[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 98 (Thursday, June 8, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4805-H4809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, tonight I am honored to lead a bipartisan
Special Order on career and technical education. We have several
Members joining us here this evening to highlight CTE programs in their
districts and the upcoming reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins
Career and Technical Education Act.
I would like to start the order by yielding to my colleague and
colead, Congressman Krishnamoorthi, who has been working hard with my
Pennsylvania colleague, Congressman Thompson, on H.R. 2353, the
Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Smucker for
yielding. I really appreciate his leadership. I thank Congressman G.T.
Thompson from Pennsylvania as well for his leadership. It is an honor
to be here.
Madam Speaker, in recent years, global economic trends have led to an
ever-growing skills gap. While unemployment has fallen to 4.4 percent
in my home State of Illinois, there is still a widening gap between the
jobs that are open and the skills workers need. This has become
apparent as I have traveled throughout my district listening to
community representatives, businesses, parents, students, and higher
education officials discuss the local state of the economy.
I have been particularly concerned with the feedback I have received
from businesses, who continue to report that there is a gap between the
talent and skills they need in employees and what they can actually
find. Shortages in skilled fields like machinists, technicians,
operators, cybersecurity, and healthcare are impairing their ability to
grow their businesses.
There is much Congress can do to improve the skills of our labor
force, which is why I was proud to partner with my good friend and
fellow member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Congressman
G.T. Thompson, in introducing H.R. 2353.
Our bill reauthorizes the Carl D. Perkins grant program through
fiscal year 2023 and gives States and local governments the tools to
better equip workers for higher paying middle class jobs in the 21st
century.
The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century
Act addresses one of the underlying causes of the skills gap: what is
being taught in classes does not necessarily sync up with what is
needed to get a job. H.R. 2353 requires a strong buy-in from local
businesses in developing State plans.
With more local stakeholders involved in the process, it will better
equip students with the technical skills they need to find success in
local in-demand careers.
Finally, I believe it is important that we start to shift the culture
surrounding career and technical education. Every student, no matter
his or her career goals, should participate in some form of career
education. I believe that every student needs to graduate, not just
with a diploma but with another piece of paper, namely an offer letter.
Some students will find success in a traditional 4-year college
program; others, however, will learn the skills they need through a 2-
year community college or on-the-job training.
I look forward to working with my colleagues from both sides of the
aisle to ensure its passage, and I look forward to sending this bill to
the President later this year for signing.
Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Congressman
Krishnamoorthi for his leadership on this issue. The Congressman is a
fellow member of the freshman class. I really appreciate the
opportunity to work with him, particularly on this very important
topic.
Madam Speaker, I yield to Congressman Thompson, the sponsor of H.R.
2353, who, for many years, has been leading the charge here in the
House to strengthen career technical education.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend
from Pennsylvania, Representative Smucker--he is doing a great job
representing his congressional district and being a strong voice for
Pennsylvania--for hosting this important Special Order tonight focused
on career and technical education.
I appreciate my good friend, Representative Krishnamoorthi, who is
with me and is leading the charge with the piece of legislation that I
hope we will see on the House floor in the weeks to come.
As co-chair of the House Career and Technical Education Caucus, I
often say that a high quality career in technical education can help
restore rungs on the ladder of opportunity. Now, this statement is one
I truly believe in.
For many Americans, those rungs have been displaced for different
reasons, whether it is training that they have had, access to training,
access to quality, effective training; whether it has been poverty;
whether it has been unemployment, underemployment, all things that take
away rungs on the ladder of opportunity, this career and technical
education can truly restore rungs on the ladder of opportunity.
It is undeniable that career and technological education has helped
many Americans obtain the knowledge and skills they need to break the
cycle of poverty and achieve a lifetime of success.
The first step to increasing access to CTE programs, as we refer to
them, across the United States is modernizing the Federal investment in
these programs, and it has been more than a decade since Congress has
updated the Federal law governing CTE programs. This is problematic,
due to the fact that so much about our society and our Nation's
workforce has changed during this time. Since the last time the Perkins
Act was reauthorized, we have new skill sets, new jobs, new industry,
new opportunities, new technology.
So, for example, today, more than 1 million positions remain open in
the trade, transportation, utility sectors, and an additional 315,000
manufacturing positions are currently unfilled. If we are to embark on
a new era of American manufacturing and improved infrastructure, we
need a qualified and well trained workforce to fill these positions.
