[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 25, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3964-S3991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is discharged from further 
consideration of H.R. 803 and the Senate will proceed to the measure, 
which the clerk will report by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 803) to reform and strengthen the workforce 
     investment system of the Nation to put Americans back to work 
     and make the United States more competitive in the 21st 
     century.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 2:30 
shall be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or 
their designees.
  The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, for the next several hours we will be 
moving to a bill that the Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray, and the 
Senator from Georgia, Mr. Isakson, have had the principal role in 
fashioning. They will have a chance to talk about that. In just a few 
minutes the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 
Committee, Senator Harkin, will proceed with the bill. But before that 
happens, I wish to take 3 or 4 minutes to talk about the importance of 
what is happening here.
  In 1998 Congress passed a sort of ``GI bill'' for workers. The idea 
was to do what is at the top of every Governor's agenda in every State 
right now: How can we help more Americans get the job skills to fit the 
jobs?
  When I was home in Granger County last weekend, the concern of 
Tennesseans was that it is too hard to find a job; it is too hard to 
keep a house; what can I do to get a job?
  This legislation we are dealing with today, for the first time since 
2003, reauthorizes $9.5 billion in funds that will be spent through 
local workforce boards, through community colleges, and through State 
governments to help individuals in North Dakota, in Washington, in 
Tennessee, in Georgia get the job skills to find a job. This bill will 
make it easier for them for them to achieve that goal. It has the great 
advantage of not mandating how they do it from Washington but creating 
an environment where people can do this for themselves.
  Our former Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen said to me that when he 
first became Governor and went to find out about the $145 million of 
federal workforce development funding that comes to Tennessee, he just 
threw up his hands. He said: It is too complicated. I cannot do 
anything with it.
  So he told his cabinet members: Do the best you can.
  Well, working together with the House of Representatives, Senator 
Murray and Senator Isakson and a group of us here have taken this law 
that was passed 16 years ago and made some dramatic changes to it. They 
will tell you more about that. They will be talking about how we have 
taken many of the 47 work-training programs that exist in the Federal 
Government and simplified them, eliminating 15 programs that were 
ineffective or duplicative, eliminating 21 Federal mandates, 
streamlining multiple plans into a single State plan that reduces time 
spent on paperwork, streamlining reporting requirements, giving 
Governors more flexibility, giving local workforce boards more 
flexibility, and most importantly, giving the individuals who need jobs 
more opportunity to say: This is what I would like to do, and this is 
what I choose to do.
  This has been no easy task. Senator Murray and Senator Isakson 
deserve a lot of credit from all of us because many Congresses have 
tried to reauthorize this law before. I am going to come back after 
about an hour and deliver a little more extensive discussion on this, 
but the 108th Congress, the 109th Congress, and the 112th Congress--all 
tried to do this but could not get a consensus about how to move 
forward. Finally, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx produced the SKILLS Act 
in the House of Representatives. The House passed this bill in March of 
2013. It came over here to the Senate. The Senate HELP Committee passed 
its bill last July. Led by Senator Murray and Senator Isakson, the 
Senate began working with the House, came up with an agreement, and, 
working with a number of Senators, we have reduced the number of 
amendments that actually have to be voted on today to two. So we will 
have two amendments to be voted on and then will vote on final passage. 
Then we will send the bill back to the House. Hopefully the President 
will have a chance to sign it.
  I would like to say that I hope that in the midst of what is too much 
dysfunction in the Senate, this will be an example of what can happen 
when we put our minds to it.
  The members of the HELP Committee, on which I am the ranking 
Republican, and Senator Harkin, the ranking Democrat--we have some 
pretty big philosophical differences. Ideologically, we are not the 
same. But we have passed 19 bills out of the HELP Committee. 13 have 
become law this year. That is a record of accomplishment we are proud 
of. It shows that Senators with different opinions can come to a 
consensus and come to a resolve.
  So let me step aside now and let those who have really done the most 
work on the bill speak--the Senator from Washington and the Senator 
from Georgia. I will be back in about an hour, and then we will be 
voting a little later this afternoon. This is good news for the workers 
of America, for the Governors who felt hamstrung by Washington, for the 
workforce boards who have been limited in their ability to meet the 
needs of local employers and workers, and for Senator Coburn, who has 
been a real leader in pointing out how many duplicative work programs 
we have. We have gone a long way in the direction he wanted us to go. I 
congratulate all of those Senators for the result.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.


                           Amendment No. 3378

                (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, as provided under the consent 
agreement, I now call up the substitute amendment No. 3378.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:


[[Page S3965]]


       The Senator from Washington [Mrs. Murray], for herself, Mr. 
     Isakson, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Alexander, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. 
     Sanders, Mr. Casey, Mrs. Hagan, Mr. Franken, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
     Whitehouse, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Warren, Mr. Enzi, 
     Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Booker, Ms. Collins, Mr. Corker, Mr. 
     Begich, Mr. Scott, Mrs. Fischer, and Mr. Brown, proposes an 
     amendment numbered 3378.



 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S3965, June 25, 2014, in the first column, the following 
appears: The Senator from Washington [Mrs. MURRAY], for herself, .  
.  .
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: The Senator from 
Washington [Mrs. MURRAY], for herself, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Harkin, 
Mr. Alexander, .  .  .


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 


  Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the 
amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent that all after the first vote at 
2:30 p.m. be 10 minute votes and that upon disposition of H.R. 803, the 
time until 4:30 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or 
their designees.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, just last month I joined seven of my 
colleagues, Republicans and Democrats from the House and the Senate, to 
introduce a critical piece of legislation called the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act. It is a bill to reauthorize and 
dramatically improve the Workforce Investment Act, or WIA, which 
authorizes a number of critical workforce development programs in all 
50 States.
  This legislation is something I have been working on for several 
years with a number of our colleagues. It is something that is long 
overdue--for more than a decade. Since we introduced a compromise deal 
last month, we have been working feverishly with our colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol to iron out any issues 
they might have and make a few small technical fixes. We have made sure 
that every single Member of the Senate and their staffs have had the 
time to look through this deal, ask questions, and propose amendments. 
Now, today, we are one final step away from sending this tremendous 
bipartisan deal to the House of Representatives and then hopefully to 
the President's desk.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a list of over 
100 organizations supporting this bill, including business groups, 
labor, educators, Governors, mayors, and countless others.
  Improving our Federal workforce programs is, as I said, something I 
have been working on for more than a decade. During that time, I have 
heard from so many workers and businesses in my home State of 
Washington and across the country who tell me how important effective 
workforce programs are for themselves and their communities. Business 
owners, large and small, have told me that while existing programs 
help, it has become harder and harder to find workers with the skills 
they need to fill new jobs in the 21st century. Workers who want to 
advance their careers or get back on the job after being unemployed 
have told me that it is more and more difficult to get the education 
and skills they need to compete for the new jobs.
  I am thrilled that we have reached this important step in the 
process. The reason this agreement was even possible is the incredible 
bipartisan process we have had over the last 2 months to reach a 
compromise on which we could all agree. So today I thank my coauthors 
of this bill in the Senate for all of their hard work through the 
process and their work to rally support for it today: Senator Tom 
Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, the great chairman of the Senate HELP 
Committee; Senator Lamar Alexander, from whom you heard, a Republican 
from Tennessee and the esteemed ranking member of the HELP Committee; 
and finally, my very close partner in this process, Senator Johnny 
Isakson from Georgia.
  Senator Isakson and I are the coauthors of the Senate version of this 
bill to reauthorize WIA. Throughout this process it has been an 
absolute pleasure to work across the aisle with him to get this done. 
His integrity and his commitment have been key to making this a 
reality.
  Senator Isakson's office is right next door to mine. Whether it was 
on the phone or while the two of us were walking over here to the 
Chamber to cast votes, we must have had hundreds of conversations on 
how to reach this point. So it means a lot for me to be here with him 
today.
  I also thank a few other Senators whose commitment to improving our 
workforce systems has been remarkable.
  First of all, I thank Senator Enzi, our colleague from Wyoming. 
Senator Enzi and I have been working for a very long time to 
reauthorize WIA. More than once, we would be at the White House for 
meetings, and regardless of the topic, wherever we were, he would tell 
President Bush and now President Obama: This should be a bipartisan 
effort we can all agree on. I think today's actions are proof that he 
was right all along.
  Second, I wish to recognize and thank Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio 
for his years of leadership on these issues. Senator Brown's 
understanding of the changes in the American economy and our places of 
work is unparalleled. The State of Ohio should be very proud to have 
him represent them in the Senate.
  In particular, Senator Brown's work on the issues of skills, 
manufacturing, economic competitiveness, and education reform have been 
critical. In crafting this deal, we were fortunate to be able to draw 
on his SECTORS Act and weave the concepts of that throughout this bill. 
In fact, it is because of Senator Brown's strong advocacy that we were 
successful in requiring SECTOR initiatives at both the State and local 
levels, as well as including them in plans and functions and reports. I 
know that in my State of Washington, we use SECTOR strategies in 
everything from aerospace industries to maritime, health, construction, 
gaming, finance, renewable energy, and viniculture. They all work to 
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our workforce system. I am 
very proud that we have included sections in this bill and have worked 
with Senator Brown closely and have benefited from his knowledge and 
leadership.
  I also thank Senator Kay Hagan from North Carolina for her work on 
this legislation. Her America Works bill provided us with a great 
framework to think about skills and certification and credentials and 
the need to be closely aligned with employers. Because of her 
leadership and her vision, this bill requires that training that leads 
to recognized postsecondary credentials receive a priority, meaning 
that both workers and employers benefit from the training provided 
through this act.

  We also require that all States and locals report on the number of 
credentials offered, meaning that the entire workforce system will be 
more closely aligned to the needs of employers and workers and will 
yield more direct value in and for the marketplace.
  I also wish to mention that Senator Hagan worked hard to ensure that 
we focused not just on initial credentials but credentials that are 
industry-recognized and both portable and stackable.
  Finally, I thank Senator Franken from Minnesota, who represents the 
same State as the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who was my Democratic 
predecessor lead on this bill.
  True to Senator Wellstone's legacy, Senator Franken has shown a deep 
understanding of the needs of job seekers, workers, and employers, as 
well as a passion to help them all advance and succeed.
  I was very pleased to work closely with him on this legislation and 
ensure that a number of his priorities were included. Lead among his 
priorities was building closer ties with our community colleges, and we 
worked hard to make sure that happened.
  I am also pleased that we benefited from a truly innovative program 
in Minnesota, Twin Cities RISE!, which has been a pioneer in pay-for-
performance models for many years and which helped to inform our 
inclusion of pay-for-performance provisions in this bill.
  So it is clear this bill is the product of many authors. And while we 
know that nobody gets everything they want, I think at the end of the 
day we can all proudly say this bill will help our workers, our 
businesses, and our economy for years to come, because Federal 
workforce programs have proven time and again that the best investment 
we can make as a country is an investment in our American workers.
  I have seen firsthand in my home State of Washington workers who were

[[Page S3966]]

laid off who were able to get new training, new skills, and new jobs. I 
have seen so many Washington State businesses--from our aerospace 
companies to video game design firms--that were able to access workers 
with the new skills they needed to grow and compete.
  But with millions of new jobs that would require postsecondary 
education and advanced skills in the coming years, we will fall behind 
if we do not modernize our workforce development systems and programs 
now. We have to make sure that when high-tech jobs of the 21st century 
are created, Americans are ready to fill them, and that is exactly what 
we have all done in this bill.
  We have doubled down on the programs that work, we have improved the 
programs that have become outdated, and we have created a workforce 
system that is more nimble, adaptable, better aligned with what our 
businesses need, and more accountable so that they can continue to make 
it better.
  We started with a House proposal, a Senate proposal, and we all met 
in the middle. That is exactly what the American people sent us here to 
do, to work together to help our workers and help our economy grow.
  This is an all too rare opportunity for all of us to get behind a 
strong, bipartisan, bicameral bill.
  I urge all of our colleagues to support the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act and send it to the House for a vote.
  I thank my great friend and partner, who has spent innumerable hours 
getting us to this point. I thank him, his staff, and all of our staffs 
who have worked hard to find a compromise and not to find a fight.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

 The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act--Investing in America's 
                            Competitiveness


                  List of Key Supportive Organizations

       1. ACT
       2. AFL-CIO
       3. AFSCME
       4. American Association of Community Colleges
       5. American Federation of Teachers
       6. America Forward Coalition
       7. The American Legion
       8. American Library Association
       9. The Arc
       10. Associated Builders and Contractors
       11. Associated General Contractors of America
       12. Association for Advancing Automation
       13. Association for Career and Technical Education
       14. Association for Talent Development (formerly ASTD)
       15. Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs
       16. Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
       17. Association of University Centers on Disabilities
       18. Austin Chamber of Commerce
       19. Bipartisan Policy Center's Governors Council
       20. Business Leaders United
       21. Business Roundtable
       22. California Workforce Association
       23. Center for Law and Social Policy
       24. Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
       25. City of Seattle
       26. Colorado Municipal League
       27. Commercial Vehicle Training Association
       28. Consortium for Citizens With Disabilities
       29. Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
       30. Dallas Regional Chamber
       31. Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
       32. Easter Seals
       33. Georgia Municipal Association
       34. Goodwill Industries International
       35. Governor Terry Branstad (IA)
       36. Governor Chris Christie (NJ)
       37. Governor Mary FaIlin (OK)
       38. Governor Rick Scott (FL)
       39. Governor Rick Snyder (MI)
       40. Governor Tom Corbett (PA)
       41. Greater Baltimore Chamber of Commerce
       42. Greater Cleveland Partnership
       43. Greater Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
       44. Greater Houston Partnership
       45. Greater Louisville Inc.
       46. Greater Memphis Chamber
       47. Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
       48. Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce
       49. Greater Spokane Incorporated
       50. IBM
       51. Independent Electrical Contractors
       52. International Economic Development Council
       53. International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
       54. Jobs for the Future
       55. Knowledge Alliance
       56. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
       57. Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
       58. Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation
       59. Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
       60. Massachusetts Municipal Union
       61. Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce
       62. Minnesota Workforce Council Association
       63. Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
       64. National Association of Councils on Developmental 
     Disabilities
       65. National Association of Counties
       66. National Association of Development Organizations
       67. National Association of Manufacturers
       68. National Association of State Directors of Career 
     Technical Education Consortium
       69. National Association of State Workforce Agencies
       70. National Association of Workforce Boards
       71. National Association of Workforce Development 
     Professionals
       72. National Center for Learning Disabilities
       73. National Coalition for Literacy
       74. National Conference of State Legislatures
       75. National Council on Independent Living
       76. National Council of La Raza
       77. National Council of State Directors of Adult Education
       78. National Education Association
       79. National Federation of the Blind
       80. National Governors Association
       81. National Job Corps Association
       82. National League of Cities
       83. National Metropolitan Business Alliance
       84. National Restaurant Association
       85. National Retail Federation
       86. National Roofing Contractors Association
       87. National Skills Coalition
       88. National Youth Employment Coalition
       89. New York Association of Training and Employment 
     Professionals
       90. North America's Building Trades Unions
       91. North Carolina Technology Association
       92. Opportunity America Jobs and Careers Coalition
       93. Oregon Bioscience Association
       94. Paralyzed Veterans of America
       95. Rural Country Representatives of California
       96. San Diego Chamber of Commerce
       97. San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
       98. San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
       99. Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
       100. Service Employees International Union
       101. Siemens Corporation
       102. Society for Human Resource Management
       103. Spokane Area Workforce Development Council
       104. St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association
       105. Tennessee Municipal League
       106. Twin Cities Rise
       107. United States Chamber of Commerce
       108. United States Conference of Mayors
       109. United Way Worldwide
       110. Washington Roundtable
       111. Year Up
       112. YouthBuild USA

  Mrs. MURRAY. I yield for Senator Isakson, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I have to say first and foremost that it has been a real 
privilege to work with Senator Murray from the State of Washington. We 
are across the hall from one another. We see each other coming and 
going and coming back to the floor and from the office.
  We have worked hard, our staffs have worked hard, and finally today 
lightning has struck. We are about today--in the Congress of the United 
States--to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and 
address one of the significant challenges that face America today.
  As we sit in this Chamber and talk about this bill, there are 10.6 
million Americans who are unemployed. There are also 4 million jobs 
waiting to be filled by people who need specific skills. This bill 
deals with the skills deficit in America, and it is going to match some 
of those unemployed with some of those jobs to lower our unemployment 
rate and raise the rate of prosperity in American families. This is an 
important bill.
  A lot of people who have watched the Senate over the past few years 
might have said: How in the world did you reach an agreement on 
anything? You always seem to be fighting, you always seem to be 
arguing.
  I want to tell a brief story. About 1 month ago Senator Murray and I 
joined a few other Members of the Senate--Senator Harkin, Senator 
Alexander, a couple of Members from the

[[Page S3967]]

House: Representative Foxx of North Carolina and Representative Kline, 
the chairman of the Education & the Workforce Committee in the House.
  We didn't sit around a table and say: What is it that divides us? We 
said: What is it that unites us?
  What unites us is the fact that the American people are looking for 
leadership from us to deal with the unemployment issue and the training 
issue. We have been languishing to try to authorize this bill for 12 
years. So we sat down and identified what we agreed on. We identified 
what the problems were. We worked with the Members of the House who 
opened up and said: Well, we passed the SKILLS Act, but we will sit 
down, listen to your side, and try to find common ground.
  After a few days, really--not weeks--we found common ground on 80 
percent of the issues that confront us in workforce and investment 
areas. There are a few places where we found disagreement, sure--and so 
did those stop us? No, because the perfect should never be the enemy of 
the good, and this bill is the good of the Senate in terms of dealing 
with issues.
  I want to brag about a few people in this body, if I can, besides 
Senator Murray. I want to talk about Scott Cheney for a second, her 
loyal assistant. He sat in my office with me--about a week and a half 
ago--side-by-side, staff and Senator, working out some of the details 
on this bill.
  I thank Tommy Nguyen on my staff who has worked countless hours for 
countless years to make this happen.
  David Cleary, the aide to the committee, the aide to Senator 
Alexander, has done a yeoman's job. In fact, he did probably as much of 
the hand-holding in the past couple of weeks over amendments as anybody 
I know.
  I thank Senator Enzi from Wyoming, who is my mentor in the Senate. 
When I was first elected to Congress, I was appointed to a Web-based 
education joint commission between the House and the Senate. Mike Enzi 
was the Republican Senator who was appointed to that commission. I was 
the Republican Congressman. I didn't know Mike Enzi, but I watched him 
work. I watched him find solutions to problems. I watched his quiet, 
patient work to find a solution, and I said: That is the guy I want to 
be like.
  He is the guy who really got Mrs. Murray and myself to this point 
today, because he has forged ahead when nobody else would.
  When Chairman Kennedy was chairman of the committee before his tragic 
loss, Mike continued to work with Senator Kennedy and said: Let's try 
to find a way to do workforce innovation and opportunity.
  I am glad we are doing it today, and we are doing it in large measure 
because of Senator Enzi.
  Senator Tim Scott, who did yeoman's work, introduced the SKILLS Act 
that was passed in the House and Senate. He could have folded his arms 
and said: I am going to be recalcitrant, I am not going to cooperate. 
But he said: What can I do to help? There are some things I want to 
make sure we do, but one thing I want to make sure we don't do is not 
address the problem of unemployment and training.
  Rob Portman was of tremendous help to us too. We had so many Members 
whose ideas have been incorporated in this bill to deal with the issue 
of skill and deal with the issue of unemployment. I am so appreciative 
of each and every one of them, and I think the American people will 
appreciate them too.
  I want to highlight a couple of features in here that are most 
important. Unlike most of what government does, we have scaled down the 
size of workforce investment boards in the States and in the local 
communities so they are working numbers, not numbers that are so big 
they can't work.
  We put more money into training and less into bureaucracy. We scaled 
down a number of workforce programs and consolidated them to maximize 
the Federal dollar to benefit the State level. We gave the State level 
the local authority to determine the curriculum of what was best for 
Washington or best for Georgia.
  Washington is not a one-size-fits-all town, and workforce development 
is not a one-size-fits-all issue. Through the labor departments of the 
various States, we now are going to empower them to train people for 
the jobs they need in their State, not the jobs Washington might think 
they might have needed in their State. That is a tremendous advance 
forward in this legislation and equally very important.
  Some people will sit on the floor and say: Well, did we get all we 
wanted? No, we didn't. Nobody did.
  Did you get enough?
  We got plenty.
  There are a lot of labor commissioners and Governors who are going to 
be celebrating. In fact, I have had two calls this morning from 
Governors' offices or from labor department offices saying: Thank you, 
you are finally giving us the power to address what we need to do in 
our State to address unemployment and address job training.
  It has been a privilege for me to work with Senator Harkin, Senator 
Alexander, and Senator Murray.

