[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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