obama called for more 
support for CTE in his State of the Union message last evening.
  The most important step I believe we can take this year to support 
CTE is to fully reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and 
Technical Education Act. Currently, the Perkins Act is authorized at a 
level set in 2010, which doesn't reflect the reality of a modern 
economy where more workers are looking at high-skilled fields.
  More and more employers need highly skilled workers. I hear too often 
from Rhode Island employers with job openings that they can't fill 
because they can't find the workers with the right skills to fill the 
jobs that they do have available. Meanwhile, our unemployment rate 
remains unacceptably high.
  Closing the skills gap is one important step we can take to ensure 
that workers can fit and fill the needs of expanding industries, both 
today and in the future. After all, how can we expect to help 
individuals start a company or businesses expand their company or to 
relocate jobs from overseas if we don't have the workers with the right 
skills to do the jobs that would be and are available?
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to a continuing partnership with my good 
friend, G.T. Thompson from Pennsylvania, in the 113th Congress, and I 
strongly urge my colleagues to join the Career and Technical Education 
Caucus and to support the full reauthorization of the Perkins Act.

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