  To close, before I turn the floor over to Senator Harkin--who I think 
will be next on the floor--I commend Senator Harkin on his leadership 
as the chairman. He and Senator Alexander gave us the encouragement 
that we could get a bill done. They didn't insist on something they 
wanted in the bill to be there exactly like they wanted it.
  As we all know, Senator Harkin is a champion for those with 
disabilities. The disability section in this bill is outstanding to 
provide training, opportunity, and rehabilitation for those who operate 
with developmental disabilities; and that is what we should be doing on 
the workforce, because their contribution is as important as the 
contribution of any other single American.
  Today is a great day for the Senate. It is also a great day for the 
workforce in America. It is a great day for training and for the 
skills.
  We want to fill the 4 million jobs that are vacant in America with 4 
million of those 10.6 million who are unemployed in America--to raise 
prosperity, raise opportunity, and raise hope in America.
  With that said, I yield the floor for the distinguished Senator from 
Iowa, Senator Harkin.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. I am pleased to join with my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle and in both Chambers today in taking up the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act that is a reauthorization of what we 
always called the WIA bill, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
  As the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 
Committee, I can say we have worked on this bill, the one that we have 
here now, for 5 years. This is the first reauthorization since 2003 of 
the Workforce Investment Act.
  I especially express my appreciation to Senator Isakson, Senator 
Murray, and Senator Alexander for their great working relationship and 
sticking to it for all these years when we didn't know if we were ever 
going to make it.
  I see that our former ranking member Senator Enzi is here, who 
started with it when he was ranking member. I thank him also for all of 
his work to get to this point.
  What is that old saying? Slow cooking beats fast food any day.
  This is kind of slow cooking, home cooking. It took a while but some 
of these things do take time. They take time to work out and get ironed 
out. I understand that.
  But, again, I can't express my appreciation enough to my colleagues: 
Senator Isakson, Senator Enzi, Senator Murray, and Senator Alexander, 
for their stick-to-itiveness, never giving up, and making sure that we 
got to this point.
  I also thank my House colleagues who worked closely with us over the 
last several months: Representatives Kline, Miller, Foxx, and Hinojosa. 
During those months of negotiations, we reached a compromise between 
the reauthorization bill the House had passed last year and the bill we 
passed out of committee in July of last year.
  Again, with the great work of Senator Murray and Senator Isakson, 
working with our House colleagues, we have a very good bill. It has the 
broad support--broadly--from employers, to mayors, to Governors, to 
organized labor. Everybody is now supporting this bill. I suppose, as 
with any piece of legislation that comes through the Senate, each one 
of those entities probably didn't get everything they wanted, but that 
is the art of compromise

[[Page S3968]]

and the art of getting good legislation through.
  It couldn't come at a better time and a more needed time for 
reauthorization. As our economy continues to recover from one of the 
worst economic recessions in our history, it is more critical than ever 
that we stand with our Nation's workers, our businesses, our young 
people, citizens with disabilities, and with a commitment to help them 
prosper in the new jobs of the future.
  Our economy has undergone substantial changes since the first 
Workforce Investment Act bill of 1998. In fact, over the past 40 years, 
America's backbone--the middle class--has been finding it harder and 
harder to make ends meet as wages have stagnated and costs have risen.
  Quite frankly, a lot of the jobs of the past are gone. A lot of those 
jobs aren't coming back. We have a new economy that we are now 
entering, and so a lot of people need to be trained, a lot of people 
need to be retrained, and skills upgraded for these new jobs of the 
future.
  That is what this bill does. It is part of the solution to this 
challenge facing our middle class in America. Access to education, 
training, and employment services is critical to helping our workers 
secure good jobs, gain access to the middle class, and become 
economically self-sufficient.
  This new bill includes provisions that support our State workforce 
development systems in providing employment and training services for 
adults, dislocated workers, and youth through State grant programs and 
the public employment service. It also supports disconnected youth 
through programs such as an updated youth program focused on out-of-
school youth who need a second chance, such as Job Corps and 
YouthBuild.
  It provides for employment and training activities for Native 
Americans, migrant, and seasonal farm workers. It supports adult 
learners through adult education and literacy programs, including 
services for English language learners.
  This bill includes innovative approaches to providing workforce 
development activities, including industry and sector partnerships, on-
the-job and incumbent worker training; transitional job strategies for 
those who have poor work histories, but who would like to have more 
steady and upgraded jobs; and workplace learning advisers who can help 
educate colleagues about services available in the workforce system.
  One of the most important parts to me of this bill is a much-needed 
update to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
  I am particularly pleased that the bill addresses the 
disproportionate burden of unemployment and underemployment experienced 
by people with disabilities in our country. Despite the enormous 
progress we have made in ensuring that disabled people have the same 
rights and opportunities as all Americans, the sad fact is that the 
unemployment rate among people with disabilities in America is twice as 
high as people without disabilities, and their workforce participation 
rate is less than half that of the general population.
  We have, quite frankly, failed to ensure that people with 
disabilities meaningfully participate in the workforce. This bill makes 
major steps to correct this injustice. It will help a new generation of 
young people with disabilities to prepare for, obtain, and succeed in 
competitive integrated employment, not substandard subminimum wage 
dead-end jobs but in jobs in which people with disabilities can learn 
and grow to their maximum potential. That is what this bill would do, 
ensure that young people with disabilities, let's say, who are in high 
school and they have an IEP, Individualized Education Program, and they 
get through high school, are prepared for transition into the 
workplace.
  This bill includes things which will give them those experiences, 
such as part-time work, summer jobs, internships, workplace skill 
development, and preparation for jobs that are in high demand. 
Basically, we are going to give persons with disabilities the same 
supports and experiences everyone else expects and receives and which 
they haven't had in the past.
  Through school as part of the IDEA Program, they have their IEPs and 
as soon as they quit they are dropped. That is the end of it or maybe 
they go into subminimum wage jobs, and that is where they stay and they 
never get skills upgrading, but we know from experience that people 
with disabilities, whether it is intellectual or physical or a 
combination of both, can learn and train and their skills can be 
upgraded just like anybody else so they can perform at their maximum 
potential.
  Again, this bill requires State vocational rehabilitation programs to 
work hand in hand with secondary schools, ensures that employers will 
have the information necessary to recruit, hire, and retain people with 
disabilities, and the bill focuses the efforts of State vocational 
rehabilitation on youth, requiring that 15 percent of their funds be 
dedicated to transitioning young people into competitive, integrated 
employment.
  I hope these efforts will directly address the high unemployment rate 
among people with disabilities, smooth the transition of young people 
with disabilities into the competitive integrated workplace, and help 
employers to support their employees with disabilities.
  I thank my colleagues for working to make this bill one that will 
address the outrageous status quo facing people with disabilities with 
regard to employment. More and more employers are finding that with a 
small bit of support or maybe a modification of the workplace, people 
with disabilities can do those jobs and sometimes do them better than 
people without disabilities. More and more employers are finding that 
out. In our former Workforce Investment Act bills, we didn't get to 
focus on it that much. This bill now puts a major focus on it, and that 
is why I am so proud of this bill and why I think this bill is such a 
major step forward in all its regards.
  This bill represents the best of what Congress can accomplish when we 
work together. We have worked diligently to find areas of agreement in 
our committee where we can advance legislation on a bipartisan basis.
  I heard Senator Alexander earlier mention this, and it is true that 
on our committee we probably have the widest divergence of 
philosophical views than any committee in the Senate, but we work 
together, both on a Senate level and on a staff level.
  When this bill passes the Senate, it will mark the 18th bipartisan 
HELP Committee bill to successfully move to the Senate and this 
Congress, and--assuming the President will sign it--it will be the 14th 
bill passed out of our committee this Congress to be signed into law by 
the President.
  The House leaders have indicated that if the Senate acts swiftly to 
pass this bipartisan, bicameral bill without substantial changes, they 
will do the same, and we will be able to advance this bill to the 
President's desk in very short order.
  It is a major victory for our workers, our businesses, and our 
economy. I urge all my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill 
and in voting yes on final passage.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. COBURN. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Wyoming for 
allowing me to jump in for about 5 minutes.
  This became an issue as we faced the greatest recession we have ever 
had and, at the same time, we had GAO looking at how we are spending 
our money.
  For just a little history so everybody will know, when GAO did their 
first report we had 47 separate job training programs run by nine 
different agencies, and that year they looked at we spent $18.5 
billion. What we found is only two had metrics on them, and we weren't 
even paying attention to the metrics to use them.
  I applaud the work of the HELP Committee, Senator Enzi, Senator 
Isakson, Senator Alexander, Senator Murray, and Senator Harkin, for 
bringing the bill to the floor. It is an improvement over what we are 
doing, but I wish to offer a couple of points I think the American 
people ought to know. We are not going anywhere far enough, not 
anywhere close to where we need to go.
  The SKILLS Act coming out of the House markedly changed job training 
in this country. Now, this is a big modification to the SKILLS Act, but

[[Page S3969]]

the SKILLS Act actually paid attention to the Government Accountability 
Office. What they did is consolidate a lot of programs and put real 
metrics and real competition into job training.
  There are two critical flaws in this bill that I think are a 
mistake--and I know this bill is going to pass, so it is moving the 
ball down the road. No. 1, there is no metric in the job training 
program to say: Did somebody get a job in the area that they were 
trained for?
  So it doesn't matter how many people we train. If there is no job and 
they got no job for what they trained, we have wasted the money. So 
that is not anywhere in the bill.
  The second thing is the vast majority of money in this country that 
is spent on job training is Job Corps. When we ask behind the scenes 
why we didn't have major reform to Job Corps, it is because of all of 
the parochial people they employ. In Oklahoma, it is over 1,000. Most 
of the Job Corps programs in Oklahoma are highly inefficient and 
failing to do what we want them to do, and they are not going to be 
held accountable with this bill.
  So these are two really disastrous things that, had they been added, 
would have made a real difference. And let me say why I can speak to 
that. When the GAO put out their report on all the job training 
programs, I had every one of my staffers in Oklahoma go to every job 
training, State and Federal, in Oklahoma. Let me tell you what we 
found.
  What we found was the Federal programs were totally failing. We were 
very good at employing people in job training programs with Federal 
money, but when we looked for the outcome of whether we gave somebody a 
skill that gave them an ability to have a life, we failed.
  Contrast that to Oklahoma's Career Tech system and their own State-
funded training programs, where they were 90-percent effective in 
giving somebody a life skill.
  So I am disappointed that the SKILLS Act didn't come over here and 
get voted on because that was what was in the SKILLS Act and it is 
really accomplishing the goal.
  My colleagues have been great with me in working on this bill to try 
to attest to and to accommodate my desires to see some changes. But 
there are these two critical flaws, and it speaks to the lack of 
courage in our country today that because we have people employed in 
Job Corps programs, we are not going to really shake that system up and 
make it do what it needs to do.
  I will never forget. I had a town hall meeting in Guthrie, OK, the 
largest Job Corps training in Oklahoma, and I wrote a report that was 
highly critical of it. They all came here, and I faced them down and 
said: Do you really want Federal Government money spent on your salary 
that doesn't accomplish the goal of giving somebody a life skill? They 
couldn't answer yes. They had to answer, no, they really didn't want 
that.
  But that is what Job Corps still is in this bill, and that is by far 
the biggest job training program we have.
  So I applaud the changes that we have made, the movements that have 
gone forward. But when there is no metrics on whether the skill that 
was trained for got a job, we don't have any idea what we are going to 
be measuring after this bill goes through.
  No. 2, if we have not fundamentally gutted the present Job Corps 
system and changed it to where it is responsible to actually accomplish 
a goal and hold them accountable--like we need to be holding the VA 
accountable--if we don't do that, we haven't really fixed anything.
  This bill has no CBO score on it. It is at least $58 billion over the 
next 6 years--at least. And we are going to vote on a bill again that 
doesn't have a score.
  So the intentions of my colleagues are pure, but I think they are 
missing two critical provisions if they really want to fix job 
training. I thank them for their work. I appreciate their 
accommodation. I know this bill will pass and it is an improvement, but 
it is not going to fix the fundamental problems.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. I ask unanimous consent that, following my speech, Senator 
Brown from Ohio be allowed to speak next.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I rise today to speak in favor of the 
reauthorization of Workforce Investment Act.
  I first thank Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Senator Patty Murray 
of Washington, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Senator Tom 
Harkin of Iowa for their hard work on this bill. We can see from that 
list of Senators alone that this has been a truly bipartisan effort to 
reauthorize this Workforce Investment Act.
  Of course, we have heard through the course of this discussion how on 
the House side Kline, Miller, Foxx, and Hinojosa worked on it, which is 
bipartisan on that side of the building. And the two have been working 
together, which is bicameral. That doesn't happen a lot around here, 
but on bills that make it through to the President's signature it does 
happen, and it has happened on this one.
  I thank the many Senators who have had suggestions for this bill. A 
lot of those suggestions have wound up in here. Some of them had 
amendments that we will have to continue to work on in the future, and 
they were very gracious in revising some of those so that they would 
fit what we are doing and still get the bill done. I know Tim Scott 
could have taken a lot more credit for what he did in the House and 
when it came over here, but he has been extremely cooperative in using 
his knowledge of the bill to further the bill. Senator Portman is 
another critical Senator in working on it, and as we can tell by the 
passionate speech by Senator Coburn, there are things that could be 
done and will need to be done in the future to make it an even better 
bill. But it is something that all of government ought to be doing--not 
just the workforce.
  This is a day of elation for me. We have been working to improve this 
program for over 11 years. For 11 years this could have made a big 
difference in our country's jobs. The Workforce Investment Act has been 
due for reauthorization for 11 years. Who says the Senate works fast? 
Who says the Senate works slow? Hopefully, the Senate works and gets it 
right.
  I am hopeful that now is the time we are able to get this important 
piece of legislation renewed and provide some much-needed help to 
American workers and businesses through the new profile it provides.
  The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act will transform the 
sometimes bureaucratic Federal job training system into a streamlined 
program that can help many more people learn the skills they need to 
get meaningful jobs. The reauthorization will eliminate 15 programs 
identified as ineffective or duplicative--we don't do that very often--
and 21 Federal mandates on State and local workforce boards. That is 
what we need to be doing throughout government.
  This bill would apply common performance measures for all programs 
with the focus on employment outcomes and employer satisfaction with 
the trained workers. This will provide stronger accountability for 
taxpayer dollars. These are all changes that are long overdue.
  This piece of legislation also gives authority back to the State 
governments and equips them with tools to help small businesses. This 
bill provides Governors and State workforce directors what they told us 
they needed in hearing after hearing. They wanted flexibility to use 
the money where it was most needed. There were stovepipes where we 
required them to do certain things with the money even if they didn't 
have customers that needed that part of the stovepipe, which meant that 
some of the money went begging. So by actually eliminating some of the 
stovepipes, making the money more effective in this program, it 
increases the value of the money that is there.

  With this reauthorization States will better be able to meet the 
regional economic demand and provide training for jobs in which quality 
workers are in short supply. We can help people get back to work by 
offering training for the skills and services needed in their 
community. State and local officials are in the best position to 
determine the labor and job training needs of communities across the 
Nation. The workforce and opportunity act will help improve our current 
stagnated

[[Page S3970]]

economy and foster economic development for private sector job 
creation. If it works as it should, hundreds of thousands of people 
will be able to move into available jobs that are vacant because folks 
don't have the right skills.
  I remember the New York Times sent reporters out to see if there were 
any jobs available in the New York area. They came back and reported 
there were thousands of jobs, there just weren't people trained to be 
able to do those jobs. That is what this bill is designed to do. Local 
businesses will finally be able to find workers who live in their 
communities who have a particular skill set that they need for their 
business. The job training program that is included in the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act is what would get our economy going 
again.
  Job training programs are especially important to small-population 
States such as Wyoming where skilled workers are in high demand and the 
supply is short. We recently broke ground on the Wind River Job Corps 
Center in Riverton, WY. The seven-building center will house 300 
students and be the first of its kind in Wyoming. When the center opens 
in the next year or so, my constituents will be able to get the job 
training they need to succeed in their careers. This project would not 
have been possible without the determination of the people of Wyoming, 
the cooperation of the communities around there to provide facilities, 
the land that was necessary, and legislation like the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act.
  I particularly want to thank Senator Harkin for his recognition as 
part of the Appropriations Committee that Wyoming and New Hampshire 
were the two States that didn't have job corps centers and the help he 
gave us in being sure there was money set aside to be able to do that 
job corps center. I also appreciate the emphasis on the youth bill that 
is in there where young people can work during the summer to actually 
learn a trade while they improve their community.
  On a broader scale, America is facing an economic climate that 
threatens our ability as a nation to compete in the global marketplace. 
This bill sends a clear message that we are serious about helping our 
American workers and employers remain competitive and that we are 
serious about closing the skills gap that is putting America's long-
term competitiveness in jeopardy.
  I have been on the floor recently discussing articles that declared 
that our current Congress could be the worst ever and that negotiating 
political agreements is a lost art. More often than not this year 
Senators have had no opportunity to weigh in and dissenting opinions 
are rarely considered. But the HELP Committee has broken through the 
logjam and produced a bipartisan bill with a bicameral effort that is 
going to get through the Senate without cloture, without filling the 
amendment tree, or any of the other procedural tricks. That is a 
testament to the hard work of Senators Harkin, Alexander, Murray, 
Isakson, and their staffs and others who have worked on this bill. 
Their efforts are an example all of us should keep in mind in thinking 
about how we can and should operate. Almost half of today's sitting 
Senators have been here less than 6 years, so they haven't seen many 
times when the Senate has worked as it should, as it could, as it did. 
I urge them to keep this Workforce Investment Act bill in mind.
  The HELP Committee had the first opportunity to shape the 
legislation. Members were able to iron out unintended consequences and 
input there. That is how committees work. Then Senators Harkin, 
Alexander, Murray, and Isakson gave all 100 Members of the Senate the 
opportunity to improve the legislation.
  It is important to note this isn't the first time the HELP Committee 
has followed this process. A few months ago we passed the community 
development block grant for child education after it went through 
committee and after amendments were offered. I am glad the full Senate 
is finally considering reauthorization of this important piece of 
legislation.
  I urge my fellow Senators to pass this bicameral, bipartisan 
agreement based on commonsense policies that will stimulate growth and 
the economy. The education and job training programs provided by this 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act are too important to working 
families, businesses, local communities, and our Nation's economy to 
delay it.
  I yield the floor for the Senator from Ohio.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio is recognized.
  Mr. BROWN. Thank you, Madam President, and thanks to Senator Enzi who 
is one of the most cooperative Members of the Senate on so many levels. 
He and I cochaired the Air Force caucus together and he has been good 
to work with. When I sat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension 
Committee, he was a member known then, as he still is, as one you can 
reach out to and who would get things done.
  Special thanks to Senator Isakson who is on the floor and to Senators 
Harkin and Murray who did so much to work with our office on our 
SECTORS ACT and the whole litany of workforce investment issues. I am 
indebted to them.
  Passing this legislation would reauthorize and improve the Workforce 
Investment Act which first was established some 15-plus years ago. It 
includes critical workforce development programs that have helped 
thousands of Americans get on their feet. It provides streamlined one-
stop services that empower adults and students and gives them the 
tools, skills, and the resources they need to find a new career and 
improve their current skills. All of this helps to meet the needs of 
employers looking for trained, skilled workers.
  The Cuyahoga Works Career Center in Cleveland is one of those 
programs. It is run out of The Cuyahoga County Library, known as one of 
the best library systems in the country. The center told me of a few 
success stories I wish to share.
  A teacher was laid off from Cleveland Public Schools 3 years ago, 
substitute teaching while she worked with a Cuyahoga Works career 
counselor. The counselor showed her how to use social networking and 
LinkedIn more effectively. As a result she connected with an 
administrator in a local school district that invited her to discuss 
her job search. During this meeting the teacher learned that although 
she had a strong background, she could benefit from taking a couple 
computer classes. The Cuyahoga Works career counselor directed her to 
the library's Google workshops along with a few other computer courses. 
Shortly afterwards the teacher let her career counselor know she had 
accepted a long-term position in one of the local school districts.
  Let me share another Cuyahoga Works success story. While visiting the 
new Cleveland casino, a Cuyahoga Works career counselor was stopped by 
an employee who had worked with this counselor on her job application. 
The customer was extremely grateful and went so far as to introduce the 
counselor to her supervisor explaining, ``This person is the reason I 
got this job.''
  It is clear that legislation such as this works. We know that to 
compete globally we need workers who can quickly adapt to new 
technologies in business processes. So our workforce training programs 
must be able to keep up with the times. That is what the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act does. It builds on existing success and 
updates it for the 21st century workforce. Part of this improvement 
means we take a sector-based approach.

  Since 2007, I have held some 250 roundtables around my State. From 
the beginning of the first one at the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce 
through a whole host of these in agriculture, with farmers and veterans 
and small businesspeople, workers and others, what I hear over and over 
is despite high unemployment, too many employers are having a hard time 
finding workers with the skills necessary. As a result, job openings in 
high-growth industries--health care, energy, bioscience, even 
manufacturing--are going unfilled.
  The skill gap exists, especially for careers in high-tech fields and 
for jobs that require more than a high school degree. But often the 
skills gap exists with people with less than a college degree. This gap 
denies workers new opportunities they deserve. It undermines our 
Nation's economic competitiveness