That is the number one asset of any business. It is not the location;
it is not the compliance; it is not the marketing. It really is a
qualified and trained workforce.
With all this in mind, I have worked with my colleagues in
introducing the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the
21st Century Act
[[Page H4806]]
once again this Congress. Last Congress, this bill did pass unanimously
out of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and was
widely supported on the House floor by a vote of 405-5. Unfortunately,
things bogged down in the Senate, with a lot of good legislation at the
end of the last congressional cycle, and so here we are again, which is
okay, because we have taken the opportunity to make this just a little
bit better, too. We had some small refinements, but some improvements.
We used our time effectively.
Now, this robust reauthorization of the Perkins Act will help ensure
that Federal policies accurately reflect the challenges and realities
facing today's students, workers, and employers. Additionally, the bill
supports innovative learning opportunities and stronger engagements
with employers. By promoting work-based learning at the Federal level,
more employers will build relationships with students through hands-on
experience. This type of learning is invaluable to students with a wide
range of interests and learning styles.
I am proud to see this bill pass out of the committee unanimously
once again last month. I am looking forward to its consideration on the
House floor and in the Senate in the future.
Now, if we are serious about improving our Nation's workforce and
providing greater opportunities for all Americans, we will work
together to move this bill through the legislative process. After all,
this new bill, as I have said before, does restore rungs on the ladder
of opportunity.
The impact of increasing access and quality of career and technical
education is far-reaching. Take, for example, maybe a 15-year-old girl
who when in school was uninspired, her head is on her desk. She doesn't
learn in the typical way that many of us do, where people talk at you
and teach, but if you can put something in her hands, the tools of
career and technical education, that could be a welder, a set of
wrenches, it could be a paint brush, it could be a stethoscope, farm
implements, she is inspired, and she does great, she excels.
I just heard about a young boy today, who is a young man now, but as
a young boy was on the spectrum scale, he had some issues of autism. I
was so inspired to hear this today. This young man went into career and
technical education as a welder. And today, he is making a significant
amount of money, more than what his teacher was making, right out of
high school, as a welder because of what career and technical education
did.
The young couple facing unemployment and underemployment who is at
the kitchen table trying to decide how to make ends meet, and this is
an opportunity to get back into the workforce. The middle-aged worker
who has been working the line manufacturing who would like a promotion,
do a little better by his family, bring more money home, it provides
and serves that person. The family who is stuck in poverty maybe for
generations, stuck in poverty so long, they don't even remember what
was the incident that put them into poverty generations ago, but this
is a way to break that cycle of poverty.
And certainly the successful business owner, who is doing all the
right things, and she is invested in her business and has grown the
business and has a great product and a great location and a great
marketing plan, great compliance plan, because of regulation issues,
but she is closing her business, because, Madam Speaker, she can't find
qualified and trained workers to keep that business going, let alone
grow it. These are all examples of folks who will benefit from this.
I really want to thank my colleagues for their enthusiastic support
of career and technical education. On a day when I know there are other
places where there are pressures to be this evening, you are right here
on the House floor and leading the cause for career and technical
education, and I am very thankful for that. Once again, thanks to
Representative Smucker for his leadership and tonight's Special Order.
Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I would like to again thank the
Congressman for his leadership on this very important issue. I very
much enjoyed, in the 5 months I have been here, working with
Congressman Thompson, a fellow member of the Pennsylvania delegation,
but I have seen his passion for this issue. So, again, I look forward
to continuing to work with you on this and really appreciate your
leadership.
{time} 1715
You mentioned the critical need of businesses to fill spots that are
available today. We see the unemployment rate today. We know this is a
problem today and will continue to be a problem.
My background is in construction. We owned a construction firm. We
had about 150 employees. Our biggest problem always was finding
qualified people to fill the spots that are available. At the same
time, I saw the opportunities that were available to people who decided
to take up a career in construction. It is not, as many people think,
neither construction nor manufacturing nor many jobs that require
technical trade skills today. Construction uses technology, and it is
not a dirty job that people once thought it was. The manufacturing is
the same way. At the same time, there are great-paying jobs, family-
sustaining jobs available in these fields.
I think we need to do a better job of enlightening, essentially, the
opportunities and talking about the opportunities that are available
through career and technical education.
To your point again, Congressman, there is no better way to help
people out of poverty than to connect them with a good-paying job and
the self-worth that is achieved from finding a job. We know those jobs
are available today. What career and technical education does is
prepare people for great-paying jobs that are available.
