[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5129-S5131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2904. Ms. ROSEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
her to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle H of title X, insert the following:
SEC. 1095. RETURNING SKILLED WORKERS TO THE STEM WORKFORCE.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``STEM
Restoring Employment Skills through Targeted Assistance, Re-
entry, and Training Act'' or the ``STEM RESTART Act''.
(b) In General.--Subtitle D of title I of the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 172 (29 U.S.C. 3227) as
section 173; and
(2) by inserting after section 171 the following:
``SEC. 172. GRANTS TO SUPPORT SKILLED WORKERS IN RETURNING OR
TRANSITIONING TO THE STEM WORKFORCE.
``(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
``(1) The Brookings Institution expects the coronavirus
pandemic will have lasting effects on the labor market and
could change the composition of available jobs indefinitely,
with the ensuing economic decline ushering in a new era of
automation. Employers will likely shed less skilled workers
and replace them with higher-skilled technology workers,
which increases labor productivity as a recession tapers off.
``(2) The current pipeline of engineering talent does not
include many college graduates from large cohorts of the
population.
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Women represent over 57 percent of college graduates but only
22 percent of the engineers entering the workforce. Within
the workforce, only 14 percent of engineers are women. Women
also leave the engineering profession in greater numbers than
men do.
``(3) A 2018 Pew Research Center study showed there are
wide racial gaps among current STEM workers regarding reasons
why so few Black and Hispanic people work in STEM. For
example, over 70 percent of Black STEM workers view lack of
access to education and discriminatory hiring and promotion
practices as reasons there are so few Black men and women in
the STEM fields. By comparison, less than 30 percent of White
and Asian STEM workers view that lack of access and those
practices as barriers to Black people entering the fields.
Additionally, 62 percent of Black STEM workers say they have
faced discrimination in their jobs compared to just 13
percent of White STEM workers.
``(4) Among the 25,300,000 United States women ages 25
through 54 with a bachelor's degree or higher degree in 2017,
4,200,000 were out of the labor force. While some of those
women were disabled or retired, the remaining 3,600,000 women
may be candidates to return to work.
``(5) The Center for Talent Innovation's research shows
that while 93 percent of women who left the workforce want to
resume their careers, only 74 percent manage to get any kind
of job at all and just 40 percent successfully return to work
full-time.
``(6) Mid-career internship and other returnship programs
are an effective way to address the difficulties of former
STEM employees seeking to return to work, as the programs
provide a probationary period and also an opportunity to
obtain mentorship, professional development, and support as
the participants transition back to work. Even more
important, returnship programs allow an employer to base a
hiring decision on an actual work sample instead of a series
of interviews. At the same time, the programs give
participants an opportunity to return to work together, in a
cohort of similarly situated returners.
``(7) Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Honeywell, Northrop
Grumman, Ingersoll Rand, and The Procter & Gamble Company
have taken the initiative to try to close the gender gap
among STEM professionals by providing mid-career internships
for returning technical professionals. However, a 2008 study
by Anthony Breitzman and Diana Hicks for the Office of
Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, entitled `An
Analysis of Small Business Patents by Industry and Firm
Size', found that `Small firms are much more likely to
develop emerging technologies than are large firms. This is
perhaps intuitively reasonable given theories on small firms
effecting technological change, but the quantitative data
here support this assertion. Specifically, although small
firms account for only 8 percent of patents granted, they
account for 24 percent of the patents in the top 100 emerging
clusters.'.
``(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are to--
``(1) prioritize expanding opportunities, through high-
quality internships or other returnships in STEM fields for
unemployed or underemployed workers, particularly workers
from underrepresented populations and workers from rural
areas, who are mid-career skilled workers seeking to return
or transition to in-demand industry sectors or occupations
within the STEM workforce, at positions and compensation
above entry level; and
``(2) establish grant funding and other incentives for
small-sized and medium-sized companies in in-demand industry
sectors or occupations to establish programs that provide on-
the-job evaluation, education, and training for mid-career
skilled workers described in paragraph (1).
``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Medium-sized enterprise.--The term `medium-sized',
used with respect to an enterprise, means an entity that
employs more than 499 and fewer than 10,000 employees.
``(2) RESTART grant.--The term `RESTART grant' means a
grant made under subsection (d).
``(3) Returnship.--The term `returnship' shall mean any
internship, apprenticeship, re-entry opportunity, direct
hiring opportunity with support, or other similar opportunity
designed to provide workers seeking to return or transition
to the STEM workforce with positions that--
``(A) are above entry level;
``(B) provide salaries, stipends, or other payments, and
benefits, that are above entry level; and
``(C) provide training that leads workers toward full-time
careers and provides pathways toward advancement and
leadership.
``(4) Rural area.--The term `rural area' means an area that
is not an urban area (within the meaning of the notice of
final program criteria entitled `Urban Area Criteria for the
2010 Census' (76 Fed. Reg. 53030 (August 24, 2011))).
``(5) Small-sized enterprise.--The term `small-sized', used
with respect to an enterprise, means an entity that employs
more than 49 and fewer than 500 individuals.
``(6) STEM.--The term `STEM' has the meaning given the term
in section 2 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of
2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621 note).
``(7) Underrepresented population.--The term
`underrepresented population' means a group that is
underrepresented in science and engineering, as determined by
the Secretary of Education under section 637.4(b) of title
34, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of
enactment of the STEM RESTART Act).
``(8) Unemployed or underemployed individual.--The term
`unemployed or underemployed individual' means--
``(A) an unemployed or underemployed individual as defined
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and
``(B) a displaced or furloughed worker.