[[Page S3971]]

and limits our ability to attract new jobs and businesses. To close the 
gap, we need to create industry or sector partnerships to ensure that 
workers have the right skills to get hired in high-tech emerging 
industries with good-paying jobs. It means local communities--local 
community colleges, local workforce investment boards, local labor 
unions, local small businesses--decide what they need to put these 
workforce training programs together regionally in community after 
community, whether it is in North Dakota, the Presiding Officer's 
State, or whether it is in my State of Ohio, driven by what kinds of 
jobs are available.
  That is why I introduced the Strengthen Employment Clusters to 
Organize Regional Success--or SECTORS Act--back in 2008. I reintroduced 
this legislation with Republican Senator Collins from Maine this year. 
I am pleased that provisions in today's bill are based on our 
bipartisan SECTORS bill. This modernization bill requires sector-based 
partnerships to ensure workforce training programs are developed with 
industry input, with labor input, with local community investment, 
workforce investment boards, with local businesses, whether it is in 
Chillicothe or Akron or Toledo or anywhere in my State.
  Given the difficulty of negotiations, I am grateful for Chairman 
Murray's dedication to this bill, for her prioritization of these 
partnerships, because we know from experience how important they are. 
With too many Americans still unable to find work, we should do all we 
can to ensure our workers are fully qualified to fill available jobs. 
That is what the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act does, and 
that is why I encourage my colleagues to support it.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. HELLER. Thank you, Madam President.
  I also thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both 
Chambers of Congress for their efforts on this important piece of 
legislation that is before us. I especially thank Senators Isakson, 
Murray, Alexander, and Harkin for their leadership on this issue and 
for working together with our colleagues in the House to craft this 
compromise. I am pleased that Congress has come together in a 
bipartisan manner to address the most pressing issue we face in the 
country, which is the need to restore our country's economic health.
  We have a responsibility here in Washington to ensure that the needs 
of American workers, businesses, and job seekers are all being met. I 
believe we need a two-pronged approach to this problem: first, a full-
fledged effort to grow the economy and create new jobs; and second, a 
temporary safety net that helps people unable to secure a job in this 
current economic environment. The bill now in front of us is a much-
needed effort to reauthorize and streamline the Workforce Investment 
Act of 1998, which is the primary Federal law concerning job training 
and workforce development programs. The services offered through the 
WIA Program--job search assistance, career counseling, skills training, 
and on-the-job training--are a critical part of the effort to grow our 
economy and to ensure that workers are prepared for the job market.
  Importantly, these programs are coordinated at the State and local 
levels to ensure that the unique needs of our communities are 
appropriately addressed.
  The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act takes some long overdue 
steps to modernize our workforce investment system. It eliminates 15 
programs that have been identified as duplicative or ineffective. It 
removes 21 burdensome Federal mandates on States and local workforce 
boards. It promotes State and local control and improves flexibility so 
we can better respond to changes in our workforce or the economy. It 
also improves accountability and transparency measures to guarantee 
that these programs are operating efficiently and effectively.
  Given that this law has been due for reauthorization for more than 10 
years, providing States and local communities the flexibility they need 
is vital to ensuring economic stability. We clearly cannot depend on 
the Federal Government to provide workers and businesses with timely 
solutions to help our workforce, so I am pleased this legislation puts 
much of that control back where it belongs.
  The need to reauthorize these important programs is perhaps no more 
apparent than in my home State of Nevada. Our State is one of the 
States hit hardest by the economic downturn, and although we are slowly 
recovering, we still have a long way to go. Industries that thrived for 
many years suddenly stalled, leaving thousands of workers out of jobs. 
Nevada had a double-digit unemployment rate for 4\1/2\ years, 
unfortunately topping the charts at nearly 14 percent for several 
months.
  Over the past few years, I have spoken with employers and job seekers 
in Nevada to look for ways to restore the health of our economy and get 
Nevadans back to work. Surprisingly, I heard from many employers that 
they have job opportunities available, they want to hire more employees 
and grow their businesses, but they are having difficulty finding 
workers with the necessary skill sets.
  The skills gap problem isn't unique to Nevada. In fact, there are 
millions of unfilled jobs throughout the country. With nearly 10 
million Americans still unemployed and looking for work, we must take 
steps to connect job seekers with employment opportunities in in-demand 
sectors.
  I was proud to join Senator Joe Donnelly from Indiana in introducing 
the Skills Gap Strategy Act to develop a solution to this particular 
issue, and I am glad the manager's amendment before us today also 
reinforces some of these principles.
  The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is a bipartisan, 
bicameral piece of legislation that represents real efforts to get our 
economy back on track. Although no bill is perfect and the nature of 
compromise means not everyone gets everything they want, I am grateful 
for the work my colleagues have done in writing this bill. Although I 
would have preferred to include efforts to provide stability for 
uemployed job seekers by temporarily extending unemployment insurance 
benefits, I also recognize that these job training and workforce 
investment programs are essential in getting Americans back to work.
  I still firmly believe that our economic recovery needs a two-pronged 
approach that grows the economy and provides stability for job seekers, 
and this bill is an important part of that equation.
  While the Senate is in session, I call constituents back in my State 
and ask them to join me for a telephone town hall meeting. During one 
of the calls just last night, I asked Nevadans if they felt as though 
the economy was improving. Of those participating, 26 percent said yes, 
they do think the economy is improving; 13 percent said they were 
unsure; and 60 percent said no, they do not think the economy is 
getting any better. On a ratio of 2 to 1, Nevadans feel that the 
economic growth is lagging.
  We need to fix this and pass policies to help turn this economy 
around. In the meantime, we cannot forget about the most important 
safety net available to Americans. Make no mistake. I have every 
intention of continuing to work with my colleague from Rhode Island to 
temporarily extend unemployment benefits for those who are seeking to 
work.
  I was proud to once again team up with the Senator from Rhode Island 
yesterday to reintroduce a new unemployment extension bill that would 
provide 5 months of benefits with retroactive eligibility.
  We will continue to work with our colleagues here in the Senate, the 
House, and this administration to pass this legislation to ensure that 
we continue to provide this temporary safety net while still looking 
for work.
  Again, I thank my friends in both the Senate and the House for their 
work on this much-needed legislation. This compromise effort proves 
that Congress is capable of working together on legislation to help our 
economy. I am hopeful this experience will encourage all of us to 
continue to work together to pass more bills, grow our economy, and 
create new jobs for people in Nevada and for all of the United States.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I am proud to rise today in support of 
the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act. I want to thank Chairman

[[Page S3972]]

Harkin, Ranking Member Alexander, Senator Murray, and Senator Isakson 
for putting together a strong reauthorization of the Workforce 
Investment Act. I am happy that we were able to come together in a 
bipartisan, bicameral way to reauthorize this bill.
  As our Nation continues to look at how to best create, sustain, and 
support high-paying jobs, we must look at how best to educate our 
workforce and how best to provide needed resources to fill jobs in high 
demand. WIA does just that. It helps people learn new skills and 
increases their chances of succeeding. This bill before us today is a 
major step toward improving WIA and helping our Nation remain 
competitive globally.
  This bill allows local workforce boards to tailor services based on 
regional employment and workforce needs. This means that workers will 
get access to education and training for the skills needed to fill 
jobs, including professional development. It helps ensure that Federal 
workforce and training programs are working together by bringing 
together multiple programs and providers into a unified State plan to 
break down barriers and improve efficiency and effectiveness. This bill 
also ensures that all WIA programs are held to one set of common 
performance measures. This will help integrate case management and 
reporting systems while strengthening evaluations. Finally, this bill 
ensures that youth with disabilities will be provided the services and 
support they need to be successful in competitive, integrated 
employment.
  I am particularly proud that this bill takes an in-depth look at 
nontraditional occupations. These are jobs where a gender makes up less 
than 25 percent of the workforce for that occupation. Women currently 
represent half of our Nation's workforce, but two-thirds of women are 
concentrated in 21 of 500 occupational jobs. Except for nursing and 
teaching, most of these jobs are among the lowest paid, including work 
in retail, service, and clerical jobs. Less than 16 percent of women 
who go through federally funded workforce programs receive any 
training. Most only get a ``needs'' assessment and receive help in 
finding a job. The economic recovery is leaving women behind. Of the 
1.3 million jobs gained in the United States, nearly 90 percent went to 
men. Men have since regained 19 percent of jobs lost while women have 
only regained 6 percent. The incomes of women in the workforce are too 
often not adequate for a decent standard of living to support a family. 
This bill would require one-stop career centers to provide info to 
individuals, including women, on opportunities in fields that are 
nontraditional. It requires reporting related to job-placement services 
for participants, including the number and percentage of participants 
who enter a nontraditional occupation. It also requires all programs to 
make an effort to develop programs that increase employment 
opportunities for those that are interested in nontraditional work.
  The Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act supports our workforce 
in providing education and training for millions of America's workers. 
It ensures that local workforce boards have the flexibility needed to 
meet their regional needs. It encourages better coordination between 
Federal workforce and training programs and State and local efforts to 
attain economic development. It requires all programs to be 
accountable, and it provides more opportunities for youth with 
disabilities. This bill is a downpayment on our middle class and our 
Nation's future. It is my hope this bill be passed in a swift, 
expeditious, and uncluttered way and continue to work with Members on 
both sides of the aisle and across the dome to improve our workforce 
system.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                Amendment No. 3381 to Amendment No. 3378

  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I call up managers' amendment No. 3381.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Iowa [Mr. Harkin] for Mrs. Murray, for 
     herself, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Harkin, and Mr. Alexander, proposes 
     amendment No. 3381 to amendment No. 3378.

  The amendment is as follows:

       On page 6, after the item relating to section 504, insert 
     the following:

Sec. 505. Report on data capability of Federal and State databases and 
              data exchange agreements.
       On page 6, redesignate the second item relating to section 
     505 as the item relating to section 506.
       On page 16, line 4, strike ``134(c)(2)'' and insert 
     ``134(c)(2)(A)(xii)''.
       On page 55, strike line 5.
       On page 55, line 9, strike the period and insert ``; and''.
       On page 55, between lines 9 and 10, insert the following:
       (vi) how the State's strategy will improve access to 
     activities leading to a recognized postsecondary credential 
     (including a credential that is an industry-recognized 
     certificate or certification, portable, and stackable).
       On page 116, line 19 strike the semicolon and insert ``, 
     and improve access to activities leading to a recognized 
     postsecondary credential (including a credential that is an 
     industry-recognized certificate or certification, portable, 
     and stackable);''.
       On page 222, line 22, insert ``allotted under section 
     127(b)(1)(C), reserved under section 128(a), and'' before 
     ``available''.
       On page 232, line 8, strike ``may'' and insert ``shall''.
       On page 248, lines 6 through 8, strike ``less than the 
     greater of'' and all that follows through ``(aa) an'' and 
     insert ``an''.
       On page 248, line 11, strike ``; or'' and insert a period.
       On page 248, strike lines 12 through 18.
       On page 293, line 4, strike ``may'' and insert ``shall, 
     consistent with clause (i),''.
       On page 329, line 9, insert ``information regarding the 
     entity in any reports developed by the Office of Inspector 
     General of the Department of Labor and'' before ``the 
     entity's''.
       On page 338, strike lines 13 through 18 and insert the 
     following:
       (A) significant improvements in program performance in 
     carrying out a performance improvement plan under section 
     159(f)(2);
       On page 338, strike lines 21 and 22 and insert ``such as an 
     emergency or disaster, as defined in section 170(a)(1);''.
       On page 339, between lines 6 and 7, insert the following:
       (3) Detailed explanation.--If the Secretary exercises an 
     option under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall provide, to 
     the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, 
     Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, a detailed explanation of 
     the rationale for exercising such option.
       On page 339, line 7, strike ``(3)'' and insert ``(4)''.
       On page 384, line 25, strike ``to pro-'' and all that 
     follows through line 5 of page 385, and insert the following: 
     ``to award grants, on a competitive basis, to entities with 
     demonstrated experience and expertise in developing and 
     implementing programs for the unique populations who reside 
     in Alaska or Hawaii, including public and private nonprofit 
     organizations, tribal organizations, American Indian tribal 
     colleges or universities, institutions of higher education, 
     or consortia of such organizations or institutions, to 
     improve job training and workforce investment activities for 
     such unique populations.''.
       Beginning on page 398, between lines 17 and 18, insert the 
     following:
       (7) Public availability.--Not later than 30 days after the 
     date the Secretary transmits the final report as described in 
     paragraph (6), the Secretary shall make that final report 
     available to the general public on the Internet, on the Web 
     site of the Department of Labor.
       On page 398, line 18, strike ``(7)'' and insert ``(8)''.
       On page 399, line 3, strike ``(8)'' and insert ``(9)''.
       On page 759, between lines 9 and 10, insert the following:

     SEC. 505. REPORT ON DATA CAPABILITY OF FEDERAL AND STATE 
                   DATABASES AND DATA EXCHANGE AGREEMENTS.

       (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United 
     States shall prepare and submit an interim report and a final 
     report to Congress regarding existing Federal and State 
     databases and data exchange agreements, as of the date of the 
     report, that contain job training information relevant to the 
     administration of programs authorized under this Act and the 
     amendments made by this Act.
       (b) Requirements.--The report required under subsection (a) 
     shall--
       (1) list existing Federal and State databases and data 
     exchange agreements described in subsection (a) and, for 
     each, describe--
       (A) the purposes of the database or agreement;
       (B) the data elements, such as wage and employment 
     outcomes, contained in the database or accessible under the 
     agreement;
       (C) the data elements described in subparagraph (B) that 
     are shared between States;
       (D) the Federal and State workforce training programs from 
     which each Federal and

[[Page S3973]]

     State database derives the data elements described in 
     subparagraph (B);
       (E) the number and type of Federal and State agencies 
     having access to such data;
       (F) the number and type of private research organizations 
     having access to, through grants, contracts, or other 
     agreements, such data; and
       (G) whether the database or data exchange agreement 
     provides for opt-out procedures for individuals whose data is 
     shared through the database or data exchange agreement;
       (2) study the effects that access by State workforce 
     agencies and the Secretary of Labor to the databases and data 
     exchange agreements described in subsection (a) would have on 
     efforts to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this 
     Act, and on individual privacy;
       (3) explore opportunities to enhance the quality, 
     reliability, and reporting frequency of the data included in 
     such databases and data exchange agreements;
       (4) describe, for each database or data exchange agreement 
     considered by the study described in subsection (a), the 
     number of individuals whose data is contained in each 
     database or accessible through the data agreement, and the 
     specific data elements contained in each that could be used 
     to personally identify an individual;
       (5) include the number of data breaches having occurred 
     since 2004 to data systems administered by Federal and State 
     agencies;
       (6) include the number of data breaches regarding any type 
     of personal data having occurred since 2004 to private 
     research organizations with whom Federal and State agencies 
     contract for studies; and
       (7) include a survey of the security protocols used for 
     protecting personal data, including best practices shared 
     amongst States for access to, and administration of, data 
     elements stored and recommendations for improving security 
     protocols for the safe warehousing of data elements.
       (c) Timing of Reports.--
       (1) Interim report.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
     of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
     prepare and submit to Congress an interim report regarding 
     the initial findings of the report required under this 
     section.
       (2) Final report.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
     of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
     prepare and submit to Congress the final report required 
     under this section.
       On page 759, strike line 10 and insert the following:

     SEC. 506. EFFECTIVE DATES.

       On page 763, between lines 2 and 3, insert the following:
       (d) Disability Provisions.--Except as otherwise provided in 
     title IV of this Act, title IV, and the amendments made by 
     title IV, shall take effect on the date of enactment of this 
     Act.

  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to rescind 
the quorum call.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, while the Senator from Iowa is still 
on the floor, I wish to compliment him. The committee which he chairs--
of which I am the ranking member--has produced 19 bills this year for 
this Congress, 10 of which have become law. No other committee has 
produced as much--this will add one to that--and that is not because we 
agree on everything.
  The truth is we disagree on a lot of things, but we have found a 
way--when there is a chance to get a result--to come together.
  Senator Harkin has helped to create an environment in which Senator 
Isakson and Senator Murray, and a group of other Senators, have finally 
brought this Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to a conclusion, 
and a lot of other Senators have tried, and it has taken a long time to 
do it. Our focus today should be on the workers of America and people 
who need jobs.
  I think it is important to point out that when the Senate tries to do 
it this way and allow everybody to have a chance to have a say, we can 
get a pretty good result. This is $10 billion, and for our State--I say 
to the Senator from Iowa--it is $145 million for the single biggest 
issue in our State: How do I get a better job? It is not a matter of 
Washington telling you how to do that. This is a bill that empowers 
States to enable people to get the skills they need so they can get a 
better job.
  I thank the chairman for the way he has worked on this, and I wanted 
to say that while he was on the floor.
  Madam President, I urge my colleagues to support this act today. It 
is a jobs bill. I was home in Grainger County in East Tennessee this 
past weekend working with the Clinch-Powell Cooperative. It is a great 
organization which helps people with home foreclosures and helps them 
to find a job.
  The worry they have is that it is too hard to find a job. The worry 
of the National Federation of Independent Business Leaders--whom I 
talked with in Knoxville--is that it is too hard to create a job. We 
all have our reasons for that. On our side of the aisle, we think there 
are too many taxes, rules, regulations, and mandates from Washington 
that make it harder for a person who wants to create a job to do that.
  I had one Tennessee small business man tell me he was looking at new 
employees as a liability more than an asset. He said: I hate that. I 
want to think of every one of my employees as an asset. When I hire 
them, I have to think about this health care cost or this tax cost or 
this regulatory cost, and all these extra costs, and they become, in my 
eyes, a liability and that discourages me from hiring anyone. That is 
one reason why so many Americans are having a hard time finding a job. 
Another reason is--and the reason we are working together today on this 
bill--because the skills don't fit the job.
  We have a very good Governor in Tennessee whose name is Bill Haslam. 
I think his priority is the same as every other Governor whom I know in 
the country, which is he is trying to grow and attract jobs. What he 
hears from every employer is: We have the jobs, but the employees don't 
have the skills.
  Our Governor is working hard, for example, to create a program with 
Bridgestone Corporation--the big tire maker headquartered in 
Tennessee--at the community college and technical institute level, 
where the institute would train people with the exact skills that 
Bridgestone needs. So many of the new jobs today require more skills 
than they used to.
  I was Governor when the Nissan plant came to Tennessee, and it was a 
surprise to a lot of people. Automobile plants used to have 20,000 or 
30,000 people, but the Nissan plant only had 3,000 or 4,000 or 5,000 
people there. Now it has a few more, but it is the largest automobile 
plant in North America--and the most efficient. I imagine it is as 
profitable as any automobile plant. But the jobs at the Nissan plant 
have a lot higher standards and a lot higher skills for the employees.
  It is the same today as it was 30 years ago--the biggest challenge 
they have is finding Tennesseans, or other people, who have the right 
skills for the right jobs.
  What can we in Washington do to help with that?
  Well, we could sit here and in our wisdom write a lot of rules and 
prescriptions about just how to do that. In fact, that is what has been 
happening with the Workforce Investment Act. It started out in 1998 as 
sort of a GI bill for workers. The idea was we would make it easier for 
people to find jobs. We would create work councils in the States, give 
Governors flexibility, allow them to make arrangements with community 
colleges, such as the one I just described with Bridgestone. But then 
the old Washington disease set in, and you know what it is: I have a 
good idea, let's make everybody do it. Pretty soon we had 47 workforce 
programs, and according to a Government Accountability Office report, 
45 of them were duplicative.
  Well, the Senator from Oklahoma, who is retiring this year--which I 
regret very much--Senator Coburn, has led the charge. He asked for that 
report, and he pointed out to us that we are wasting money and not 
helping people when we spent $9.5 or $10 billion through the Workforce 
Investment Act, which is just a few of those programs, in such a 
complicated way.
  I mentioned on the floor of the Senate a while ago what our former 
Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen said. Governor Bredesen was a very 
good Governor and businessman. He likes to get results. He took a look 
at the Workforce Investment Act programs that were coming to Tennessee 
from the Federal Government through a dozen or more work councils, and 
he just threw up his hands.
  He said: I told the commissioner of employment security to just do 
what you can with it. There were too many well-intentioned rules and 
regulations

[[Page S3974]]

from Washington that caused these programs to be such a maze that 
Governors and work councils could not deal with them. The work councils 
were massive. There were 50 or 60 people who required someone up here 
saying: This is who you have to have. There were duplicative proposals. 
Instead of allowing people who wanted a job to say, I would like to 
have this kind of job with these kinds of skills, we were telling them 
what kind of skills they needed to have. This was not working.
  The House of Representatives passed something called the SKILLS Act, 
which suited most of us on the Republican side of the Senate better 
because it eliminated more programs, eliminated more mandates, gave 
more discretion to Governors, and decentralized the program.
  The Senate passed a bill through our committee that we didn't like 
nearly as well because it still had too many Washington rules and 
mandates in it.
  Senator Isakson, who is on the floor, and Senator Murray from 
Washington, led a group of Senators who worked with the House--led by 
Congressman Klein and Virginia Foxx and others--and we resolved our 
differences. Basically, what we have done is we moved a long way from 
where the House of Representatives bill was. I will be specific about 
what the bill does that I think makes a difference.
  It eliminates 15 programs that were identified as ineffective or 
duplicative. It eliminates 21 Federal mandates on State and local 
workforce board compensation. In other words, we are saying to 
Tennessee, which I think has 13 workforce boards: OK, we don't think we 
got a lot smarter flying to Washington this morning. You can decide 
more about who is on your workforce board because we assume you know 
more about what is going on.
  It replaces multiple State plans for multiple Federal programs that 
have to be submitted to Washington with a streamlined single-State plan 
that will reduce time spent on paperwork.
  We are going to spend $10 billion of the taxpayers' money--nearly 
10--so we ought to have some accountability, and we ought to know what 
is happening, but we don't need everybody spending more time filling 
out forms than they are helping people find jobs.
  This bill also streamlines reporting requirements, and it focuses on 
real outcomes, such as job placement, retention, earnings, credentials, 
and employer earning satisfaction.
  The second broad thing the bill does is support local and State 
decisionmaking and flexibility. In that sense it is like a block grant. 
It reinstates the authority of Governors to reserve up to 15 percent of 
formula funds for innovative State and local programs. I like that.
  I used to be a Governor. I used to think that the Governor of our 
State--and I still do--knows more about how to make job training work 
in Tennessee than anybody up here because he is there, not here, so let 
him or her be in charge of a large part of that. It gives local 
workforce boards the freedom to transfer up to 100 percent of funds 
between the two largest formula programs serving adults and dislocated 
workers.
  In other words, if the money we have allocated doesn't really fit 
Hohenwald, TN, as well as it does New York City or Madison, WI, or 
Atlanta, GA, then the local workforce board can transfer money from 
this program to that program. That just makes common sense. It gives 
States the ability to incentivize and award performance.