Again, thank you so much for your leadership on this.
Now I would like to yield to another freshman colleague of mine on
the Education and Workforce Committee, Mr. Mitchell, who has an
extensive background in higher education and brings that expertise to
the committee.
Mr. MITCHELL. I thank Mr. Smucker for yielding to me.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about education and workforce
preparedness.
Prior to serving in Congress, I dedicated my 35-year career to
workforce education, helping people develop skills necessary to get a
job and start a career path.
There is something about the pride that comes when someone builds the
skills necessary to start a career. Their whole world changes when they
see what they can achieve and the difference that makes for their
family.
I ran for Congress with the desire to make that opportunity possible
for all Americans; to help all Americans succeed, as I and so many
others in this Chamber have.
For some people, pursuing their desired career means a 4-year college
degree. I have also seen that that is not the right path for many
others. Yet, too often, those that wish to pursue careers in technical
areas lack the skills to gain the employment and access the skills
training necessary to move forward.
This leads to a problem we have all heard of, the skills gap. People,
young and mature, are unable to find jobs because they lack the
necessary skills, and employers are unable to find qualified staff to
fill their jobs.
We are seeing this repeatedly in my home State of Michigan. Several
companies that have been awarded incentives to grow and expand through
the Michigan Strategic Fund have had to dial back planned expansions
due to hiring challenges. The Pure Michigan Talent Connect website
lists nearly 100,000 open jobs and positions across a range of
industries. Businesses simply cannot find qualified individuals to fill
their open jobs. It threatens our Nation, and we must address it.
In efforts to assess the needs of our education system over the last
5 months, I have met with students, administrators, teachers, and
employers throughout my congressional district. Every single employer I
have met since I started office have told me the same thing, believe it
or not. They need more employees with the skills necessary, the core
technical skills necessary, to contribute in the workforce. Despite
expensive and extensive recruitment efforts, they can't find them. It
is creating a real problem.
[[Page H4807]]
They are turning down work and turning down opportunity and growth
across this Nation and in my district because they cannot find skilled
employees.
Schools in my community recognize this problem, but too often their
hands are tied, needing to ensure that students meet arbitrary
standards and testing metrics. Here is the irony: rather than ensuring
that they are prepared for employment in the community, we worry about
test scores.
School leaders throughout my district have asked for one thing: more
flexibility to offer choices to students and families to develop skills
to meet the needs of employers and, frankly, the needs of the 21st
century.
The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century
Act would give additional flexibility to the community that education
leaders are asking for. It will also allow States to better accommodate
the local workforce needs. Schools, parents, employers, and teachers
have made it clear: career and technical education can be improved by
making it more relevant to students and employers, ensuring programs
are accountable, involving all stakeholders, and granting more
flexibility.
The bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the
21st Century Act achieves those goals. I am proud to support it as one
step to expand the educational opportunities in choice in this country.
Mr. SMUCKER. I thank Representative Mitchell for his comments. Again,
I appreciate not only his passion for this issue, but the wealth of
experience in this field that he brings to the table, and I look
forward as well to continuing to work with him on this issue.
I now would like to yield to, once again, another freshman Member of
the class who I very much enjoy working with, Mr. Ferguson.
Mr. FERGUSON. I thank Mr. Smucker for yielding to me.
I, too, would like to express my appreciation for Representative
Thompson for taking the lead on this on our side of aisle. He did a
great job. I also appreciate Representative Krishnamoorthi from
Illinois, who worked tirelessly to make this a real solid bill. So
thanks to both of them. Thank you for taking time to lead these Special
Orders tonight.
In my district and throughout Georgia, our school systems, technical
colleges, and communities are creating innovative career tech
opportunities to help transition students into a workforce through dual
enrollment with the Technical College System of Georgia, work-based
learning apprenticeships, and Career Academies like the THINC Academy
in LaGrange, the Central Education Center in Newnan, and 12 for Life in
Carrollton, Georgia.
These programs are helping our young people make the transition from
high school directly into the workforce, and they are also helping
adult learners transition into new careers.
I visited these centers and learned about these education programs,
and they provide a meaningful transition for these students. They rely
heavily on the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Eduction Act. This
is a pivotal workforce development tool. It enables our education
leaders to develop tailored programs that reflect the workforce needs,
leveraging small dollars for very large outcomes.