  It allows people who want a better job, people who want job training, 
people who are out of a job to choose the career and training service 
that best meets their needs, and it empowers Governors to recognize or 
consolidate local areas that are low-performing in order to better meet 
regional needs.
  Finally, it tackles the accountability issue which we all care about. 
It authorizes consistent measures of quality, including a 5-percent 
reduction in funding for poor-performing programs. It requires the U.S. 
Department of Labor to conduct independent evaluations of programs at 
least once every 4 years.
  This is a good piece of work on the No. 1 subject in this country. 
Whether one is a Democrat or a Republican, jobs is the issue. It is too 
hard to find a job. It is too hard to create jobs. We have some 
differences of opinion about what to do about it, but I think we agree 
that matching the job skills to the job is a solution for millions of 
Americans.
  I believe and I suspect most of us believe that in the Internet age 
specially, what we should be doing rather than mandating so many 
answers from here is empowering Governors and empowering local leaders 
on workforce boards to enable people who want a better job or a job at 
all to choose what they want to do and to do it. So in Tennessee 
Governor Haslam will now have much more freedom and $145 million a year 
to spend on helping Tennesseans get a better job at Bridgestone or at 
the Nissan plant or start their own work because we are enabling, we 
are empowering. We are not mandating. We are doing less telling. And 
from the taxpayers' point of view, we are avoiding the waste of a lot 
of money by avoiding duplication.
  I wish to thank Senators on both sides of the aisle for working 
together so well on this, particularly on our side of the aisle. I know 
Senator Harkin and Senator Murray worked well with the Democratic 
Members. We appreciate their patience as we worked through this.
  We had a number of Republican Senators whom Senator Isakson and I 
worked with, and I would like to acknowledge their role, starting with 
Senator Isakson. He was the majority leader of the Georgia--well, I 
guess he was the minority leader of the Georgia Senate. He was the 
Republican leader. At that time, they didn't have a majority; they just 
had a few Senators. But he learned the skills of negotiation and 
compromise in order to get a result, while still sticking to his 
conservative principles, and I like to see that skill. So on our side 
of the aisle he gets most of the credit for the result we are getting.
  Right up there with him is Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming, who worked 
on this, Senator Enzi says, for nearly 10 years. Now, that may seem 
hard to do, but this bill was supposed to be reauthorized after 2003, 
and this is 2014. So Senator Enzi brought it a long way, and we are 
grateful to him.
  In addition, Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski are cosponsors of 
the bills.
  Senator Scott from South Carolina played a great role by picking up 
the SKILLS Act from the House and bringing it over to the Senate and 
reminding us that we needed to get rid of this maze of regulatory 
problems and go as far in that direction as we could possibly go. So in 
his first year in the Senate, Senator Scott has played a major role in 
the passage of a very important piece of legislation.
  I have mentioned Senator Coburn before. We all acknowledge there is 
no one on either side of the aisle who is more relentless in looking 
for waste, fraud, and duplication than Senator Coburn. Through his work 
and his staff's work, he put the spotlight on the fact that 44 of our 
47 workforce programs were duplicative and wasteful. That is not him 
saying that; that is the General Accountability Office saying that.
  Senators Lee and Flake worked with us, and they will be offering 
amendments today.
  Senator Portman made significant contributions to the legislation, 
and we thank him for that.
  Senator Hatch and Senator McConnell made important contributions, and 
Senator Toomey and Senator Coats did as well.
  There are a number of other Senators who did something we would like 
to see more of around here; that is, they didn't insist on every right 
they had. We are a body that operates by unanimous consent, so if we 
all insist on all the rights we have, we don't do anything, which is 
where we find ourselves sometimes. But there were a number of Senators 
who had good ideas, who had proposals they would like to see adopted. 
Many of those we were able to incorporate in the manager's amendment, 
but then some we just couldn't. So they stepped aside and they thought 
it was more important that we go ahead and come to a consensus and get 
a result.
  In conclusion, let me say this: The other night the Senator from 
Georgia and I were at the home of the Australian Ambassador to the 
United States. He was talking about this body. The Australians love the 
United

[[Page S3975]]

States--especially Kim Beazley, the Ambassador. He is a Labor Party 
member. In our country, that would be called a Democrat. But he is a 
big pro-American former Minister in Australia.
  He said: You know, we envy the U.S. Senate. It is the greatest 
tribunal in the world. We all wish we had it.
  It made us all stop and think. Are we really living up to the respect 
for this body that people around the world have for the U.S. Senate 
when it is operating the way it should?
  Well, today it is operating the way it should, but a lot of the time 
it does not.
  How should it operate? The Senate is different because it is the 
single legislative body in the world that is designed for extended 
discussion of an important issue until it comes to a consensus, and 
then we cut off debate and then we get a result, if it is possible. 
That is how we get a civil rights bill. That is how we get Social 
Security. That is how we get a workforce investment act. We have 
extended discussion and debate and amendment and vote on an important 
issue until we come to a consensus.
  Why is a consensus needed, which means 60 votes instead of 51 much of 
the time? Because we govern a complex country by consensus. We don't do 
it by order or edict or any partisan way.
  This is a very complicated bill. It brought here today by unanimous 
consent, but that is only because we have debated it for an extended 
period of time here in the Senate and we have come to a consensus about 
it. We have given up on a lot of ideas we had. If we had our way, we 
would pass the SKILLS Act in a minute--almost every single Republican 
would--but that is not what the Democrats would do. So we have come to 
an agreement in the Senate, and we have come to an agreement with the 
House. That is the consensus. As a result of that, Governors, such as 
the Bipartisan Policy Center's Governors' Council, have praised this 
result. I believe our Governor in Tennessee, Governor Haslam, will 
be delighted with it. I think our former Governor, Governor Bredesen, 
who threw up his hands when he saw the maze he had to work with a 
couple of years ago, will welcome what we have done.

  I thank the Senators on both sides of the aisle who have done this. 
My hope is that this is a disease that is infectious and that we see a 
little bit more of this kind of legislating in the Senate.
  I would like to extend my deep thanks and sincere appreciation to the 
dedicated staff that worked on this bill to reauthorize the 16 year old 
Workforce Investment Act for the past several years. Without their hard 
work and tireless effort we wouldn't have been able to reach the 
successful conclusion on the passage of this important bipartisan bill.
  I would like to thank Scott Cheney on Senator Murray's staff, who has 
been working on this reauthorization effort for many years, as well as 
Evan Schatz.
  Senator Isakson's staff worked hard with Senator Murray and our 
Republican offices throughout the Committee process and in coming to 
this final agreement, including Tommy Nguyen and Brett Layson.
  I would also like to thank some former staff who put a lot of time 
into this reauthorization effort in the 112th Congress, including Glee 
Smith who worked for Senator Isakson, as well as Beth Buehlmann and 
Kelly Hastings who worked for Senator Enzi on the HELP Committee.
  The Chairman of this committee has an outstanding staff that are very 
capable and dedicated, particularly Crystal Bridgeman, Michael Gamel-
McCormick, Lee Perselay, Mildred Otero, and Derek Miller.
  Our partners in the House of Representative deserve great thanks for 
their willingness to come to the table and negotiate a pre-conferenced 
agreement, including Rosemary Lahasky, Brad Thomas, James Bergeron, Amy 
Jones, Leticia Mederos, Michele Varnhagen, and Jacque Chevalier on the 
majority and minority staff of the House Committee on Education and the 
Workforce.
  Many of our Senate Republican offices deserve thanks for their work 
with the HELP Committee on amendments and other technical fixes to the 
bill, including Denzel McGuire and Katelyn Conner on Senator 
McConnell's staff, Christopher Toppings and Natasha Hickman on Senator 
Burr's staff, Leila Kimbrell and Kate Williams on Senator Murkowski's 
staff, Laura Pence on Senator Coburn's staff, Kristin Chapman on 
Senator Enzi's staff, Nick Butterfield and Pam Thiessen on Senator 
Portman's staff, Christy Knese and Wendy Baig on Senator Lee's staff, 
Chandler Morse on Senator Flake's staff, Diane Browning and Katie Neal 
on Senator Hatch's staff, Dimple Gupta on Senator Toomey's staff, Casey 
Murphy on Senator Coats' staff, and Lizzy Simmons on Senator Scott's 
staff.
  We know these bills don't just suddenly appear. The Senate 
Legislative Counsel staff work long hours on the bill and then on the 
amendments, so I would like to especially thank Liz King, Amy Gaynor, 
Chelsea Koester, and Kristin Romero.
  And we always rely on the experts at the Congressional Research 
Service to give us good information in a timely manner, so I extend our 
thanks to David Bradley and Benjamin Collins.
  Finally, I would like to thank my staff. They have put a lot of time 
and effort in to make this a process that the Senate and American 
people can be proud of and I appreciate their efforts and late nights 
on this bill. So, my thanks go out to Patrick Murray, Bill Knudsen, 
Peter Oppenheim, David Cleary, Diane Tran, Jim Jeffries, Margaret 
Atkinson, and Liz Wolgemuth.
  I thank the Chair.
  I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. FLAKE. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                Amendment No. 3379 to Amendment No. 3378

  Mr. FLAKE. Madam President, I call up my amendment No. 3379.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Arizona [Mr. Flake] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 3379 to amendment No. 3378.

  Mr. FLAKE. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment 
be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In section 116(g)(2), strike subparagraph (A), and insert 
     the following:
       (A) In general.--If such failure occurs for a program year, 
     the Governor shall take corrective actions, which shall 
     include development of a reorganization plan through which--
       (i) the Governor shall--

       (I) prohibit the use of eligible providers and one-stop 
     partners identified as achieving a poor level of performance; 
     or
       (II) take such other significant actions as the Governor 
     determines are appropriate; and

       (ii) the Governor may require the appointment and 
     certification of a new local board, consistent with the 
     criteria established under section 107(b).

  Mr. FLAKE. Madam President, I am pleased to have the opportunity to 
offer this amendment today, and I appreciate my colleague, the ranking 
member of the HELP Committee, working with my office to make this 
possible.
  The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act the Senate will vote on 
today establishes a performance accountability system for adults and 
youth core programs provided for within it. This bill also establishes 
sanctions for both States and localities that fail to meet the 
established accountability measures.
  My proposed amendment works to increase accountability in local 
training programs and one-stop providers.
  As the bill currently stands, a Governor can only take corrective 
action if a local area fails to meet performance accountability 
measures for 3 years in a row. That is a long period of time. My 
amendment moves the timeframe that a Governor can get involved in 
failing programs lacking corrective actions from 3 years to 1 year. I 
think that makes sense, certainly. Simply put, if training providers 
and one-stop partners are identified as ``poor performers'' after 1 
year, the Governor

[[Page S3976]]

should be required to remove them from the list of eligible providers. 
This amendment is simply common sense. Why should poorly performing 
programs continue to miss performance accountability measures for 3 
years in a row before a Governor can get involved and take corrective 
action?
  In addition, under this amendment a Governor could replace a local 
board if necessary after just 1 year, but that wouldn't be required.
  My hope is that if we are going to do these kinds of things--if we 
are going to provide these funds--States and localities should work 
together to make these programs as successful and beneficial as 
possible.
  I believe this amendment will provide an additional level of 
oversight of these programs, and I ask my colleagues to support this 
amendment.
  Shifting now from this specific amendment, I now wish to talk a 
little bit about the amendment process in general and the position we 
find ourselves in today in this body.
  At their core, amendments offered on the floor serve as an 
opportunity to not only thoroughly debate an issue. We all know that 
legislation is often brought to the floor having only had the benefit 
of input from just a few Members. What amendments do is provide 
individual Senators the chance to change and often improve legislation. 
They are a right in this body, not a privilege.
  I believe in this fundamental process so strongly that I have 
supported controversial cloture motions and other motions to proceed on 
underlying bills even if I did not support that legislation, simply on 
good-faith assurances that amendments would be offered and that 
amendment debate would be allowed. Even though I did not support the 
bill as it stood, I would at least have the opportunity to make it 
better through an open legislative process. That is how I felt on a 
number of pieces of legislation that have moved through this body.
  Unfortunately, many of these assurances were not met and my fear is 
this body will continue to pass legislation with little to no amendment 
consideration.
  Since last July, Republicans have only had 11 rollcall votes on 
amendments, including the 2 we will see today. By comparison, in the 
other body, House Democrats have had over 160 votes on amendments 
during that same period--160 for the minority party in the House of 
Representatives. That is more than 14 times the votes Senate 
Republicans have had.
  As my good friend from Kentucky pointed out earlier, Representative 
Sheila Jackson Lee has singlehandedly received more amendment votes 
than all Senate Republicans, given that she has had 15 votes on her 
amendments since last July in the House of Representatives.
  Some who lionize this Chamber--and I am one of those--as the world's 
most deliberative body often take a dim view to the practices of the 
House--I am not one of those; but this is supposed to be the more 
deliberative body with open amendments and open debate--they will cite 
with trepidation the restrictive and structured approach to debate in 
the House and, with a shudder, the very fact that the House has the 
dread Rules Committee that picks and chooses which amendments will be 
offered. I can tell you from experience, when it comes to the ability 
to offer amendments, I now long for those days in the House.
  During my service in the House, between the 107th and 112th 
Congresses, I personally offered--this is offered; not filed, but 
offered on the floor of the House of Representatives--239 amendments. 
In fact, in the last four Congresses, I offered between 30 and 70 
amendments per Congress.
  Outside of the sheer volume, one could reasonably chuckle at my 
amendment batting average since very few of my amendments passed. But I 
actually had more amendments adopted in the past two Congresses each 
than we have had rollcall votes on Republican amendments in the Senate 
since July.
  Under both Republican and Democratic leadership in the House, my 
right to offer amendments, particularly during the appropriations 
process, was respected. They were respected by both parties, even when 
I was offering dozens of earmark-limitation amendments that most of my 
colleagues preferred not see the light of day.
  Many of my colleagues here in the Senate served with me in the House. 
They all remember those times. Nobody wanted to vote on Flake 
amendments. These earmark-limitation amendments were not popular. They 
often did not get many votes. But, in fact, in all but one of the 140 
earmark-limitation amendments I offered, they failed--all but 1. But I 
think we can all agree that joining with a small handful of my 
colleagues to spotlight precisely what was going on in these 
appropriations bills ultimately aided in the current earmark moratorium 
that is in force by both Houses. That is a good thing.
  While I prefer to have my amendments prevail, that certainly should 
not be the test for whether I am afforded the ability to offer them.
  Unfortunately, in my short time in the Senate, I have filed 85 
amendments to improve underlying legislation and to address issues 
faced by my constituents. It is worth noting that this will be my first 
amendment that will be voted on by my colleagues.
  During last year's NDAA consideration, I filed an amendment that 
would simply ask DOD to report on OCO spending. The amendment would 
have required an accounting of OCO funds appropriated during fiscal 
year 2013 and requested in fiscal year 2014 and would have withheld 10 
percent of the budget for the Office of the Secretary of Defense until 
the report was received. This amendment is not a fundamental policy 
change; it is simply a reporting requirement that all of us would 
benefit from.
  Last week, I filed 30 amendments to the minibus appropriations bill, 
but not one is likely to see the light of day. With no disrespect to my 
colleagues, and having served on the Appropriations Committee in the 
House myself, I think we can all agree that spending bills benefit from 
a good scrubbing by this entire body before they move through the 
legislative process.
  For example, one of those amendments would have reduced the USDA 
Single Family Housing Direct Loan Program from $560 million to $360 
million--the same amount as is in the President's budget. I think most 
of us would be surprised to learn that the Department of Agriculture 
has a Single Family Housing Direct Loan Program and that we are funding 
it to the tune of $560 million. The President wants to move that down 
to $360 million. I agree with the President. We ought to. At least we 
ought to be allowed to debate it and vote on it.
  This is not an outlandish amendment. It would simply reduce funding 
levels to the President's request and, more importantly, give this body 
the opportunity to discuss the merits of the program.
  I know some of my colleagues will disagree and will ultimately oppose 
many of these amendments and others if they come to a vote, and that is 
fine. What is not fine is the fact that we in the U.S. Senate cannot 
even have that debate.
  To be clear, this is not just a Republican concern. A recent article 
in the Hill mentioned how my colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
are seemingly just as frustrated with the current amendment process. 
The article included a quote from a Democratic Senator who said: ``I've 
never been in a less productive time in my life than I am right now, in 
the United States Senate.''
  So apparently I should count myself lucky to get a rollcall today on 
this amendment because there are many on the other side of the aisle 
who have not been afforded the same luxury.
  Both Democrats and Republicans are getting shut out of this process, 
and it is a very dangerous precedent. I urge my colleagues to encourage 
thoughtful, open debate from here on out. I also encourage support for 
my commonsense reform to the accountability provisions of this 
legislation we are debating today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Arizona for 
his input, and I want to acknowledge his remarks with regard to the 
amendment process.
  One of the reasons we have a bill which is on the floor today--the 
Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act

[[Page S3977]]

is here--is because it is one of the few bills where we have had a 
process in working toward a final passage where we have had a lot of 
amendments.
  This bill has a lot of input from a lot of people. We did that. The 
fact that he is having his first vote, after offering 85 amendments, is 
a testimony to the reason we ought to have more voting on amendments, 
more debate on the floor, and we will pass things and be more 
productive in our process.
  So I thank the Senator for his leadership. I thank him for helping us 
as we brought this legislation forward and encourage him to continue to 
offer amendments and work to perfect legislation coming before the 
Senate.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, could the Presiding Officer inform us 
as to the time remaining on both sides?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia controls 2 minutes 
and the Senator from Connecticut controls 45 minutes.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I wish to ask unanimous consent that 
the majority side yield an additional 10 minutes of their time to the 
minority side in order for Senator Portman to make his speech.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I yield for Senator Portman.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Georgia and 
appreciate his work on this legislation. I know that he and the Senator 
from Tennessee have been talking about the legislation earlier today. I 
understand that Senator Alexander talked about some of the work we have 
done together to try to make sure this legislation does not just 
reauthorize an existing program but improves that program to give more 
focus on how to take our Federal worker retraining program to make it 
work for America's workers at a critical time.
  We just learned that the economy, in the first quarter, grew even 
less than we had thought. I think it now has been readjusted to almost 
minus 3 percent--minus 2.9 percent growth. We have big problems in 
terms of our economy getting moving. One of the problems we have is we 
do not have the trained workers for the 21st century jobs that are out 
there.
  I rise today as the Senate is on the verge of passing this first 
comprehensive reform of our Nation's primary workforce development 
programs in about 16 years, to say that I appreciate, again, the fact 
that Members on both sides of the aisle have worked with me and others 
to put some reforms into this program to ensure it works better for our 
workers and for our competitiveness and for our ability to actually get 
this economy moving again.
  We do have this weak economy. And sometimes we are sort of numb to 
it. We forget that this is not just a typical recovery; it is a very 
slow recovery. In fact, by measures of growth in economy or 
unemployment or other measures, it is the weakest economic recovery we 
have had since the Great Depression. We have become numb to some of the 
disappointing news.
  Almost 20 million Americans are out of work, 317,000 of our friends 
and neighbors in Ohio are now unemployed, and millions more have given 
up looking for work. In fact, the number of people who have given up 
looking for work is growing, so it is a high percentage. As to those 
who have given up looking for work, you would have to go back 34 years 
ago, to the 1970s, to find similar numbers of people as a percentage of 
the workforce.
  For men, they say it may go back to the 1940s when we started keeping 
track of this. So we have problems. We have problems that can be solved 
in part by closing what is called the skills gap. In other words, there 
are a whole bunch of jobs that are open, but they cannot be filled 
because people do not have the skills to take those jobs.
  By the way, you do not have to take my word for it. Will.i.am of the 
Black Eyed Peas is someone I do not often have an opportunity to quote 
on the floor of the Senate, but he was at the White House recently. In 
addition to his work in the music industry, he is also known for his 
work with kids back in his hometown of Boyle Heights, CA. A lot of that 
is focused on job training, skills training. During an event at the 
White House a couple of weeks ago, I saw that he said the following: 
There are so many jobs in America we can't fill because people aren't 
brought up to speed with the skill sets that are needed.
  Will.i.am is right. The numbers back him up, by the way. Today, 4.5 
million jobs remain open and unfilled in America. Yet we have these 
high levels of unemployment and all of these people who have left the 
workforce altogether. What is going on? Part of it is that we do not 
have the skills to be able to fill those jobs.
  In Ohio today, if you go to the OhioMeansJobs Web site, you will see 
140,000 jobs advertised. Yet we have about 317,000 people out of work. 
If you look at these jobs, a lot of them require advanced manufacturing 
skills, information technology skills, and medical and bioscience 
skills for health care workers. We have to do better in terms of 
filling that gap so that American workers are able to meet the demands 
of the 21st century.
  There is a skills gap report by the Manufacturing Institute that came 
out recently. Based on a poll they did, it said that 74 percent of 
manufacturers are experiencing workforce shortages or skill 
deficiencies that keep them from expanding their operations and 
improving productivity. Seventy-four percent say they are looking for 
better skills to be able to fill those jobs.
  We could be doing so much better than we are to close that skills 
gap. For too many Americans, the only jobs available are those that 
they do not have the skills and qualifications to be able to fill.
  The Federal Government spends a lot of money on this. This is not for 
lack of funds. The Federal Government spends between $15 and $18 
billion a year on these Federal worker retraining programs. As some of 
you know, there are 47 different programs spread over 9 different 
departments and agencies. We need to do more to try to consolidate and 
improve these programs, but in the meanwhile let's do what we can. That 
is what this legislation does.
  The Government Accountability Office or GAO--which looks at all 
Federal agencies and decides how they are doing, spent a lot of time 
looking at this. They have said that some of that money--the $18 
billion I talked about of our taxpayer money that does provide the 
funding for these 47 different programs over 9 departments and 
agencies--they are not working very well. They say 45 of the 47 
programs overlapped with at least 1 other program. Only five have 
conducted an impact study of their efforts since 2004, meaning that the 
assessments of outcomes or performance you would expect are not being 
done. Only five have conducted an impact study of their efforts since 
2004.
  GAO concluded that ``little is known about the effectiveness of most 
of these programs.'' But actually we do know something about the 
effectiveness because these millions of unfilled jobs are an indictment 
of the program. In other words, we should be doing a better job of 
getting the skills we need to fill these jobs if we are spending $15 to 
$18 billion of hard-earned taxpayer money on it.
  I hear this story all across Ohio, and I know my colleagues hear it 
across their States. I hear from workers, from businesses, from 
educators. People are frustrated, and there is good reason for it. I 
think the way Washington has handled workforce development is simply 
inefficient. It is not working well. I think it is unfair to employers 
who have open positions because they cannot find qualified candidates 
to fill them. It is certainly unfair to taxpayers who send their money 
to Washington believing that their government will be good stewards of 
those funds and that we are going to use them effectively for worker 
retraining, getting the money into the hands of people to train them 
for jobs that are actually out there. I think it is unfair to, of 
course, millions of Americans who would like to build a better life for

[[Page S3978]]

their families and find that the Federal resources allocated to them 
are not getting the job done.
  Because we believe we can do better, this Congress is going to act 
today. The Senate and the House are working together on this issue, 
which is good. It is bicameral. It is bipartisan.
  I have joined with Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado on what is 
called the CAREER Act. The CAREER Act is included, in most part, in 
this legislation. The CAREER Act first calls for a reduction in the 
wasteful and inefficient overlap in the system.
  I am pleased to see that the legislation before us today trims 15 
programs from our Nation's workforce development program. I think that 
is a good start. I also think we can do even more. Understanding that 
there were a lot of constraints, different points of view, we need to 
consolidate further, in my view.
  Second, we called for an increased focus on helping unemployed 
workers attain high-quality credentials that give them a leg up in the 
local job market. I am pleased this bill includes our provisions that 
require those local boards, the workforce investment boards, to give 
priority consideration to programs that lead to credentials that are in 
demand in their local area.
  We worked hard to include a provision requiring the State and local 
boards to provide specific strategies for helping folks attain high-
quality credentials. These are industry-recognized credentials that are 
in demand, that are portable--they can move from State to State--and 
that help them move up the career leader. That is important because we 
know that these credentials, based on all the research, are critical to 
getting people into these jobs.
  Third, we call for a new and innovative accountability program in the 
system called Pay for Success. Currently, the workforce development 
programs provide funding regardless of performance so long as certain 
rules are followed and input requirements are met--not output but 
input. This has resulted in this unaccountability the GAO talked about 
and many complacent programs that have fallen short. Pay for Success 
turns this model on its head by linking payments to outcome, to actual 
performance measures. Job-training service providers who do well will 
be rewarded under this model. Those who fail to deliver results are 
going to be held accountable.
  I am pleased that again this underlying legislation--the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act--before us today includes these Pay for 
Success provisions that allow local workforce boards to use their 
formula to engage in Pay for Success contracts. That is a step in the 
right direction. I would like to go even further, but I think it is 
historic and it is very important.
  Finally, we call for access to better data to make it less difficult 
and expensive for State and local officials to assess the effectiveness 
of their training activities in real time. I am pleased this 
legislation includes the provisions for a study on how to access better 
data that can help the system deliver better results for taxpayers and 
the unemployed. That is part of the CAREER Act.
  These four reforms can help change lives and turn around our economy. 
They are the kinds of reforms that can empower millions of Americans to 
get the kinds of jobs that do fund retirement, that do buy homes, that 
do pay for college educations. These reforms are long overdue.
  We live in a dynamic and ever-changing economy, no question about it. 
We have to be sure our workforce is also dynamic and ever-changing to 
be able to meet the demands. We should not be held back by a workforce 
development system that has not been reauthorized since 1998. For 
reference, that is the year Google was first incorporated as a company. 
So I strongly support the underlying legislation.
  Again, I commend my colleagues on both sides of the aisle--I see some 
of them here today on the floor--for their work. I thank them for 
working with Senator Michael Bennet and me to incorporate some of the 
bipartisan CAREER Act provisions.
  At a time when the two parties in Washington have been at odds on how 
to finally get our economy moving again, this is a jobs bill that is 
win-win. It is a win for everyone, especially those Americans who are 
still looking for jobs and those businesses that are desperate to fill 
the skills gap they see.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Madam President, I rise in strong support of the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act. This legislation represents a long-
overdue upgrade to our workforce investment system. I wish to commend 
the bipartisan work of Chairman Harkin, Senator Murray, Senator 
Alexander, and Senator Isakson in negotiating this compromise 
legislation that will move our job training and adult education systems 
forward.
  The need to improve our workforce investment system has crystallized 
during this recovery from the great recession. My home State of Rhode 
Island continues to struggle with high unemployment--the highest rate 
in the Nation. Many of our unemployed workers have been out of work for 
an extended period of time. Yet employers tell me they have open 
positions they cannot fill because they cannot find workers with the 
skills they need today. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
takes important steps to help address the skills mismatch that keeps 
jobs open and potential workers unemployed.
  The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act streamlines the current 
workforce development system by requiring a single comprehensive plan 
that incorporates all of the core programs and is aligned with economic 
development plans for the States. It also establishes shared 
performance metrics that apply to all of the programs in the system. In 
other words, it makes sure that employers, educators, and the workforce 
system are all on the same page.
  The legislation before us today makes some tough choices, eliminating 
15 programs. However, it also maintains and strengthens vital national 
programs such as Job Corps and Youth Build, which have made a 
difference for so many young people in Rhode Island and across the 
Nation.
  I am particularly pleased that the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act strengthens the partnership between our workforce 
investment system and our public libraries. Libraries are where people 
go when they need help or information. They are a critical part of the 
delivery system for adult education and job training.
  In fiscal year 2011, the Institute of Museum and Library Services 
reported that there were 1.52 billion visits to public libraries across 
the Nation. Senator Cochran and I introduced the Workforce Investments 
through Local Libraries Act to harness the potential of public 
libraries to expand the reach of the workforce investment system and 
ensure that job seekers and adult leaders had the opportunity to 
develop the critical digital skills necessary for today's economy. The 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act includes many of the 
provisions of this legislation. I was very pleased to work with Senator 
Cochran and have great gratitude for Senators Alexander, Isakson, 
Harkin, and Murray for incorporating some of our ideas.
  The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act also strengthens adult 
education and includes many of the provisions of the Adult Education 
and Economic Growth Act that I introduced with Senator Brown.
  For 2012, data from the Program for the International Assessment of 
Adult Competencies show that an estimated 52 percent of adults age 16 
to 65 in the United States lack the literacy skills necessary to 
identify, interpret, or evaluate one or more pieces of information. 
These are critical skills for postsecondary education and the 
workplace. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act will help 
address this critical need for adult education and literacy by ensuring 
that adult education programs are aligned with job training and 
postsecondary education, supporting the professional development of 
adult educators, offering technical assistance for adult education 
providers, and strengthening the research and evaluation of best 
practices in adult education.
  The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is an example of what is 
possible when we work together to solve problems and strengthen the 
tools available to our communities to

[[Page S3979]]

improve the quality of life. We have libraries. We have adult education 
programs throughout this country. What I think the sponsors of this 
legislation so creatively did is pull them together, so the sum of the 
parts is much greater and will have a much more effective impact on the 
employment opportunities for Americans and our productivity as a 
nation.
  In that regard, I would like to discuss for a moment a new bipartisan 
bill I have introduced with Senator Heller to restore emergency 
benefits for jobseekers for 5 months. What we have done here is we have 
addressed the issue of training, but we still have an issue with people 
who are desperately looking for work and need the assistance of the 
unemployment benefits to do that.
  I think this legislation will help us make the case because one of 
the legitimate reasons that were raised with respect to the extension 
of benefit was, well, we do not have a job training program, so we are 
not preparing people for jobs. That is what we should be doing. Well, 
this bill goes a long way to do that. I think it helps us in trying to 
make the case.

  As we know, in April we voted on a bipartisan basis to send the bill 
to the House. Unfortunately, it languished there, and then ultimately 
the time expired. Our new plan would provide prospective emergency 
benefits--just going forward--for those eligible job seekers who lost 
their benefits on December 28. They would essentially pick up where 
they were on December 28.
  This is something that, hand in hand with this new job training bill, 
will give people both additional advantages of training and resources 
to make it through the training period, pay the rent, have a cell phone 
so they can call for a job, do those things that are necessary to get 
by. It is fiscally responsible. It is offset. We are waiting for an 
official score from CBO, but our intention is to make it a bill that is 
fiscally responsible. Madam President, 3.1 million Americans lost these 
benefits--that number grows by approximately 72,000 a week. We can do 
better. We must do better.
  We are doing a lot to try to get people back to work. I commend this 
legislation. It is an important step forward.
  It is an important step forward, because as so many of my colleagues 
have noted, one of the things that is amazing in this recession--and I 
have mentioned it previously--is to go into Rhode Island to companies 
even with the state unemployment rate of 8 percent--and have the owners 
say they are desperately looking for four or five workers. They can't 
find them.
  Why is that? The skills that 20 years ago got someone a good job in 
Rhode Island and for the past 20 years kept them working, after this 
downturn slowed their company or pushed them out, those skills are out 
of date. Good workers, long work history, they need not only the help 
to retrain, but they also certainly need the help to get from day to 
day until they can get back in the workforce.
  With that, let me again commend and thank the sponsors and authors of 
this legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coons). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HARKIN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. HARKIN. I ask unanimous consent that if the final vote on passage 
is successful, the statement of the managers for the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act be printed in the Record immediately 
following the text of the Senate-passed bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. HARKIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ISAKSON. How much time remains on the Republican side?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 1 minute remaining.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I ask unanimous consent that 5 additional minutes be 
extended from the Democratic side to the Republican side.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. HARKIN. How much time remains on our side?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 25 minutes remaining on the 
Democratic side.
  Mr. HARKIN. Sure, absolutely.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I yield the balance of our time to the Senator from 
Utah, Mr. Lee.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                Amendment No. 3380 to Amendment No. 3378

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3380 to amendment No. 
3378.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Utah [Mr. Lee] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 3380 to amendment No. 3378.

  Mr. LEE. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be 
dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

(Purpose: To require that evaluation reports are due every fourth year, 
to establish a reservation of funds in a fiscal year in which a report 
   is due, and to establish a reduction in funds if a report is not 
                               submitted)

       Beginning on page 395, strike line 20 and all that follows 
     through line 24, and insert the following:
       (B) Periodic independent evaluation.--The evaluations 
     carried out under this paragraph shall include an independent 
     evaluation of the programs and activities carried out under 
     this title. A final report containing the results of the 
     evaluation shall be submitted under paragraph (5) not later 
     than June 30 of 2018 and every fourth year thereafter.
       On page 399, between lines 6 and 7, insert the following:
       (9) Reservation and reduction in funds for failure to 
     submit evaluation reports.--
       (A) Reservation of funds.--At the beginning of a report 
     year or a succeeding year, the Secretary shall reserve 5 
     percent of the funds appropriated and made available to the 
     Office of the Secretary.
       (B) Return of funds.--If, by the end of the report year or 
     succeeding year, respectively, the committees described in 
     paragraph (6) do not receive the corresponding report, the 
     funds reserved in subparagraph (A) for the year involved 
     shall be returned to the Treasury of the United States.
       (C) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
       (i) Report year.--The term ``report year'' means a fiscal 
     year in which a report is due under paragraph (1)(B).
       (ii) Succeeding year.--The term ``succeeding year'' means 
     each succeeding fiscal year, after a report year in which a 
     report is due and not received as described in subparagraph 
     (B), if the report remains unsubmitted on the first day of 
     that succeeding fiscal year.

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, Federal job training programs are seldom 
evaluated to determine whether they are meeting their intended 
purposes.
  However, when the United States is $17.5 trillion in debt, we as 
representatives of the American taxpayers should do a better job to 
ensure that the programs we are funding are actually working and we are 
working with them.
  We should pay particularly close attention to programs that receive 
billions of dollars every year from the Federal Government when their 
authorization lapsed over one decade ago.
  The Murray-Isakson-Harkin-Alexander substitute amendment takes 
important steps to ensure title I State and local programs are more 
accurately evaluated, meaning performance measures and held accountable 
for unmet goals and resubmitted reports.
  More specifically, the bill would sanction State and local programs 
should they continually fail to meet their performance measures or fail 
to submit required reports. The substitute amendment does not hold the 
Department of Labor to similar standards.
  The Department is required to conduct evaluations and to submit 
separate reports to Congress. I was very pleased to work with Senators 
Alexander and Harkin to include in the managers' amendment a provision 
that would require the final evaluation reports to be made public and 
available

[[Page S3980]]

to the public. In my opinion, requiring the Department to post these 
reports to the Department's Web site is a commonsense step toward 
improving transparency in the WIOA job training programs.
  In addition, I worked closely with the HELP Committee chairman and 
ranking member to further discuss a procurement provision within the 
Job Corps section of the bill. While I believe there are still some 
outstanding concerns that we should continue to discuss, I believe 
everyone's goal is to ensure that the best Job Corps operators are able 
to compete for these sites.
  Today I would like to offer an additional good governance measure 
that would subject the Department of Labor to similar sanctions as the 
States. It would help tackle the problem of the Department of Labor 
delaying congressionally mandated evaluations, which routinely has been 
abused by both Republican and Democratic administrations.
  It is a shame that Congress passing a law requiring the completion of 
an evaluation by a certain date is not enough to get the job done. My 
amendment would remedy this problem by reducing the budget of the 
Department of Labor's Office of the Secretary by 5 percent in the year 
a report is due, should the agency fail to conduct and release the 
independent evaluation as required by this bill. This reduction of 
funds would continue each year until the report is finalized.
  WIOA authorizes $9 billion each year for the next 5 years, and title 
I represents half of that funding. Therefore, ensuring an independent 
evaluation of title I programs is conducted and made publicly available 
for review and scrutiny by Congress and the American public. It is 
critically important for any future modification, renewal or 
elimination of programs.
  I would appreciate the support of my colleagues for the passage of 
this amendment.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, we worked very hard on this bill to make 
sure we had good, strong, independent evaluations and reporting 
requirements. Therefore, I am pleased to rise and speak in opposition 
to the amendment.
  We included in the bill requirements for an independent evaluation to 
be conducted every 4 years, which includes what we call the gold 
standard impact evaluation, the first of which is due in 2019.
  Our House colleagues on both sides of the aisle agreed with and 
supported these provisions in a bipartisan, bicameral process. What the 
Lee amendment would do would be to inappropriately penalize the 
Secretary of Labor if the Secretary does not submit a report by an 
arbitrary date.
  I understand the intent of the amendment. We all want to see reports 
filed in a timely manner. However, the Lee amendment does not give any 
allowance for factors that might be outside of the Secretary's control 
and then would penalize the Secretary for the failure of others over 
whom the Secretary has absolutely no control--and that is why I oppose 
the amendment.
  As the name suggests, independent evaluations are run by objective, 
independent third parties. Sometimes the evaluations encounter delays 
that are far beyond the control of the Department.
  For example, data may not be available in a timely manner; 
alternatively, followup with States, local areas or programs 
participating in the evaluation may be necessary. On some occasions, 
legal challenges may arise. Any of these factors could delay a 
comprehensive report of this nature.
  Then to say, however, we are going to penalize the Department for 
failing to meet an arbitrary deadline I think is inappropriate and 
inequitable, because they may not have control over that. So the Lee 
amendment would disregard any and all of these reasons a report might 
be delayed even by 1 day.
  I wish to make it clear that all of us who worked on this bill 
believe in the value of independent evaluations and the information 
they can provide policymakers and consumers, but we also believe they 
should be done right, without undue pressure of arbitrary deadlines and 
no room for corrections.
  I would also note the underlying bill does strengthen evaluations and 
reporting in the right way. This is something we all worked on and we 
have all worked on it in a bipartisan bicameral nature.
  Again, the House has been very clear that we work this out. They 
would not be accepting of this amendment, so I hope all Senators would 
join with us who worked so hard on this bill in a bipartisan manner to 
oppose the Lee amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. If I could respond very briefly, I think it is important to 
point out that, yes, there may come a time when in any government 
office--whether it is an elected government office or appointed 
office--when someone who is new to the office might be affected by 
something that did or didn't happen during the predecessor's time in 
office.
  But even were that to occur in the case of the Secretary of Labor, 
this is a position that could easily enable, could easily empower the 
new Secretary to come in and within a matter of months make sure our 
contractor gets a report done and make sure that report gets submitted.
  It is also worth noting that when we entrust a Federal agency with 
the power to spend $9 billion of the American people's hard-earned 
taxpayer money, hard-earned resources, we should expect them to stand 
accountable, and they should certainly have the ability to have a study 
conducted and have that study released to the American people.
  If we don't trust them to be able to issue that report and make it 
public, then we should have some reason to be concerned about giving 
them $9 billion.
  But I think this is a reasonable requirement, and therefore I ask my 
colleagues to support this measure.
  Mr. HARKIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in proud support of 
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and to urge my colleagues 
to support it.
  This is an extremely important piece of legislation, and one I was 
happy to work on in the HELP Committee. It is also long overdue. We 
haven't reauthorized the Workforce Investment Act since 1998, and it is 
clear that the law isn't working for the 2014 economy. We know it isn't 
working because we have a large and growing skills gap.
  Now, what is the skills gap? Recent studies have shown that between 
one-third and one-half of manufacturers in my State have at least one 
job they can't fill because they can't find a worker with the right 
skills. That is the skills gap in Minnesota. Of course, it isn't just 
Minnesota, it is a nationwide phenomenon, and any colleague I talk to 
on the floor says that is the case in his or her State.
  A 2011 survey by Deloitte found that there were 600,000 manufacturing 
jobs nationwide that were unfilled because of a skills shortage. I just 
met with Bob Kill, the president and CEO of Enterprise Minnesota, a 
terrific organization that studies manufacturers in my State of 
Minnesota, and as he likes to say, ``we've been admiring this problem 
for a long time.''
  And it is not just manufacturers. There is a skills gap in 
information technology, in health care, and in other sectors that have 
jobs sitting there waiting for skilled workers to fill them. There are 
more than 3 million jobs in this country that could be filled today if 
there were workers who had the right skills. With too many Americans 
unemployed, we have to find a way to fill those jobs.
  The thing is, we know how to solve this, and the Workforce Innovation 
and Opportunity Act will help us do that. I have been to the floor of 
the Senate a number of times to talk about the strategy. I have talked 
about it with the Presiding Officer. I am excited about this, as the 
Presiding Officer very well knows. These are partnerships between 
businesses and community and technical colleges that are training 
workers and getting them into

[[Page S3981]]

high-skilled, high-demand jobs right away.
  A number of these partnerships are up and running in Minnesota and 
have employers fighting over graduates--and sometimes the fight starts 
even before the students have graduated. That is good for the student. 
Bob Kill told me about the top student in one of these programs at 
Alexandria Technical and Community College--by the way, a community 
college which has been doing this for a while and doing a great job. 
This student had 14 job offers before he graduated. All 14 employers 
said they would pay him to get his engineering degree. I bet if we 
asked most recent graduates from 4-year or even graduate degree 
programs, they would be jealous of that kind of eagerness from 
employers.
  So that is a program that is working, and with good reason; employers 
were involved in the program from day one, so they helped to shape the 
curriculum to their needs. This is obviously more effective than a 
training program with no connection to the needs of employers or, as 
Labor Secretary Tom Perez calls it, ``train and pray.'' Our education 
system needs more of this focus on skills for jobs that exist.
  Careers are different than they were a generation ago. Very few 
people stay working in one job for one company for their entire life 
anymore. As technology progresses faster and faster, workers are going 
to need to constantly update their skills. We need a workforce 
development system that is agile enough to keep up with these changing 
demands. That is essential not just so workers will be able to get the 
different skills they will need over the course of their working lives, 
it is also going to be one of the keys to the United States remaining 
globally competitive. If our workers can't adapt to the new industries 
that are constantly forming, we will lose those jobs to our global 
competitors. We are seeing manufacturing coming back to our country for 
all sorts of reasons, and we need to have the skilled workers to take 
advantage of that and be globally competitive. There is no better way 
to anticipate and react to these changes than to connect businesses 
directly with our schools to get workers exactly the skills they need.
  This is also about local competitiveness, it is about jobs, it is 
also about college affordability. I already talked about the student 
with 14 job offers, all of which included a free engineering degree. We 
can't get more affordable than free. Many have heard me talk about this 
issue before, a manufacturer from Minnesota named Erick Ajax.
  When Erick hires employees from these business-technical college 
partnerships, the way he looks at it is they are on a career ladder 
that would otherwise not be available to them. He told me about one 
such hire. He hired him right after a credentialing program, like a 
short CNC credentialed program. The guy did a great job, and so he 
said: Well, I am going to send you back to community college to get 
your associate's degree while you are working, and I will pay for it.
  So the guy got his associate's degree, came back, and he was 
magnificent. So then he said: You know what. I am going to send you to 
the University of Minnesota to get your bachelor's degree, while you 
are working. I believe he is about to get his bachelor's degree, but he 
is now the head of quality control for this advanced manufacturing 
company--and he will have a couple of degrees, with zero debt. I think 
about that story a lot when I think about college affordability.
  I could talk about these partnerships for hours, as the Presiding 
Officer knows--he has heard me--because they work. I have been 
enthusiastic about this. That is why I worked with Patty Murray, the 
great Senator from Washington; Johnny Isakson, the great Senator from 
Georgia; Tom Harkin, the great Senator from Iowa; and Lamar Alexander, 
the great Senator from Tennessee, to make sure this bill would 
encourage the formation of these partnerships. I thank each and every 
one of them for their leadership on this bill. They worked together on 
a bipartisan basis and led a cooperative process in the HELP Committee. 
I think the result is a bill of which everyone can be proud.
  I will keep working to pass my Community College to Career Fund Act, 
because I think these partnerships deserve even more focus as well as a 
dedicated funding source. But I am proud that I fought to make sure the 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act contains provisions similar to 
my bill, and it does a lot to encourage the formation of more of these 
partnerships--and bigger partnerships--create more jobs, more workers 
with jobs, and degrees on a path in the right direction. I think this 
is a huge step in the right direction, and I thank my colleagues. We 
are creating a smarter, nimbler workforce that will be able to respond 
to the unique needs of each local area, coordinating all the programs 
so they will all be working together toward the same goals and the same 
outcome metrics. This will reduce administrative costs and make the 
system focus on what counts--getting people good jobs.
  Once again, I thank Senators Murray, Harkin, Isakson, and Alexander 
for their hard work on this bill. I encourage my colleagues to support 
it so we can get our workforce system working for today's economy and 
the economy of tomorrow.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as we end this debate, I thank my 
coauthors and managers of this bill, Senator Isakson, Senator Harkin, 
and Senator Alexander. And I also again thank Senator Enzi who was for 
years my partner on this bill.
  For over a decade now some combination of us, along with others, has 
been working to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, and I am so 
excited that we are finally on the verge of passing this long overdue 
legislation through the Senate.
  Let me remind everyone that the workforce development system serves 
over 20 million people every year. That is one of every eight working-
age adults in this country--people who are looking for work, people who 
want to change their jobs, people who want to upgrade their skills. And 
the system serves thousands of employers every year--manufacturers, 
construction firms, health care providers, financial institutions. The 
list goes on.
  Let's also remember that our workforce development system is a vital 
partner of economic developers all around the country, making sure that 
companies being recruited or expanded have access to training and 
skilled workers necessary to compete and grow.
  With millions of new jobs that will require postsecondary education 
and advanced skills in the coming years, we will fall behind if we do 
not modernize our workforce development system and programs now. We 
have to make sure when high-tech jobs of the next century are created, 
Americans are ready to fill them. That is what we have done with this 
bill. We have doubled down on the programs that work, we have 
eliminated programs that have become outdated, and created a workforce 
system that is more nimble, adaptable, better aligned, and more 
accountable.
  I am very proud to be at this point. I again especially thank my 
partner who has been with me so many critical times, Senator Isakson 
from Georgia, who has been incredibly hardworking and diligent in 
getting this done.
  I look forward to the votes. We have two amendments--I will be 
joining all of our cosponsors in voting against those amendments--and 
then final passage. I again thank everyone who has worked so hard on 
this legislation for so many years.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, as we close the debate, I 
enthusiastically support and endorse the Workforce Investment and 
Opportunity Act. This is a statement the Senate can send to the United 
States of America and all people who are on unemployment, looking for 
better opportunities. We are now going to offer training to see to it 
those 10,600,000 Americans out of work can find jobs, and hopefully it 
will be the 4 million jobs available today in America where skilled 
workers are not trained.
  I thank Senator Murray for her kind comments and reiterate my 
appreciation for her, her staff, Scott Cheney, my staff, Tommy Nguyen.
  Chairman Harkin has been a fearless leader on our committee and 
allowed us the chance to get to where we are today.

[[Page S3982]]

  Senator Alexander's velvet glove on an iron hand helped us get 
through an amendment process that was difficult at times but got us to 
the point we are today.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for the bill and against the two 
amendments.
  I yield back the remainder of our time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on 
agreeing to amendment No. 3379, offered by the Senator from Arizona, 
Mr. Flake.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Missouri (Mrs. 
McCaskill) and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr.  Rockefeller) are 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran) and the Senator from Nebraska 
(Mr. Johanns).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 33, nays 63, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 212 Leg.]