Travelling throughout my district, the number one issue I hear from
business and education leaders is workforce development. I have seen
examples across the Third District of how community stakeholders are
pulling together to do their part to develop career tech education and,
in turn, create opportunities for young people to climb the ladder of
success.
I am so impressed by the emerging partnerships that have naturally
come about as these groups work to close the skills gap that we have in
this country. They know the urgent need we have to educate students and
develop these skills to fill the demands of a 21st century job.
This is a story of so many of our communities across the country and
the reason why I support the effort to move forward and reauthorize the
Perkins CTE. Reauthorizing Perkins CTE will upgrade the law and more
accurately reflect the needs and work being done by States and local
communities, providing flexibility, streamlined application processes,
promoting partnerships, accountability, and a limited Federal role.
It is time to make these reforms, and I proudly support H.R. 2353.
Mr. SMUCKER. I thank Mr. Ferguson for his comments. As he mentioned,
this is about family-sustaining jobs. Mr. Ferguson has a lot of
experience bringing jobs to his town of West Point in Georgia, where he
was mayor, creating thousands of new jobs there through innovative
policies. I look forward to continuing to work with him on this as
well.
Now I yield to another colleague on the Education and Workforce
Committee who has been a leading voice as well on CTE, Mr. Wilson.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. I thank Congressman Lloyd Smucker for
yielding to me. I appreciate his dedicated leadership to the people of
Pennsylvania.
Students and businesses in South Carolina know firsthand the
importance of an educated workforce to promote jobs. They also know
that quality education doesn't have to come at the time and expense of
a traditional 4-year college degree to achieve fulfilling jobs.
While visiting these schools and businesses across the Second
District of South Carolina, I regularly learn how they have positively
benefited from career and technical education programs that create jobs
and lead to fulfilling lives.
With career and technical education, students can incorporate
practical skills and training into their educational experience; skills
that are valuable to the workforce to create jobs.
Businesses in South Carolina especially appreciate the opportunity to
work with the technical colleges to work to close the skills gap and
hire trained, experienced employees for highly technical jobs.
I have been grateful to have the opportunity to visit Midlands
Technical College, Aiken Technical College, and Orangeburg-Calhoun
Technical College, along with the extraordinary programs at their area
high schools.
I am grateful for the work of the Apprenticeship Carolina, readySC,
and the South Carolina Technical College System for their role in
connecting students with employers.
I also appreciate the countless businesses in South Carolina, like
Boeing, Michelin, MTU, Fluor, and others that support the career and
technical education programs and hire students from the programs or
facilitate apprenticeship programs for meaningful jobs. In fact, these
programs have been the basis for establishing the tire industry in
South Carolina where, in the district I represent, Michelin is the
largest single tire manufacturer in the world at that location.
Additionally, with Bridgestone, which is Japanese; Continental, which
is German; Michelin, which is French; Giti, which is GT, which is
Singapore; and soon a Chinese tire manufacturer, because of the
training programs we have, South Carolina now is the leading
manufacturer and exporter of tires of any State in the United States.
Additionally, with BMW, South Carolina is the leading exporter of
cars of any State in the United States. In fact, last year, $9.4
billion worth of BMWs were exported out of Charleston for worldwide
distribution.
While South Carolina has been highly successful in promoting career
and technical education programs, I hope all communities across the
country can experience the success that we have achieved creating jobs.
The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century
Act will reduce regulations and allow State and local leaders to create
career and technical education programs best for their communities.
As the House of Representatives will consider the bipartisan
Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act
soon, I urge all of my colleagues to support this job-creating
legislation for meaningful and productive families.
Mr. SMUCKER. I thank Mr. Wilson for his comments.
I am happy to say that I am one of those who supports the economy in
South Carolina by buying those Bridgestone and Firestone tires for my
vehicles.
Mr. Wilson has been a strong advocate, obviously, for the people of
his
[[Page H4808]]
district, the people of his State, and has been a leader in regards to
CTE. I look forward to working with him on this bill as well.
I think I will have one more speaker, who is on the way. As I wait
for him, Mr. Wilson talked about some of the schools in his area that
have been doing a great job in connecting people, training people,
educating people for the kind of jobs that are available in our
workforces.
Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District is home to Thaddeus
Stevens College of Technology, and it is an incredible story and
similar to stories of many of the other institutions that are providing
career and technical education.