                                YEAS--33

     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Coats
     Coburn
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Fischer
     Flake
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heller
     Inhofe
     Johnson (WI)
     Kirk
     Lee
     McCain
     McConnell
     Paul
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Thune
     Toomey
     Vitter
     Wicker

                                NAYS--63

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Isakson
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Cochran
     Johanns
     McCaskill
     Rockefeller
  The amendment (No. 3379) was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on 
agreeing to the amendment offered by the Senator from Utah, Mr. Lee.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be 
a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran) and the Senator from Nebraska 
(Mr. Johanns).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 40, nays 58, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 213 Leg.]

                                YEAS--40

     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Coats
     Coburn
     Collins
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Fischer
     Flake
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johnson (WI)
     Kirk
     Lee
     McCain
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Vitter
     Wicker

                                NAYS--58

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coons
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Isakson
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Cochran
     Johanns
       
  The amendment (No. 3380) was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on 
agreeing to amendment No. 3381 offered by the Senator from Iowa, Mr. 
Harkin.
  The amendment (No. 3381) was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the substitute 
amendment, No. 3378, as amended, is agreed to.
  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill was read the third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the 
question is, Shall it pass?
  Mr. HARKIN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran) and the Senator from Nebraska 
(Mr. Johanns).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 95, nays 3, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 214 Leg.]

                                YEAS--95

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Vitter
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--3

     Coburn
     Johnson (WI)
     Lee

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Cochran
     Johanns
       
  The bill (H.R. 803), as amended, was passed.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

  Statement of the Managers to Accompany the Workforce Innovation and 
                            Opportunity Act


                                Contents

       I. Purpose and Summary of the Legislation
       II. Background and Need for Legislation
       III. Legislative History and Committee Action
       IV. Explanation of the Bill and Managers' Views
       V. Section-by-Section Analysis


               I. Purpose and Summary of the Legislation

       The purpose of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
     is to amend and reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act of 
     1998, which supports the nation's primary programs and 
     investments in employment services, workforce development, 
     adult education, and vocational rehabilitation activities and 
     has been due for reauthorization since 2003. The bill also 
     reauthorizes and enhances the Adult Education and Family 
     Literacy Act, amends the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933, and 
     amends and reauthorizes certain provisions in the 
     Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
       The legislation is the product of an extensive bipartisan, 
     bicameral effort in negotiations between the Senate Health, 
     Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and House 
     Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding their 
     respective reauthorization bills and input from the major 
     stakeholders in workforce development, adult education, 
     employment services, and vocational rehabilitation and other 
     disability programs. In addition, two hearings were held in 
     the 113th Congress regarding the reauthorization of the 
     Workforce Investment Act of 1998--one in the Senate and one 
     in the House of Representatives.
       This legislation amends the Workforce Investment Act of 
     1998 by making the changes identified below.

[[Page S3983]]

       This legislation repeals the Workforce Investment Act of 
     1998 and replaces it with new authorization language for 
     workforce systems in the States and local areas, Job Corps. 
     national programs, adult education and literacy, and general 
     provisions. In addition, the legislation includes amendments 
     to the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 and the Rehabilitation Act 
     of 1973, which are important programs connected to the 
     broader workforce development system.
       First, the bill makes a number of specific changes to 
     workforce investment activities under title I. The number of 
     required members on State and local workforce boards is 
     reduced. States are required to submit one plan to address 
     all of the core programs--title I-B, title II, employment 
     services under the Wagner-Peyser Act in title and State 
     vocational rehabilitation under title IV--and develop a 
     comprehensive State strategy to align workforce activities 
     with labor market demands and economic development goals. The 
     bill also includes a process describing the partner 
     contributions for infrastructure funding. There is an 
     increased emphasis on ensuring physical and programmatic 
     accessibility of one-stop centers and training providers. 
     Flexibility of funds for use at the local level between adult 
     and dislocated worker funding is enhanced. A set of common 
     performance indicators is required for all core programs 
     under the bill. Importance is placed on providing career 
     pathways and the use of sector strategies for delivering 
     services. Streamlining reporting requirements and 
     administrative burdens are applied. Youth who face severe 
     barriers to employment and education, including out-of- 
     school youth, are targeted for assistance.
       Second, the bill makes a number of changes to the Adult 
     Education and Family Literacy Act to support successful 
     transitions to postsecondary education or training, or 
     employment. The bill requires specific activities at the 
     local, State, and national level, including integrating basic 
     adult education and occupational skills training and the use 
     of career pathways. The bill also requires the Secretary of 
     Education to conduct evaluations and research regarding adult 
     education activities provided under the title.
       Third, the amendments to the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 
     include changes to the Workforce Information Council, which 
     supports the development of a State-Federal system for 
     identifying labor market information. The amendments also 
     include provisions to support professional development for 
     employment services staff.
       Fourth, the bill prioritizes competitive integrated 
     employment for individuals with disabilities, particularly 
     young people with disabilities who are transitioning from 
     education to employment, by ensuring that these individuals 
     have the skills and training necessary to maximize their 
     potential. The amendments also include better alignment of 
     disability programs in order to ensure that individuals 
     receive the services, technology, and support they need in 
     order to live inclusive, successful lives.
       Fifth, the bill repeals the Workforce Investment Act of 
     1998 and eliminates the following 15 programs:
       Youth Opportunity Grants
       21st Century Workforce Commission
       National Institute for Literacy under Adult Education
       Health Care Gap Coverage for Trade Adjustment Assistance 
     participants
       WIA Incentive Grants
       WIA Pilots and Demonstration Projects
       Community-based Job Training Grants
       Green Jobs Act
       Projects with Industry under the Rehabilitation Act 
     amendments
       Recreation Programs under the Rehabilitation Act amendments
       In-service Training under the Rehabilitation Act amendments
       Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Program under the 
     Rehabilitation Act amendments
       WIA Veterans Workforce Investment Program
       WIA Workforce Innovation Fund
       Grants to States for Workplace and Community Transition 
     Training for Incarcerated Individuals under the 1998 
     Amendments to the Higher Education Act.


                II. Background and Need for Legislation

       When Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, 
     it was seen as a major step forward in streamlining existing 
     Federal workforce programs and supporting Federal investment 
     in workforce development activities. Since the authorization 
     for the statute expired in 2003, there have been numerous 
     attempts to reauthorize the legislation in both the House and 
     the Senate.


             III. Legislative History and Committee Action

       In the 113th Congress, the Senate took the following action 
     on reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. On June 
     20, 2013, the Senate HELP Committee conducted a hearing on 
     reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. On 
     July 24, 2013, Senator Murray, Senator Isakson, Senator 
     Harkin, and Senator Alexander introduced S. 1356, the 
     Workforce Investment Act of 2013. On July 31, 2013, the 
     Senate HELP Committee considered S. 1356 in executive session 
     and reported it favorably, as amended, to the Senate by a 
     vote of 18 to 3. The committee considered and adopted two 
     amendments to the underlying bill. The first amendment was in 
     the nature of a substitute and included changes recommended 
     by the bill managers--Senate HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), 
     HELP Committee Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senator 
     Patty Murray (D-WA), and Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)--and 
     was adopted by unanimous consent. The second amendment, 
     offered by Senator Casey (D-PA), Senator Hatch (R-UT), and 
     Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) included additional reporting 
     requirements for the Job Corps program. The amendment was 
     accepted by voice vote.
       In the 113th Congress, the House took the following action 
     on reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. On 
     February 26, 2013, the House Education and the Workforce 
     Committee, in the Subcommittee on Higher Education and 
     Workforce Training, conducted a hearing on the 
     reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. On 
     February 25, 2013, Higher Education and Workforce Training 
     Subcommittee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) introduced H.R. 
     803, the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong 
     Skills Act. On March 6, 2013, the Committee on Education and 
     the Workforce considered H.R. 803 in legislative session and 
     reported it favorably, as amended, to the House of 
     Representatives.
       The committee considered and adopted the following 
     amendments to H.R. 803. The first amendment was in the nature 
     of a substitute and included changes recommended by the bill 
     manager, Representative Foxx, and was adopted by voice vote. 
     The second amendment, offered by Representative Tim Walberg 
     (R-MI), streamlined the unified State plan process at the 
     Federal level. The third amendment, offered by Representative 
     Martha Roby (R-AL), prohibited the use of funds for lobbying 
     and political activities. The fourth amendment, offered by 
     Representative Susan Brooks (R-IN), allowed State and local 
     workforce boards to implement pay-for-performance strategies. 
     The second, third, and fourth amendments were considered en 
     bloc and adopted by voice vote.
       On March 15, 2013, the House of Representatives adopted 
     H.R. 803 by a vote of 215-202. During debate the House 
     considered the following amendments. The first amendment, 
     offered by Representative Foxx provided a local application 
     process when designating local workforce investment areas and 
     made technical and clarifying changes to the underlying bill, 
     and passed by voice vote. The second amendment, offered by 
     Representative Pete Gallego (D-TX), required State and local 
     plans include advanced manufacturing workforce development 
     strategies, and passed by voice vote. The third amendment, 
     offered by Representative Don Young (R-AK), required the 
     Secretary of Labor to set aside one percent of the funds for 
     Native American workforce development programs, and passed by 
     voice vote. The fourth amendment, offered by Representative 
     Diane Black (R-TN), expressed a sense of Congress that any 
     administrative costs be off-set by funds currently being used 
     for marketing and outreach by the Department of Agriculture, 
     and was withdrawn by unanimous consent. The fifth amendment, 
     offered by Representative Scott Garrett (R-NJ), required a 
     reduction in funds to the Department of Labor if long overdue 
     evaluations were not completed within a specified amount of 
     time, and passed by voice vote. Another amendment was offered 
     by Representative John Tierney (D-MA) and was in the nature 
     of a substitute, and did not pass by a recorded vote of 192-
     227.


            IV. Explanation of the Bill and Managers' Views

       Sections 1, 2, and 3. Sections 1, 2, and 3 describe the 
     short title for the bill, the Workforce Innovation and 
     Opportunity Act; include the purposes of the Act; and state 
     the definitions for the Act, which are intended to have the 
     same meaning under each program authorized under the Act 
     unless otherwise stated. The definitions identify the ``core 
     programs'' under the Act, which consist of title I State 
     grant programs; title II adult education programs; the 
     employment service under title III amendments to the Wagner-
     Peyser Act; and State vocational rehabilitation programs 
     under title IV.


   Title I--Workforce Development Activities; Providers; Job Corps; 
                 National Programs; and Administration

       Title I of the underlying bill includes the primary 
     components of State and local area workforce development 
     systems as well as several national programs for youth and 
     special populations. In order to strengthen and streamline 
     the workforce system, the title focuses on changes to 
     governance, including reducing the number of required board 
     members at the State and local level; requiring one, unified 
     State plan; and promoting local workforce areas more closely 
     aligned to labor markets and economic development regions 
     while preserving a locally driven workforce system. The bill 
     also promotes the themes of providing employment services and 
     workforce development along a career pathway for 
     participants, and education training in line with in-demand 
     industry sectors and occupations for a region.
     Workforce Boards
       In order for boards to be more strategic, the bill reduces 
     the number of required board members at both the State and 
     local level. The boards remain a business majority with a 
     business chairperson, while the representation for the 
     workforce is increased. At the local level, with the 
     exception of the core programs under the Act, the one-stop 
     partners are no longer required members.
     Workforce Plans
       To support a strategic, comprehensive, and streamlined 
     system, the bill requires one,

[[Page S3984]]

     unified State plan, covering four years, to meet the 
     requirements for each of the core programs. The plan also 
     requires a description of the State's overall strategy for 
     workforce development and how the strategy will help meet 
     identified skill needs for workers, job seekers and employers 
     in the State. This unified plan will improve service delivery 
     to individuals as well as reduce administrative costs and 
     reporting requirements at the State level. In order to 
     promote a one-stop system that accommodates the needs of 
     individuals with disabilities, the State and local plans must 
     include a description of how the one-stop system in the State 
     will comply with the applicable requirements of section 188 
     and the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding the 
     accessibility of programs and facilities for people with 
     disabilities.
     Workforce Development Areas
       In order to maintain the balance between governors and 
     local elected officials, the bill requires States to consult 
     with local boards and chief elected officials in order to 
     identify local areas and planning regions that are in 
     alignment with labor markets and regional economic 
     development areas. The bill allows for initial and subsequent 
     designations based on performance, fiscal integrity, and 
     participation in regional coordination activities, including 
     regional planning, information sharing, pooling of 
     administrative costs, and coordination of service delivery.
     Performance Accountability
       In order to promote increased transparency about the 
     outcomes of Federal workforce programs, the bill includes six 
     primary indicators of performance for adults served under 
     programs authorized under the Act, and six primary indicators 
     for youth served under the Act. Commonality among the 
     indicators will allow policymakers, program users, and 
     consumers to better understand the value and effectiveness of 
     the services. The managers recognize that for those 
     participants who have low levels of literacy skills, or who 
     are English language learners, the acquisition of basic 
     English literacy and numeracy skills are critical steps to 
     obtaining employment and success in postsecondary education 
     and training. Therefore, the term ``measureable skill gains'' 
     referred to under indicator V in this section for adult and 
     youth, is intended to encourage eligible providers under 
     title 11 to serve all undereducated, low-level, and under 
     prepared adults. The managers agree that reporting and 
     evaluation requirements are important tools in measuring 
     effectiveness, especially for the core programs. Therefore, 
     the legislation includes performance reports to be provided 
     at the State, local and eligible training provider levels, as 
     well as evaluations of the core programs by States.
     One-Stop Infrastructure
       To improve the quality of the one-stop delivery system, the 
     bill requires the State board, in consultation with chief 
     local elected officials and local boards, to establish 
     criteria for use by the local board in assessing the 
     effectiveness, physical and programmatic accessibility, and 
     continuous improvement of one-stop centers and delivery 
     systems at least every three years. Regarding infrastructure 
     funding for one-stop centers, the bill maintains requirements 
     for the mandatory one-stop partners in a local area to reach 
     a voluntary agreement, in the form of a memorandum of 
     understanding, to fund the costs of infrastructure, other 
     shared costs, and how the partners will deliver services 
     under the system. If local areas fail to come to an agreement 
     regarding sufficient funding of one-stop infrastructure 
     costs, a State one-stop infrastructure funding mechanism can 
     be imposed for those local areas. Mandatory partner program 
     contributions, pursuant to the State one-stop infrastructure 
     funding mechanism, are based on the proportionate use of the 
     one-stop centers and subject to specified caps.
     Employment and Training Activities
       For youth, the bill utilizes the existing formula to allot 
     funds to States for youth services. It improves upon existing 
     youth services by placing a priority on out-of-school youth 
     (75 percent of funding at the State and local level), and 
     focusing on career pathways for youth, drop-out recovery 
     efforts, and education and training that lead to the 
     attainment of a high school diploma and a recognized 
     postsecondary credential. A priority is also included for 
     work-based learning activities.
       For adults and dislocated workers, the bill utilizes the 
     existing formulas with the inclusion of a minimum and maximum 
     allotment percentage for the dislocated worker formula 
     beginning in fiscal year 2016. The managers believe the 
     addition of the minimum and maximum percentages will help 
     bring stability to the only formula that currently does not 
     include such mechanisms, and will reduce funding volatility 
     for States year to year. The bill preserves the governor's 15 
     percent set aside for statewide activities.
       To eliminate the perceived ``sequence of services'' under 
     current law, requiring an individual to proceed through core 
     and intensive services before training eligibility can be 
     determined, the bill consolidates core and intensive services 
     into a new ``career services'' category. While the services 
     remain similar to those under current law, the structure is 
     intended to provide more flexibility to one-stop staff in 
     determining a participant's need for training. Local boards 
     are required to convene, use, or implement industry or sector 
     partnerships. The bill also improves upon the mechanisms for 
     local boards to provide education and training to eligible 
     participants by adding the following optional methods, under 
     certain guidelines, for training--contracting for classes of 
     training for multiple participants or on a pay-for 
     performance basis; incumbent worker training; and 
     transitional jobs strategies. Finally, the title includes 
     authorization levels for appropriations for the State grant 
     programs.
     Job Corps
       The bill improves upon the current Job Corps program by 
     strengthening the contracting requirements for centers, 
     requiring the program use the performance accountability 
     indicators for youth described in section 116 and 
     strengthening reporting requirements, and allowing the 
     Department of Labor to provide technical assistance to 
     centers. The bill includes requirements for a financial 
     report and a third party review of the program every five 
     years. The bill also includes a provision allowing operators 
     of a high-performing center, defined by performance criteria, 
     to be eligible to compete in any procurement process for that 
     center. Where there is not sufficient performance information 
     for the time period required under section 147(b)(2)(B) or 
     Section 147(h)(3) due to the effects of a natural disaster or 
     the participation of the center in a performance pilot 
     program, it is the intent of the managers the Secretary apply 
     the provisions of that section to any performance information 
     that is available to the Secretary from the relevant period 
     preceding the time the determination under that provision is 
     made. This would allow entities operating the center to have 
     an opportunity to meet performance requirements allowing them 
     to compete where the absence of complete information is not 
     the fault of the operating entity.
     National Programs
       The bill reauthorizes the Native American program; the 
     Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker program; and YouthBuild. It 
     also includes provisions for National Dislocated Worker 
     Grants; technical assistance under title I; and evaluations, 
     research, studies and multistate projects conducted by the 
     Secretary of Labor. The bill requires the Secretary of Labor 
     to conduct a multistate study on strategies for placing 
     individuals in jobs and education and training programs that 
     lead to equivalent pay for men and women, including the 
     participation of women in high-wage, high-demand occupations 
     in which women are underrepresented. We believe this is 
     important because a key element of raising women's wages is 
     to provide access to occupations that are predominantly held 
     by men, pay well, and are in demand in the economy. Many 
     occupations today are still dominated by one gender, with 
     more than 75 percent of the jobs in that occupation held by 
     men or by women. Jobs that are predominantly held by men--in 
     industries like transportation, manufacturing, or 
     construction trades--often pay considerably more than jobs 
     traditionally held by women, such as child care workers, 
     health care workers, clerical workers, or workers in retail 
     or other service sectors industries. The managers expect the 
     Secretary to review existing programs and research, State 
     laws and initiatives, and any other relevant project, to 
     determine successful strategies for placement and retention 
     of women in relevant training or jobs and to provide States 
     and localities with the information, tools, and assistance 
     they need to develop programs and activities that will 
     replicate such strategies. We request completion of this 
     project within eighteen months of enactment.
       The bill requires an independent evaluation of the 
     activities under title I at least once every four years for 
     the purpose of improving the management and effectiveness of 
     programs and activities. In recognition of the changing 
     demands of the economy, the bill allows the YouthBuild 
     program to expand into additional in-demand industry sectors 
     or occupations in the region.
       The bill includes authorization of appropriations for the 
     programs under subtitle D.
     Administration
       The bill adds restrictions against lobbying activities with 
     funds under this title. The managers do not intend for these 
     provisions to restrict awareness or outreach activities 
     regarding services and activities under title I.


         Title II--The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act

       In reauthorizing title II, the Adult Education and Family 
     Literacy Act, the bill places an emphasis on ensuring States 
     and local providers offer basic skills, adult education, 
     literacy activities, and English language acquisition 
     concurrently or integrated with occupational skills training 
     to accelerate attainment of secondary school diplomas and 
     postsecondary credentials. Making sure these skills are 
     solidly in place for all students is a priority. The bill 
     also emphasizes utilization of a career pathway approach for 
     adult learners to support transitions to postsecondary 
     education or training and employment opportunities.
       The bill requires all adult basic education and literacy 
     programs to use the same set of primary indicators of 
     performance accountability outlined for all employment and 
     training activities authorized under this Act. Individuals 
     receiving these services should be able to use these skills 
     in obtaining a regular secondary school diploma or its 
     recognized equivalent, obtaining full time employment, 
     increasing their median earnings, and enrolling in 
     postsecondary education or training, or earning a recognized 
     postsecondary credential.

[[Page S3985]]

       It is essential for adult educators to work closely with 
     workforce development stakeholders in the State, including 
     State and local workforce boards. To help in achieving a 
     seamless statewide workforce development system, the bill 
     requires title II programs to submit a unified State plan 
     with the other core programs within this Act. The bill also 
     provides funds for States to use in offering eligible 
     providers of adult education technical assistance, providing 
     professional development training to improve the instruction 
     and outcomes for adult learners, and conducting evaluations. 
     It encourages State and local leaders to provide activities 
     contextually and concurrently with workforce preparation and 
     training activities for a specific occupation or occupational 
     cluster for the purpose of educational and career 
     advancement.
       The bill authorizes national activities to assist States 
     and local providers in developing valid, measurable, and 
     reliable performance data, and in using such performance 
     information for the improvement of adult education and family 
     literacy education programs. The bill also includes 
     provisions to support research and evaluation of adult 
     education activities at the national level. Finally, the bill 
     places an emphasis on integrating English literacy with 
     civics education, as well as adult education and occupational 
     training activities.


             Title III--Amendments to the Wagner-Peyser Act

       Title III of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
     makes amendments to the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933, which 
     authorizes the public employment services and the employment 
     statistics system. Amendments to the Wagner-Peyser Act 
     generally maintain current law but also reflect the need to 
     align the statute with the other changes in the bill such as 
     including the State employment services in the unified State 
     plan; aligning performance accountability indicators with 
     those indicators used for core programs--as described in 
     section 116 of title I; renaming ``employment statistics'' to 
     the ``workforce and labor market information system'' and 
     updating the Workforce Information Council; and providing for 
     staff professional development in order to strengthen the 
     quality of services. Authorization of appropriations for the 
     workforce and labor market information system and the 
     workforce information council is provided for each of the 
     fiscal years of 2015 through 2020.