There was a job fair recently at Thaddeus Stevens College, and for
just a few hundred graduates, there were about 450 companies
essentially competing for those individuals, competing to fill spots
they had. So it goes without saying that the placement rate at many of
these schools--I know certainly at Thaddeus Stevens College--is almost
100 percent placement rate. They have a problem, in fact, sometimes
keeping people until graduation because students are offered jobs even
before they graduate, and they are hired away.
{time} 1730
Some of the students coming out of Thaddeus Stevens College are
earning, on average, $45,000 annually. We have the Marcellus shale
drilling in our area, welders, some of them are earning up to six
figures, $100,000 or more in the first or second year of employment.
So, again, the kind of jobs that we are talking about here are great-
paying, family-sustaining jobs.
My district is also home to Reading Area Community College and the
Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences, both of which offer CTE
programs. We have spoken with, as a part of leading up to this bill
being introduced, their faculty, students, and staff about how some of
these programs can be improved.
Harrisburg Area Community College has a campus in my district in
Lancaster. They do something that I think we will be seeing more of and
should be seeing more of: they run an innovative apprenticeship
program. They brought together private businesses that work with the
school to help prepare skilled workers to fill available jobs. It is a
very innovative program. The program has been very, very successful.
Future initiatives there include expanding the program into our local
high schools to ensure that graduates are college or career ready. It
is an opportunity that I think we have across the country.
If you look at some other models, some of the European countries--for
instance, I just had a long, extensive conversation with the Swiss
Ambassador about the apprenticeship program in Switzerland.
Here, we often think of apprenticeship in what we may refer to as
blue-collar workers, construction and manufacturing. In Switzerland, I
was told that they have apprenticeship programs in up to 230 careers.
So it is bankers and insurers. Many, many different companies are
taking advantage of the apprenticeship program there.
It gets to the student debt problem that we hear so much about. Here,
students are earning a degree. In an apprenticeship program, students
are earning a degree while earning dollars, so it sort of does away
with that, if you think about it. You are earning dollars as you are
learning. So it is a great model that I hope to see more of here.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr.
Langevin).
Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and
I thank Representative Smucker for holding this Special Order.
Madam Speaker, as co-chair of the Career and Technical Education
Caucus, I rise to highlight the importance of career and technical
education for our Nation's workforce. I really appreciate all of the
comments that the gentleman just mentioned, and I concur.
Madam Speaker, across Rhode Island, I continue to hear from employers
struggling to find skilled workers to fill open jobs in fields such as
manufacturing, IT, and other trades.
Hundreds of thousands of high-skilled, high-paying jobs are right now
unfulfilled in our country, and this number is continuing to grow.
Especially as we hear about bringing jobs back from overseas,
manufacturing, just by way of example, has changed dramatically. These
factories are no longer the old, dirty, noisy manufacturing factories
of old that, say, our fathers or grandfathers were used to. They are
now all high-tech. You see robots doing a lot of the manufacturing that
require both programming and sophisticated knowledge how to run this
advanced equipment.
So the jobs are coming back, but they are coming back in different
ways, needing different skills. And right now we need to ensure that
our workforce is equipped with the tools to meet the demands of the
economy to close our Nation's skills gap. We can do this by better
aligning education and industry.
Our students, Madam Speaker, should be learning the skills they need
to succeed in growing economic sectors. This is one of the most
important investments that we can make in our Nation's future.
The Governor of Rhode Island, Governor Raimondo, likes to say: We
need to give our workers the skills that matter for jobs that pay.
In the Ocean State, the newly opened Westerly Education Center right
now is working to promote CTE, providing a range of courses to help
Rhode Islanders to meet the current and projected needs of the region's
economy. The Westerly Education Center effectively brings together
higher education, industry, and community partners to ensure students
of all ages are prepared for workforce opportunities in Rhode Island.
Classes range from industry-specific skills training to courses in
critical thinking, management, and also soft skills.
CTE courses, Madam Speaker, are in demand. Approximately 12.5 million
high school and college students are enrolled in CTE across the Nation.
But Federal investment in this area has decreased, actually, since
2011, and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act hasn't
been authorized since 2006. I am hoping that we are going to be able to
see this act reauthorized very soon.
Perkins is the primary Federal investment in CTE, and the most
important thing that we can do to support CTE across the country, to
support students and businesses across the country, is to reauthorize
this legislation. It needs to be updated for our changing economy, and
funding for CTE programs must be increased to support growing programs
across the Nation.