         Title IV--Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

       Title IV of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
     amends and reauthorizes the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The 
     Rehabilitation Act was last reauthorized in 1998.
       The Rehabilitation Act is an important law for individuals 
     with disabilities, particularly those with significant 
     disabilities. It authorizes programs that affect the daily 
     lives of many individuals with disabilities, including the 
     vocational rehabilitation program (training, services, and 
     supports for employment); the independent living program; and 
     research and information on new technology to assist 
     individuals with disabilities.
       There remains a critical need for employment and training 
     services for individuals with disabilities. Almost 25 years 
     after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, it 
     is still difficult for many individuals with significant 
     disabilities to find full time employment that is 
     commensurate with their skills, interests, and goals. Yet 
     State vocational rehabilitation programs can play a 
     significant role in meeting this need by providing training, 
     services and supports for individuals with disabilities.
       It is especially important to provide young people with 
     disabilities more opportunities to practice and improve their 
     workplace skills, to consider their career interests, and to 
     get real world work experience. Those activities are 
     prioritized in the amendments to the Act. For example, the 
     bill requires State vocational rehabilitation agencies to 
     make ``pre-employment transition services'' available to all 
     students with disabilities, and to coordinate those services 
     with transition services provided under the Individuals with 
     Disabilities Education Act. State vocational rehabilitation 
     programs will set aside at least 15 percent of their Federal 
     program funds to help young people with disabilities 
     transition from secondary school to postsecondary education 
     programs and employment.
       In addition, these amendments establish a framework to 
     ensure every young person with a disability, regardless of 
     their level of disability, has the opportunity to experience 
     competitive, integrated employment. These requirements will 
     provide young people with disabilities with the opportunity 
     to develop their skills and to use supports, available 
     through State vocational rehabilitation programs, to 
     experience competitive, integrated employment as they leave 
     school and enter the workforce.
       In order to better align the Independent Living program 
     that serves individuals with significant disabilities living 
     in the community with other similar efforts, the amendments 
     transition the administration of the Independent Living 
     program from the Department of Education to the Department of 
     Health and Human Services, Administration for Community 
     Living. The transition moves the program to an agency with a 
     lifespan and community focus and will better allow the 
     program to fulfill its goal to support ``independent living . 
     . . and the integration and full inclusion of individuals 
     with disabilities into the mainstream of American society.''
       The amendments also incorporate ``independent living'' into 
     the name and mission of the National Institute on Disability 
     and Rehabilitation Research and similarly move that program's 
     administration from the Department of Education to the 
     Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for 
     Community Living in order to better align the program 
     priorities with agency goals and priorities.


                      Title V--General Provisions

       The bill repeals the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 in 
     its entirety, replacing it with reforms to better serve 
     unemployed and underemployed workers as well as employers. In 
     doing so, authority is provided to the Secretaries of Labor, 
     Education, and Health and Human Services to establish a 
     smooth and orderly transition period to implement this Act.


                     V. Section-by-Section Analysis

     Section 1. Short title; Table of Contents
       The short title of the bill is the Workforce Innovation and 
     Opportunity Act.
     Section 2. Purposes
       Identifies the purposes of the Act.
     Section 3. Definitions
       Defines terms that are common to all titles, except where 
     otherwise noted.


               TITLE I: WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

                     Subtitle A.--System Alignment

     Chapter 1--State Provisions

     Section 101. State Workforce Development Boards
       Establishes State boards. Membership includes the governor; 
     one member of each chamber of the State legislature; and 
     members appointed by the governor of which the chair and 
     majority shall remain representatives of business; requires 
     that 20 percent of the board be representatives of the 
     workforce, including labor organizations; requires the 
     balance of the board to include State government officials 
     responsible for core programs (title I State grant programs, 
     adult education programs, employment services under the 
     Wagner-Peyser Act, and State vocational rehabilitation 
     programs), and chief elected officials. Identifies the 
     functions of the board, permits the State board to hire 
     staff, and directs the State board to establish and apply 
     objective qualifications for the director's position.
     Section 102. Unified State Plan
       Establishes unified State plans (hereafter referred to as 
     State plans), which will meet the planning requirements for 
     the core programs and describe how the State will develop a 
     coordinated and comprehensive workforce development system. 
     Streamlines the process for plan submission, approval, and 
     modification of State plans among the Federal agencies.
     Section 103. Combined State Plan
       Establishes a process for the State to allow additional 
     workforce development-related programs to participate in and 
     submit federally required plans through the State planning 
     process.
     Chapter 2--Local Provisions

     Section 106. Workforce Development Areas
       Describes how States, in consultation with local boards and 
     chief elected officials, will identify local areas and 
     planning regions in a State based on criteria for alignment 
     with labor markets, regional economic development, and 
     availability of resources. Describes process for initial and 
     subsequent designation based on performance, fiscal 
     integrity, and participation in regional coordination 
     activities, including regional planning, information sharing, 
     and coordination of service delivery for local workforce 
     areas. Requires States to provide funding and technical 
     assistance to local areas in a regional planning process that 
     choose to become a single local workforce area. Provides for 
     an appeal process and the continuation of single State 
     designations.
     Section 107. Local Workforce Development Boards
       Establishes local boards. Membership includes a majority of 
     representatives of businesses in the local area and a 
     business chairperson; requires 20 percent of the board be 
     representatives of the workforce, including labor 
     organizations; other representatives include education and 
     training providers in the local area (such as community 
     colleges), the core programs in the local area, and economic 
     and community development. With the exception of core 
     programs, required one-stop programs are not required to be 
     represented on the board. Describes permissible standing 
     committees; the appointment, certification, and 
     decertification requirements for local boards; and continues 
     to allow the State board of a single State to function as the 
     local board for the State. Identifies the functions of the 
     local board, permits the local board to hire staff, and 
     directs the local board to establish and apply objective 
     qualifications for the director's position. Provides certain 
     limitations for the local board concerning the delivery of 
     career and training services.
     Section 108. Local Plan
       Requires each local board to develop and submit a local 
     plan to the governor, including a description of how services 
     offered through the core programs at the local level will be 
     coordinated and aligned to regional needs. Requires the 
     strategy described in the local plan to align with the State 
     strategy

[[Page S3986]]

     for workforce development. Local boards participating in a 
     regional planning process are required to contribute to and 
     submit a regional plan. Describes the process for plan 
     submission, approval, and modifications.
     Chapter 3--Board Provisions

     Section 111. Funding of State and Local Boards
       Clarifies that funding to support State and local boards 
     must be provided by title I administrative funds, which may 
     be supplemented by non-Federal funds.
     Chapter 4--Performance Accountability

     Section 116. Performance Accountability System
       Establishes performance accountability indicators at the 
     State level that are common to each of the core programs for 
     adults and performance accountability indicators applicable 
     to all youth programs within the Act. Requires States to 
     negotiate with the Secretaries of Labor and Education a level 
     of expected performance for each of the indicators. Describes 
     factors for consideration in setting and assessing levels of 
     performance. Establishes performance accountability 
     indicators for local programs and a performance negotiation 
     process similar to that required of the State. Requires 
     performance reports to be prepared and submitted by States, 
     local areas, and eligible training providers. Requires States 
     to conduct an evaluation of the core programs, use the 
     results to continuously improve programs, and make results 
     available to the public. Establishes sanctions for poor 
     performance at the State level, including, for those States 
     not meeting performance targets for two consecutive years, a 
     reduction in the percentage of funds governors may reserve. 
     Establishes sanctions for poor performance at the local 
     level. Requires States to establish and operate a fiscal and 
     management accountability information system for the core 
     programs using guidance provided by the Secretaries. Permits 
     the governor to establish incentives using non-Federal funds 
     for pay-for-performance contract strategies for the delivery 
     of services. Requires States to utilize quarterly wage 
     records, consistent with State law, to measure progress on 
     State performance accountability measures.

       Subtitle B.--Workforce Investment Activities and Providers

     Chapter 1--Workforce Investment Activities and Providers

     Section 121. Establishment of One-Stop Delivery Systems
       Establishes the one-stop delivery system. Identifies one-
     stop partners and their roles and responsibilities. Directs 
     the local board to enter into a MOU with the one-stop 
     partners regarding the operation and costs of the one-stop 
     delivery system. Outlines the competitive process for 
     designating one-stop operators. Describes the services to be 
     made available through the one-stop system, and the criteria 
     for certifying one-stop centers. Establishes a process at the 
     State level for determining one-stop partner program 
     contributions to infrastructure costs, based on proportionate 
     use and funding limitations, for those local areas that do 
     not reach a consensus agreement through the MOU process.
     Section 122. Identification of Eligible Providers of Training 
         Services
       Describes eligibility for providers; outlines State 
     criteria, information requirements, and application and 
     renewal processes for selecting providers; requires the list 
     of eligible providers be provided to participants; and 
     includes sanctions for providers with substantial violations.
     Section 123. Eligible Providers of Youth Workforce Investment 
         Activities
       Requires local boards to award grants or contracts to 
     providers for youth workforce investment activities, taking 
     the performance of such providers into account.
     Chapter 2--Youth Workforce Investment Activities

     Section 126. General Authorization
       Requires the Secretary to allot funding to States and 
     grants to outlying areas for youth activities.
     Section 127. State Allotments
       Establishes reservations for Native Americans, outlying 
     areas, and States; maintains current law formulas for State 
     allotments; describes limitations and requirements. Maintains 
     current law minimum and maximum allotment percentages. 
     Maintains small State minimums. Describes reallotment 
     procedures.
     Section 128. Within State Allocations
       Allows governors to reserve 15 percent of State allotments 
     for State workforce investment activities. Maintains within-
     State formula and minimum allocation percentage. Includes a 
     10 percent limitation on local administrative costs. 
     Describes reallocation procedures.
     Section 129. Use of Funds for Youth Workforce Investment 
         Activities.
       Describes eligibility for youth participants. Establishes 
     the percentage of youth funds (75 percent) to be used for 
     out-of-school youth. Describes statewide and local 
     activities, including career pathway development, dropout 
     recovery efforts, occupational skills training, and education 
     and training leading to a recognized postsecondary 
     credential. Includes a priority for the provision of work-
     based learning experiences for youth, and allows for a 
     priority for training that leads to a recognized 
     postsecondary credential.
     Chapter 3--Adult and Dislocated Worker Employment and 
         Training Activities

     Section 131. General Authorization
       Requires the Secretary to allot funding to States and 
     grants to outlying areas for adult and dislocated worker 
     activities.
     Section 132. State Allotments
       Establishes reservations for outlying areas and States; 
     maintains current law formulas for State allotments; 
     describes limitations requirements. For the adult formula, 
     maintains current law minimum and maximum allotment 
     percentages, and adds similar provisions to the dislocated 
     worker formula beginning in fiscal year 2016. Maintains 20 
     percent reservation for national dislocated worker grants and 
     technical assistance. Describes reallotment procedures.
     Section 133. Within State Allocations
       Maintains reservations for governors' statewide and rapid 
     response activities. Allows local boards to transfer 100 
     percent of funds between the adult and dislocated worker 
     programs at the local level. Maintains a within-State formula 
     and minimum allocations for the adult formula, and adds a 
     similar minimum allocation for the dislocated worker formula 
     beginning in fiscal year 2016. Describes reallocation 
     procedures.
     Section 134. Use of Funds for Employment and Training 
         Activities
       Specifies required and allowable statewide employment and 
     training activities as well as rapid response activities. 
     Permits incumbent worker and customized training, industry 
     sector strategies, career pathway programs, layoff aversion 
     activities, innovative services to individuals with barriers 
     to employment, and coordination with other workforce-related 
     programs from other agencies. Removes the current ``sequence 
     of services'' between core, intensive and training services 
     by streamlining core and intensive into ``career services.'' 
     Maintains customer choice requirements and allows for the 
     combined use of individual training accounts, cohort 
     training, and pay-for-performance contracts. At the local 
     level, permits boards to utilize incumbent worker training; 
     on-the-job training; customized training; and transitional 
     jobs activities; and provide supportive services.
     Chapter 4--General Workforce Investment Provisions

     Section 136. Authorization of Appropriations
       Authorizes appropriations for youth, adult, and dislocated 
     worker programs.

                         Subtitle C.--Job Corps

     Section 141. Purposes
       Identifies the purposes of the subtitle.
     Section 142. Definitions
       Provides definitions specific to Job Corps.
     Section 143. Establishment
       Establishes within the Department of Labor a ``Job Corps''.
     Section 144. Individuals Eligible for the Job Corps
       Describes eligibility for participants and includes a 
     special rule for veterans.
     Section 145. Recruitment, Screening, Selection, and 
         Assignment of Enrollees
       Specifies general requirements for selecting enrollees and 
     placing them into centers that offer the type of career and 
     technical education and training selected by the individual. 
     Ensures these provisions shall be implemented with 
     organizations that have demonstrated a record of 
     effectiveness in serving at-risk youth. Prohibits denying 
     enrollment in Job Corps based solely on contact with the 
     criminal justice system, but adds an exception barring the 
     selection of individuals convicted of certain felonies. 
     Describes process by which the Secretary develops an 
     assignment plan for enrollment at centers.
     Section 146. Enrollment
       Outlines two-year enrollment limits and exceptions.
     Section 147. Job Corps Centers
       Describes the competitive basis for the selection process 
     and the eligibility requirements to operate a Job Corps 
     center. Outlines the criteria for determining high-performing 
     centers. Defines length of agreement and contract renewal 
     conditions for Job Corps centers based on performance.
     Section 148. Program Activities
       Describes the activities, education and training, and 
     graduate services provided by Job Corps centers and links 
     these activities to in-demand industries and occupations.
     Section 149. Counseling and Job Placement
       Describes the assessment, counseling, and placement 
     assistance for enrollees, and allows for services to former 
     enrollees.
     Section 150. Support
       Provides for personal and transition allowances for 
     graduates and support for former enrollees.
     Section 151. Operating Plan
       Specifies general information for an operating plan.
     Section 152. Standards of Conduct
       Describes disciplinary measures and zero tolerance 
     standards, as well as an appeals process.
     Section 153. Community Participation
       Outlines business and community participation, including 
     connections with local workforce boards.
     Section 154. Workforce Councils
       Describes the roles and responsibilities for workforce 
     councils, including recommending

[[Page S3987]]

     training programs that are in in-demand industry sectors or 
     occupations within the region.
     Section 155. Advisory Committees
       Allows the Secretary to establish advisory committees, as 
     necessary, consistent with current law.
     Section 156. Experimental, Research, and Demonstration 
         Projects
       Requires the Secretary to inform authorizing committees if 
     a waiver is required to carry out initiatives under this 
     section. Allows the Secretary to reserve administrative funds 
     to provide technical assistance to the Job Corps program.
     Section 157. Application of Provisions of Federal Law
       Establishes that enrollees are not Federal employees, 
     consistent with current law.
     Section 158. Special Provisions
       Generally maintains current law.
     Section 159. Management Information
       Describes financial management controls and procedures, as 
     well as audit requirements. Aligns performance accountability 
     indicators for Job Corps with the indicators for all youth 
     activities described in section 116. Establishes performance 
     indicators for recruiters and career transition service 
     providers. Describes data the Secretary must include in 
     congressional reports regarding the program and centers. 
     Outlines performance improvement plan requirements for 
     centers that fail to reach expected levels of performance.
     Section 160. General Provisions
       Generally maintains current law outlining general 
     provisions required by the Secretary.
     Section 161. Job Corps Oversight and Reporting
       Requires the Secretary to submit financial reports to 
     applicable congressional committees within a specific 
     timeframe. Requires a third-party review of the Job Corps 
     program once every five years, with results to be submitted 
     to Congress. Directs the Secretary to establish written 
     criteria for Job Corps center closures and submit such 
     written criteria to applicable committees.
     Section 162. Authorization of Appropriations
       Authorizes appropriations for the Job Corps program.

                     Subtitle D.--National Programs

     Section 166. Native American Programs
       Describes the requirements for competitive grants for 
     Native Americans. Aligns performance indicators for Native 
     American programs with the performance indicators described 
     in Sec. 116. Clarifies the authority of the Advisory Council 
     and the ability for the Secretary to provide assistance to 
     unique populations in Hawaii and Alaska.
     Section 167. Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Programs
       Describes the requirements for competitive grants for 
     migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Aligns performance 
     indicators for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker programs with 
     the performance indicators described in section 116. Outlines 
     the range of activities authorized to access education, 
     training, and employment opportunities.
     Section 168. Technical Assistance
       Specifies the activities to be undertaken by the Secretary 
     to support an effective workforce development system. 
     Requires the Secretary to establish a system to collect, 
     evaluate, and disseminate promising and proven practices.
     Section 169. Evaluations and Research
       Requires the Secretary to conduct an independent evaluation 
     at least once every four years. Allows for research, studies, 
     and multistate projects to be conducted by the Secretary.
     Section 170. National Dislocated Worker Grants
       Provides definitions for areas impacted by ``emergency or 
     disaster'' and a ``disaster area.'' Permits the Secretary to 
     provide assistance to such areas.
     Section 171. YouthBuild Program
       Describes the requirements for YouthBuild grants. Aligns 
     performance indicators for YouthBuild with the performance 
     accountability indicators for all youth activities described 
     in section 116. Allows training for participants to be linked 
     to industries that are in-demand.
     Section 172. Authorization of Appropriations
       Authorizes appropriations for Native American programs, 
     Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker programs, Technical. 
     Assistance, and Evaluations and Research.

                      Subtitle E.--Administration

     Section 181. Requirements and Restrictions
       Specifies the general requirements on the limitations of 
     funds to carry out the Act.
     Section 182. Prompt Allocation of Funds
       Describes requirements for the Secretary regarding the 
     distribution of funds under the title, including the use of 
     current data and the publishing of the formula used for 
     funding distribution. Requires the State to distribute funds 
     to local areas in a timely fashion.
     Section 183. Monitoring
       Similar to current law, describes monitoring guidelines to 
     determine compliance.
     Section 184. Fiscal Controls: Sanctions
       Provides requirements regarding use of fiscal controls; 
     sanctions for substantial violations; an appeals process; 
     requirements for repayment of funds not expended in 
     accordance with this title; and response and remedies 
     regarding discrimination.
     Section 185. Reports; Recordkeeping; Investigations
       Describes requirements for record keeping and reporting for 
     recipients of funds under this title.
     Section 186. Administrative Adjudication
       Describes complaint and appeal procedures regarding 
     dissatisfaction with or failure to receive financial 
     assistance.
     Section 187. Judicial Review
       Describes the judicial review process for administrative 
     adjudication decisions.
     Section 188. Nondiscrimination
       Describes prohibitions on discriminations.
     Section 189. Secretarial Administrative Authorities and 
         Responsibilities
       Describes the general administrative responsibilities of 
     the Secretary in carrying out this title. Excludes 
     requirements regarding funding of infrastructure costs for 
     one-stop centers, and those requirements related to the basic 
     purposes of this title, from provisions the Secretary may 
     waive. Requires expedited approval of waiver requests that 
     have been previously approved by the Secretary for any other 
     State or local area.
     Section 190. Workforce Flexibility Plans
       Allows States to submit a plan to the Secretary for waiver 
     approval regarding relevant requirements applicable to local 
     areas.
     Section 191. State Legislative Authority
       Clarifies nothing in statute prevents the enactment of 
     State legislation regarding implementation of provisions of 
     this title, consistent with the requirements of this title.
     Section 192. Transfer of Federal Equity in State Employment 
         Security Agency Real Property to the States
       Maintains current law.
     Section 193. Continuation of State Activities and Policies
       Maintains current law.
     Section 194. General Program Requirements
       Prohibits the use of Federal funds under this title to 
     establish or operate stand-alone, fee-for-service 
     enterprises. Nothing in this provision prohibits or 
     discourages one-stop centers from using such agencies or 
     companies to assist in serving program participants. Includes 
     a maximum rate of pay for staff hired with funds provided 
     under this title.
     Section 195. Restrictions on Lobbying Activities
       Prohibits funds provided under this Act from being used for 
     lobbying activities.


                 TITLE II: ADULT EDUCATION AND LITERACY

     Section 201. Short Title
       Cited as the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act.
     Section 202. Purpose
       Establishes the purposes of this title.
     Section 203. Definitions
       Defines those terms specific to this title. Defines 
     activities that increase coordination between programs and 
     services to better meet the needs of adult learners and 
     workers, as well as models that integrate adult education and 
     literacy activities with workforce preparation activities and 
     training activities.
     Section 204. Home Schools
       Retains autonomy of home schools.
     Section 205. Rule of Construction Regarding Postsecondary 
         Transition and Concurrent Enrollment Activities
       Provides nothing in the title shall be construed to 
     prohibit or discourage eligible individuals' transition to 
     postsecondary education, training, or employment, or 
     concurrent enrollment activities.
     Section 206. Authorization of Appropriations
       Authorizes appropriations to carry out this title.

                    Subtitle A.--Federal Provisions

     Section 211. Reservation of Funds; Grants to Eligible 
         Agencies; Allotments
       Describes required reservations for certain programs. 
     Requires eligible State agencies to participate in the State 
     planning processes for the core programs described in title 
     I. Describes process for the allotment and reallotment of 
     funds to eligible agencies.
     Section 212. Performance Accountability System
       Aligns performance accountability indicators for this title 
     with the indicators for adults described in section 116.

                     Subtitle B.--State Provisions

     Section 221. State Administration
       Describes responsibilities of eligible State agencies.
     Section 222. State Distribution of Funds; Matching 
         Requirement
       Describes requirements for State distribution of funds and 
     agency match requirements.
     Section 223. State Leadership Activities
       Delineates required and permissible State activities, 
     including instruction for adult learners, integrated 
     education and training, and career pathways development. 
     Requires alignment of adult education activities with those 
     of other core programs and one-stop partners in this Act.
     Section 224. State Plan
       Includes the State agency as part of the unified State 
     planning requirements for all core programs described in 
     title I of this Act.
     Section 225. Programs for Corrections Education and Other 
         Institutionalized Individuals
       Describes the use of funds under this section and maintains 
     a priority for those individuals most likely to leave the 
     correctional

[[Page S3988]]

     institution within five years of participation in the 
     program.

                     Subtitle C.--Local Provisions

     Section 231. Grants and Contracts far Eligible Providers
       Describes the considerations the eligible agency must take 
     into account when making awards to eligible providers, 
     including alignment with local plans under title I and past 
     performance.
     Section 232. Local Application
       Describes requirements for applications from eligible 
     providers.
     Section 233. Local Administrative Cost Limits
       Establishes limits for uses of funds for administrative 
     purposes.

                    Subtitle D.--General Provisions

     Section 241. Administrative Provisions
       Maintains requirements related to ``supplement not 
     supplant'' and maintenance of effort. Includes considerations 
     for extreme financial hardship.
     Section 242. National Leadership Activities
       Delineates required and allowable national activities to be 
     carried out by the Secretary. Requires research on adult 
     education and literacy and an independent evaluation at least 
     once every four years of the activities under this title.
     Section 243. Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education
       Authorizes the Integrated English Literacy and Civics 
     Education program, which includes serving English language 
     learners and providing integrated education and training.