Last Congress, I know that the House overwhelmingly passed the
bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education Act, and I call
on my colleagues to do the same in this Congress as well. It was, in
some ways, a rare moment of bipartisanship in the Congress and a great
example of how we can work together. Hopefully, that will lead to other
things as well.
H.R. 2353 recently passed unanimously by the Education and the
Workforce Committee, and it is, again, the product of an inclusive and
thoughtful process. I commend the chairman of the Education and the
Workforce Committee and the ranking member and all of the members on
both sides of the aisle for working so closely together--again, a very
complicated piece of legislation that passed unanimously out of
committee.
So, again, I thank my fellow CTE Caucus co-chair as well,
Representative Thompson from Pennsylvania, for all of his great work on
this bill. He is a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee,
and he is the co-chair of the CTE Caucus. We work in lockstep on these
matters. It has been a pleasure to work with him. I am grateful for his
leadership, along with many other colleagues.
It makes many necessary updates to Perkins, with an emphasis on
training students for the skills that they will need in high-growth
economic sectors. The bill contains several important reforms,
including increasing collaboration between education and industry,
expanding student access to apprenticeships, supporting career
counselors, and aligning State performance indicators with local labor
markets, among other things.
Unfortunately, at a time when it is more crucial than ever to invest
in CTE, the President's budget has proposed, though, a budget for
fiscal year
[[Page H4809]]
2018 that cuts Perkins State grants by 15 percent. That is more than
$168 million across the country. In Rhode Island, that Perkins funding
cut would mean a cut of more than $800,000. If enacted, the President's
budget would not only slash a crucial investment in our students, but
it would deeply hurt businesses.
If we want businesses to come back to the country from overseas, if
we want to relocate those jobs here, we need to make sure that we have
the workforce that can actually do the jobs that would be available and
that are, in fact, available right now.
This is the time to invest in workforce development, not undermine
it. Demand for CTE is growing from students and industry, and our
economy desperately needs it.
Madam Speaker, in closing, let me just say that I encourage my
colleagues to prioritize CTE. It matters for your constituents, and it
yields big returns for our States' economies and for our Nation's
economy as a whole. Put simply, providing workers with the skills
necessary to thrive in the economy is essential to our economic
prosperity. It is the right thing to do, giving our workers the skills
they need for jobs that pay.
Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Langevin. His
points are very good. We appreciate his leadership as co-chair of the
CTE Caucus and for the work that he has done in bringing this bill to
the point where it is now.
He is right. It was passed unanimously out of the Education and the
Workforce Committee. We thank the chair of the committee for making
that a priority. We hope it passes the floor of the House--it did, of
course, last session--and then we hope it becomes a priority for the
Senate as well. It is important.
He has mentioned some of the schools, the institutions, in his
district. I have talked about some in mine. I have heard from all of
them. Not only have they given input into the bill itself and how we
can improve the entire system across the country, but they have also
talked about the importance of the grants that are provided to them
through the Perkins Act. Reauthorization will be very beneficial in
keeping those grants going, in providing the help that we can from the
Federal level. So I thank him.
Madam Speaker, as I conclude with my remarks, I would first, again,
like to thank all of my colleagues who have participated in this
bipartisan Special Order. It is really, as we have seen, a bipartisan
issue here.
I thank Congressman Krishnamoorthi for helping to colead this and for
cosponsoring the bill, along with Congressman Thompson.
In my own background, I was someone with a nontraditional education.
I recognize the importance of providing our constituents with
educational pathways that provide them the skills necessary to launch
successful careers. In my experience, I know firsthand what it is like
to work a full-time job while attending school, and I believe that it
is important that we accommodate the needs of many different types of
students that are ready to learn and willing to work.
So, again, I am excited and very happy to cosponsor and support the
Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.
This bill empowers State and local community leaders. It improves
alignment with in-demand jobs, those jobs that we have been talking
about. It increases transparency and accountability, and it ensures a
limited Federal role, putting the decisionmaking where it should be.
Madam Speaker, I mentioned before, but, in closing, I thank my
Pennsylvania colleague, Representative G.T. Thompson, for his
leadership on this critically important legislation. The level of
support for strengthening career and technical education among my
colleagues in the House and on a bipartisan basis is absolutely
outstanding, and I am very eager to continue finding new ways in which
we can grow CTE and apprenticeship programs and expand access for
Pennsylvania's working people to allow them to help achieve the
American Dream.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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