             TITLE III: AMENDMENTS TO THE WAGNER-PEYSER ACT

     Title III amends the Wagner-Peyser Act (29 U.S.C 49 et seq.)
     Section 301. Employment Service Offices

       Clarifies the offices referred to are a part of the public 
     employment service.
     Section 302. Definitions
       References definitions under title I.
     Section 303. Federal and State Employment Service Offices
       Requires co-location of employment service offices with 
     one-stop centers. Increases access to and improves the 
     quality of workforce information. Promotes the use of best 
     practices across the system and provides for staff 
     professional development.
     Section 304. Allotment of Sums
       Clarifies the allotment of funds to the States.
     Section 305. Use of Sums
       Requires employment service offices to provide unemployment 
     insurance claimants with information about and assistance 
     with applying for education and training programs.
     Section 306. State Plan
       Includes State employment services in the unified State 
     plan described in title I of this Act.
     Section 307. Performance Measures
       Aligns performance indicators with the adult performance 
     accountability indicators for all core programs described in 
     section 116.
     Section 308. Workforce and Labor Market Information System
       Renames ``employment statistics'' to the ``workforce and 
     labor market information system.'' Clarifies the duties of 
     the Secretary and provides for a two year plan. Describes the 
     composition, roles and responsibilities of the Workforce 
     Information Advisory Council.


             TITLE IV: AMENDMENTS TO THE REHABILITATION ACT

     Title IV amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 701 
         et seq.)

     Sec. 401. References
       Identifies the title refers to the Rehabilitation Act of 
     1973 (29 U.S.C. 701 et seq.).
     Sec. 402. Findings, Purpose, Policy
       States current findings regarding the disability workforce 
     and identifies the purposes of the title.
     Sec. 403. Rehabilitation Services Administration
       States the responsibilities of the Commissioner of the 
     Rehabilitation Services Administration.
     Sec. 404. Definitions
       Includes definitions for this act including ``competitive 
     integrated employment,'' ``preemployment transition 
     services,'' and ``supported employment services.''
     Sec. 405. Administration of the Act
       Describes the responsibilities of the Commissioner of the 
     Rehabilitation Services Administration and the Administrator 
     of the Administration for Community Living in reference to 
     carrying out the activities of this Act.
     Sec. 406. Reports
       Clarifies dissemination requirements for the annual report 
     on activities under the law.
     Sec. 407. Evaluation and Information
       Describes the responsibilities of the Commissioner of the 
     Rehabilitation Services Administration and the Administrator 
     of the Administration for Community Living in reference to 
     evaluating the activities carried out under this Act.
     Sec. 408. Carryover
       No changes were made to this section.
     Sec. 409. Traditionally Underserved Populations
       Updates the section to reflect the demographics of the 
     United States.
     Sec. 411. Declaration of Policy; Authorization of 
         Appropriations
       Sets authorization levels for the program for fiscal years 
     2015 through 2020.
     Sec. 412. State Plans
       Specifies the unified State plan, or combined State plan, 
     under title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 
     Act, must include the provisions of the State plan for 
     vocational rehabilitation services. Requires the State plan 
     to assure that individuals who are otherwise eligible for 
     vocational rehabilitation services and who are at imminent 
     risk of losing their jobs unless they receive additional 
     necessary postemployment services receive priority. Allows 
     designated State agencies to prioritize serving students with 
     disabilities. Requires State plan to detail the State's 
     strategies to serve students with disabilities so they are 
     prepared for post-school employment.
     Sec. 413. Eligibility and Individualized Plan for Employment
       Requires applicants for vocational rehabilitation services 
     be presumed to benefit from an employment outcome, and 
     individuals should be provided the opportunity to try 
     different employment experiences, including supported 
     employment. and the opportunity to become employed in 
     competitive integrated employment.
     Sec. 414. Vocational Rehabilitation Services
       Requires States to ensure designated State units provide or 
     arrange for the provision of preemployment transition 
     services for all students with disabilities who are in need 
     of these services. and those services are coordinated with 
     services provided under the Individuals with Disabilities 
     Education Act. Also allows State agencies to support advanced 
     training in STEM and other technical professions.
     Sec. 415. State Rehabilitation Council
       Requires coordination with other entities, and with 
     activities carried out under the Assistive Technology Act of 
     1998.
     Sec. 416. Evaluation Standards and Performance Indicators
       Aligns the evaluation standards of the Rehabilitation Act 
     with the standards of the Workforce Innovation and 
     Opportunity Act.
     Sec. 417. Monitoring and Review
       Provides for the provision of technical assistance to 
     promote high quality employment outcomes.
     Sec. 418. Training and Services for Employers
       Allows States to provide services to employers to promote 
     recruitment, hiring, and retention of workers with 
     disabilities.
     Sec. 419. State Allotments
       Requires that 15 percent of a State's allotment be 
     designated to provide ``pre-employment transition services.''
     Sec. 420. Payments to States
       No substantive changes made to this section.
     Sec. 421. Client Assistance Program
       Requires the Secretary to reserve funds to provide services 
     to American Indians. If the funds appropriated exceed $14M, 
     requires the Secretary to reserve a small percentage for 
     grants to provide training and technical assistance to the 
     client assistance programs in the States. Establishes 
     authorization levels for fiscal years 2015 through 2020.
     Sec. 422. Pre-Employment Transition Services
       Requires States to ensure that designated State units 
     provide, or arrange for the provision of, preemployment 
     transition services for all students with disabilities who 
     are in need of these services.
     Sec. 423. American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services
       Reserves a small percentage of program funds to make grants 
     to provide technical assistance and training.
     Sec. 424. Vocational Rehabilitation Services Client 
         Information
       No substantive changes made to this section.
     Sec. 431. Purpose
       Updates purposes of the title.
     Sec. 432. Authorization of Appropriations
       Sets authorization levels for fiscal years 2015 through 
     2020.
     Sec. 433. National Institute on Disability, Independent 
         Living, and Rehabilitation Research
       Adds ``Independent Living'' to the name of the Institute, 
     and moves the Institute from the Department of Education to 
     the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration 
     for Community Living. Requires the dissemination of 
     educational materials and research results to nongovernmental 
     agencies and organizations, employers and employer 
     organizations, and relevant congressional Committees. 
     Describes the research activities and findings, demonstration 
     projects, reports, evaluations, and studies that will he made 
     available.
     Sec. 434. Interagency Committee
       Adds independent living research. Requires a periodic 
     meeting of funders, researchers, and individuals with 
     disabilities to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for 
     disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research.
     Sec. 435. Research and Other Covered Activities
       Describes allowable research activities.

[[Page S3989]]

     Sec. 436. Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation 
         Research Advisory Council
       Specifies Council membership and qualifications.
     Sec. 437 Definition of Covered School
       Defines ``covered school'' as an ``elementary school'' or 
     ``secondary school'' as defined in the Elementary and 
     Secondary Education Act of 1965 as amended.
     Sec. 441. Purpose; Training
       Specifies that technical assistance provided to community 
     rehabilitation programs shall be focused on competitive 
     integrated employment. Also sets authorization levels for 
     training for fiscal years 2015 through 2020.
     Sec. 442. Demonstration, Training, and Technical Assistance 
         Programs
       Continues to authorize demonstration, training, and 
     technical assistance projects focused on improving transition 
     from education to employment for youth who are individuals 
     with significant disabilities. Repeals the In-Service 
     Training of Rehabilitation Personnel program. Also sets 
     authorization levels for fiscal years 2015 through 2020.
     Sec. 443. Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers; Recreational 
         Programs
       Repeals these programs.
     Sec. 451. Establishment
       Changes the number of Council members from 15 to 9. Alters 
     the appointment of the Council members to share that 
     responsibility among Congress and the President.
     Sec. 452. Report
       No substantive changes.
     Sec. 453. Authorization of Appropriations
       Sets authorization levels for fiscal years 2015 through 
     2020.
     Sec. 456 Interagency Committee, Board. and Council
       Sets authorization levels for the Architectural and 
     Transportation Barriers Compliance Board for fiscal years 
     2015 through 2020.
     Sec. 457. Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights
       Sets authorization levels for fiscal years 2015 through 
     2020.
     Sec. 458. Limitation on the Use of Subminimum Wage
       Describes how an entity may not employ an individual with a 
     disability at wages less than the Federal minimum wage unless 
     the individual has first received available pre-employment 
     transition services; applied for vocational rehabilitation 
     services and, if eligible, made a serious attempt at 
     competitive integrated employment; and received counseling 
     and information and referral about alternatives to subminimum 
     wage employment. Individuals with disabilities who are 
     currently employed at subminimum wage shall be provided 
     ongoing career counseling, information and referrals, and 
     notification of training opportunities in the individual's 
     geographic area, in order to promote opportunities to move 
     into competitive integrated employment, as appropriate.
     Sec. 461. Employment Opportunities for Individuals with 
         Disabilities
       Describes how States with an allotment under the Supported 
     Employment Services program must reserve an allotment to 
     support youth with the most significant disabilities, 
     describes extended services, and limits the administrative 
     allotment to be used to administer the program to 2.5 
     percent. Also establishes a committee to prepare 
     recommendations to increase employment opportunities for 
     individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities 
     in competitive integrated employment, and terminates that 
     committee after two years. Finally, sets authorization levels 
     for fiscal years 2015 through 2020.
     Sec. 471. Purpose
       Includes the purpose of ``improving the independence of 
     individuals with disabilities.''
     Sec. 472. Administration of the Independent Living Program
       Transfers the Independent Living program from the 
     Rehabilitation Services Administration in the Department of 
     Education to the Administration on Community Living in the 
     Department of Health and Human Services and establishes an 
     Administration on Independent Living.
     Sec. 473. Definitions
       Includes minor definition additions.
     Sec. 474. State Plan
       Specifies that the State plan shall be jointly developed by 
     the chairperson of the Statewide Independent Living Council 
     and the directors of centers for independent living in the 
     State.
     Sec. 475. Statewide Independent Living Council
       Requires meaningful representation by directors of centers 
     for independent living in the State. Amends the 
     responsibilities of the Council to include development of the 
     State plan and the monitor, review and evaluation of the 
     implementation of the plan.
     Sec. 475A. Responsibilities of the Administrator
       Describes the responsibilities of the Administrator to 
     develop and publish performance indicators for centers for 
     independent living and Statewide Independent Living Councils, 
     and to conduct onsite compliance reviews of such centers and 
     Councils.
     Sec. 476. Administration
       Specifies funds allotted or made available to a State under 
     the section shall be administered by the Statewide 
     Independent Living Council, in accordance with the approved 
     State plan. Reserves a small percentage of program funds to 
     provide training and technical assistance to Statewide 
     Independent Living Councils. Sets authorization levels for 
     fiscal years 2015 through 2020.
     Sec. 481. Program Authorization
       Reserves a small percentage of program funds to make grants 
     to provide training and technical assistance to centers for 
     independent living.
     Sec. 482. Centers
       Details how the Administrator of the Administration for 
     Community Living should determine how to fund centers for 
     independent living in an unserved region.
     Sec. 483. Standards and Assurances
       No substantive changes were made to this section.
     Sec. 484. Authorization of Appropriations
       Sets authorization levels for fiscal years 2015 through 
     2020.
     Sec. 486. Independent Living Services for Older Individuals 
         who are Blind
       Reserves a small percentage of program funds to provide 
     training and technical assistance to designated State 
     agencies or other providers of independent living services 
     for older individuals who are blind.
     Sec. 487. Program of Grants
       No substantive changes were made to this section.
     Sec. 488. Independent Living Services for Older Individuals 
         who are Blind Authorization of Appropriations.
       Sets authorization levels for fiscal years 2015 through 
     2020.
     Sec. 491. Transfer of Functions
       Transfers the Independent Living program, the National 
     Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and 
     Rehabilitation Research, and the programs authorized under 
     the Assistive Technology Act of 2004 to the Department of 
     Health and Human Services, Administration for Community 
     Living. Requires the Office of Management and Budget to 
     certify that these transfers do not result in an increase in 
     full time equivalent positions.


                      TITLE V: GENERAL PROVISIONS

                   Subtitle A.--Workforce Investment

     Section 501. Privacy
       Specifies general privacy protections.
     Section 502. Buy-American Requirements
       Requires compliance with the Buy American Act. Includes a 
     Sense of the Congress for the purchase of American-made 
     equipment and products. Prohibits contracts with persons 
     falsely labeling products as made in America.
     Section 503. Transition Provisions
       Describes transition provisions for all titles and programs 
     under this Act.
     Section 504. Reduction of Reporting Burdens and Requirements
       Instructs the Secretaries of Labor, Education, and Health 
     and Human Services to establish procedures and criteria by 
     which State and local boards may reduce reporting burdens and 
     requirements.
     Section 505. Effective Dates
       Stipulates the effective date of the Act.

                 Subtitle B.--Amendments to Other Laws

     Section 511. Repeal of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998
       Repeals the entire Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and the 
     Grants to States for Workplace and Community Transition 
     Training for Incarcerated Individuals under the Higher 
     Education Act.
     Section 512. Conforming Amendments
       Provides conforming amendments to other legislation, as 
     necessary and appropriate.
     Section 513. References
       Specifies related references to the Workforce Investment 
     Act of 1998, the Wagner-Peyser Act, and the Rehabilitation 
     Act of 1973.
     Tom Harkin,
       Chairman, Senate HELP Committee.
     Patty Murray,
       Chairman, Senate Budget Committee and Member, Senate HELP 
     Committee.
     John Kline,
       Chairman, House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
     Virginia Foxx,
       Chairwoman, Higher Education and Workforce Training 
     Subcommittee, House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
     Lamar Alexander,
       Ranking Member, Senate HELP Committee.
     Johnny Isakson,
       Ranking Member, Senate HELP Subcommittee on Employment and 
     Workplace Safety.
     George Miller,
       Ranking Member, House Committee on Education and the 
     Workforce.

[[Page S3990]]

     Rubeen Hinojosa,
       Ranking Member, Higher Education and Workforce Training 
     Subcommittee, House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank all of the Senators for their 
strong affirmative vote for the reauthorization of the Workforce 
Investment Act, now called the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 
Act. It is a great bill. A 95-to-3 vote I think indicates that people 
worked hard, put together a great bill that meets the needs of our 
country in training our new workforce for the future.
  Again, I thank Senator Alexander, our ranking member, for a very 
close working relationship on our committee. I would note for the 
record that the passage of this bill marks the 14th bill reported out 
of our committee during this session of Congress, during this Congress, 
that will go to the President for his signature. Our committee met a 
little bit ago. We are now reporting another bill, the Autism Cures 
bill we hope to have again before the Senate very shortly also for 
passage. Our committee has worked very hard across party lines to reach 
these agreements.
  Again, I thank Senator Alexander.
  On this bill, especially, I thank Senator Isakson and Senator Murray 
for sticking with it. This bill took 5 years and a lot of ups and 
downs, a lot of knots to untangle. But they did it. They worked hard at 
it.
  I think there is a lesson here for all of us, that if you stick to it 
and you focus on the areas in which you have agreement, not those where 
you do not have agreement, but you focus on the areas you have 
agreement and build from there, you can get good things done. So this 
is a good bill. I want to thank all of the Senators and their staffs.
  I again thank my ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions, HELP, Committee, Senator Alexander, and his staff. 
I appreciate their assistance in getting this bill through the floor, 
and I especially appreciate their partnership in the updates we made to 
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which is title IV of the WIOA. My 
thanks to David Cleary, William Knudsen, Peter Oppenheim, and Patrick 
Murray on Senator Alexander's team.
  I again thank the Democratic champion of reauthorizing the Workforce 
Investment Act, WIA, Senator Murray. She and her staff have dedicated 
countless hours to advancing this bill. In particular, my thanks to 
Mike Spahn, Stacy Rich, Evan Schatz, and Scott Cheney.
  My thanks as well to Senator Isakson and his team, who have been 
great partners in this bipartisan effort. I would especially like to 
thank Tommy Nguyen, Brett Layson, and Michael Black.
  We absolutely could not have made it to the finish line in the Senate 
without the dedication and work of my House colleagues, Representatives 
Kline, Miller, Foxx, and Hinojosa. Working with them and their staff 
has been a pleasure, and I would like to take a moment to thank some of 
the key staff in their offices specifically.
  For Representatives Kline and Foxx, my thanks to Amy Jones, Rosemary 
Lahasky, Brad Thomas, and James Bergeron who has since moved on to 
other professional endeavors.
  For Representatives Miller and Hinojosa, my thanks to Megan O'Reilly, 
Leticia Mederos, Jamie Fasteau, Jacqueline Chevalier, Brian Kennedy, 
and Rosa Garcia. I also thank Michele Varnhagan and Jody Calemine, who 
have since moved on to other professional endeavors. I would also like 
to thank Kevin McDermott in Representative McDermott's office.
  I also offer my appreciation to my own team for their work in 
advancing this bill. Specifically, I thank Brian Ahlberg, Derek Miller, 
Crystal Bridgeman, Michael Gamel-McCormick, Mildred Otero, Lauren 
McFerran, Lee Perselay, Liz Weiss, Michael Kreps, and Robin Juliano. I 
would also like to thank Andy Imparato, Pam Smith, David Johns and 
Thomas Showalter, former members of my staff who have since moved on to 
other professional endeavors.
  Let me also express my appreciation to Senator Enzi and his former 
HELP Committee staff who dedicated many years to reauthorizing WIA. 
Specifically, I would like to express my appreciation to Beth Buehlmann 
and Kelly Hastings.
  I also greatly appreciate the technical assistance we received from 
the Federal agencies and the Congressional Research Service.
  Specifically, I thank the Department of Labor and the Department of 
Education for their technical assistance. Portia Wu, Gerri Fiala, Mark 
Morin, Sean Cartwright, Michelle Rose, Adri Jayaratne, Julia McKinney, 
and so many others at the Department played key roles in moving this 
legislation forward.
  At the Department of Education, I extend my thanks to Gabriella 
Gomez, Lloyd Horwich, Brenda Dann-Messier, Jodie Fingland, and Johan 
Uvin.
  I also thank the following staff at the Congressional Research 
Service for the expert assistance they provided during this process--
David Bradley, Benjamin Collins, Adrienne Fernandes-Alcantara, and Kate 
Manuel.
  Finally, we could not do this work without the help of the Senate 
Legislative Counsel. Liz King, Kristin Romero, Amy Gaynor, and others 
on their team were instrumental in drafting this bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I want to thank our chairman and ranking member, Senator 
Harkin and Senator Alexander, for their tremendous work and backing us 
as we worked through this process. I again thank my partner, Senator 
Isakson, who was so diligent and true to his word and worked through 
every issue with us. I want to thank him for that.
  I also will take a minute this afternoon to extend a sincere thank 
you to all of the staff who worked so hard to help put this bill 
together, worked through its challenges, and got us to this point today 
where we have passed it in the Senate. If the Senate will bear with me, 
we have a lot of names, but I think that tells you how many people 
worked so hard on this. From my office: senior advisor Scott Cheney; my 
chief of staff Mike Spahn; my Budget Committee staff director Evan 
Schatz; Stacy Rich and Emma Fulkerson from my floor and leadership 
staff; my entire communications team, especially Eli Zupnick and Sean 
Coit; and everyone else from my team who has worked so very hard to 
move this bill forward.
  I thank the wonderful staff from Senator Isakson's office: Tommy 
Nguyen, staff director of the HELP Subcommittee on Employment and 
Workplace Safety, as well as Brett Layson and Michael Black who have 
been incredible to work with.
  I thank Chairman Harkin's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 
Committee team: senior education policy adviser Crystal Bridgeman; 
chief education counsel Mildred Otero; disability policy director 
Michael Gamel-McCormick; disability counsel Lee Perselay; Derek Miller, 
staff director of the HELP Committee; deputy staff director and labor 
policy director of the HELP Committee Lauren McFerren; and labor policy 
adviser Liz Weiss; and many more on his staff who have helped.
  I also thank the staff of Senator Alexander: education policy adviser 
Patrick Murray; education policy director and counsel Peter Oppenheim; 
Bill Knudsen, education policy advisor; and HELP Committee staff 
director and chief of staff David Cleary.
  We also benefited from the expertise of the Congressional Research 
Service. I thank David Bradley, Benjamin Collins, and Adrienne 
Fernandes-Alcantara.
  I would be remiss if I did not thank the professionals in the Senate 
Legislative Counsel's office, especially Liz King, Amy Gaynor, Kristin 
Romero, and Katie Grendon.
  As you can see, a lot of people worked a very long time to get us 
where we are. This has been an 11-year process, so there have been a 
lot of staff who worked on various versions of this reauthorization 
over the years. I cannot name them all, but there are some who deserve 
recognition as well: Gerri Fiala, Bill Kamela, Beth Buehlmann, Kelly 
Hastings, Pam Smith, David Johns, and Glee Smith.
  Of course, my thanks to the staff in the House and the 
administration, of whom there are far too many to mention here.
  I think that tells all of us that this is a bill that was worked on 
diligently by

[[Page S3991]]

many over the years. Who will benefit at the end of the day are our 
workforce and our employers and our country.
  I thank again my counterpart Senator Isakson for working with me to 
get this done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I want to associate myself with the remarks of Senator 
Harkin and Senator Patty Murray from Washington. I reiterate what I 
said in my opening statement about how much regard and respect I have 
for Senator Murray, for the job she has done. We would not be here 
today if it were not for Patty Murray. I am grateful for her support 
and her kind words.
  I want to reiterate all of the names she said, all the thanks that we 
have. But I want to particularly thank my staff who have made me once 
again look good. That is a difficult job to do sometimes. I thank Tommy 
Nguyen, Amanda Maddox, Michael Black, Brett Layson. I appreciate all 
they have done; Joan Kirchner, my chief of staff, who came to our aid 
last week and pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the Republican 
conference that allowed us to be here.
  We all get a lot of credit as Members of the Senate. But it is our 
staff who make or break what we do. We are very grateful to our staff 
or the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act would not become law, 
would not get to the President's desk.
  So to Patty Murray, to Senator Harkin, to Senator Alexander, thank 
you. And to all of our staff, thank you for day in and day out doing 
the real work of the Senate and for the people of the United States of 
America.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, H.R. 803, as 
amended, having passed, amendment No. 3382 to the title is agreed to 
and the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the 
table.
  The amendment (No. 3382) was agreed to, as follows:

                     (Purpose: To amend the title)

       Amend the title so as to read: ``An Act to amend the 
     Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to strengthen the United 
     States workforce development system through innovation in, 
     and alignment and improvement of, employment, training, and 
     education programs in the United States, and to promote 
     individual and national economic growth, and for other 
     purposes.''.

     

                          ____________________