``(d) Grant.--
``(1) In general.--From the amounts made available to carry
out this section, the Secretary shall award grants, on a
competitive basis, to eligible entities, to carry out
returnship programs that provide opportunities above entry
level in STEM fields for mid-career skilled workers, and
achieve the purposes described in subsection (b).
``(2) Periods.--The Secretary shall award the grants for an
initial period of not less than 3 years and not more than 5
years.
``(3) Amounts.--In awarding grants under this subsection,
the Secretary shall award a grant--
``(A) for a small-sized enterprise, in an amount so that
each annual payment for the grant is not less than $100,000
or more than $1,000,000; and
``(B) for a medium-sized enterprise or consortium, in an
amount so that each annual payment for the grant is not less
than $500,000 or more than $5,000,000.
``(e) Eligibility.--
``(1) Eligible entities.--To be eligible to receive a
RESTART grant under this section, an entity shall--
``(A)(i) be located in the United States and have
significant operations and employees within the United
States;
``(ii) not be a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding, within
the meaning of section 4003(c)(3)(D)(i)(V) of the CARES Act
(15 U.S.C. 9042(c)(3)(D)(i)(V)) or under a State bankruptcy
law; and
``(iii) be within an in-demand industry sector or
occupation in a STEM field; and
``(B) be--
``(i) a small-sized enterprise;
``(ii) a medium-sized enterprise; or
``(iii) a consortium of small-sized or medium-sized
enterprises.
``(2) Eligible providers.--
``(A) In general.--An eligible entity that desires to
partner with a provider in order to carry out a returnship
program under this section shall enter into an arrangement
with an eligible provider.
``(B) Provider.--To be eligible to enter into such an
arrangement, a provider--
``(i) may or may not directly employ skilled workers in
STEM fields but--
``(I) shall have expertise in human resources-related
activities, such as identifying or carrying out staffing with
skilled workers or underrepresented populations; and
``(II) shall be capable of providing high-quality education
and training services; and
``(ii) may be--
``(I)(aa) an institution of higher education (as defined in
section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1001)); or
``(bb) a non-degree-granting institution that is governed
by the same body that governs an institutions of higher
education described in item (aa);
``(II) a public, private for-profit, or private nonprofit
service provider, approved by the local board;
``(III) a joint labor-management organization;
``(IV) an eligible provider of adult education and literacy
activities under title II; or
``(V) an established nonprofit organization that conducts
research or provides training on technical, social and
emotional, and employability skills and knowledge aligned to
the needs of adult learners and workers.
``(f) Applications.--
``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a RESTART
grant to carry out a returnship program, an entity shall
submit an application to the Secretary at such time and in
such manner as the Secretary may reasonably require.
``(2) Contents.--Such an application shall include--
``(A) a description of the demand for skilled workers in
STEM fields and how the RESTART grant will be used to help
meet that demand;
``(B) a description of how the program will lead to
employment of unemployed or underemployed individuals,
particularly workers from underrepresented populations or
from rural areas, who seek to return or transition to the
STEM workforce;
``(C) if the entity has entered into or plans to enter into
an arrangement with an eligible provider as described in
subsection (e)(2) to carry out a returnship program,
information identifying the eligible provider, and a
description of how the arrangement will help the entity build
the knowledge and skills of skilled workers participating in
the program;
``(D) a description of how the eligible entity will develop
and establish, or expand, a returnship program that adds to
the number of full-time employees employed by the entity, but
does not displace full-time employees currently (as of the
date of submission of the application) employed by the
entity;
``(E) an assurance that any new or existing returnship
program developed and established, or expanded, with the
grant funds will last for at least 10 weeks and provide
compensation to participants in the form of a
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salary, stipend, or other payment, and benefits, that are
offered to full-time employees with equivalent experience and
expertise, such as health care or child care benefits; and
``(F) if the returnship program leads to a recognized
postsecondary credential, information on the quality of the
program that leads to the credential.
``(3) Priority.--In making grants under this section, the
Secretary shall give priority to entities who are proposing
programs that prioritize returnships for workers from
underrepresented populations or from rural areas.
``(g) Use of Funds.--
``(1) In general.--An entity that receives a grant under
this section shall use the grant funds to carry out a
returnship program, of not less than 10 weeks, through which
the entity provides for--
``(A) the education and training of returnship
participants; and
``(B) the services of existing employees (as of the date
the program begins) of the entity who are working with
returnship participants in an educational, training, or
managerial role, to maximize the retention rate and
effectiveness of the returnship program.
``(2) Specific uses.--The grant funds may be used--
``(A) to pay for the evaluation, and entry into the
program, and education and training of returnship
participants, including payment for the duration of the
program for the participants for--
``(i) equipment, travel, and (as necessary) housing;
``(ii) mentorship and career counseling; and
``(iii) salaries, stipends, or payments, and benefits,
described in subsection (f)(2)(E);
``(B) to supplement, and not supplant, the compensation of
those existing employees of the entity who are directly
supporting a returnship program through the work described in
paragraph (1)(B); and
``(C) to enter into an arrangement with an eligible
provider to carry out a returnship program.
``(3) Existing employees.--Not more than 20 percent of the
grant funds may be used to provide compensation for the
existing employees performing the work described in paragraph
(1)(B).
``(4) Coordination with state workforce boards.--An entity
that receives a grant under this section shall coordinate
activities with the State workforce development board
established under section 101, to ensure collaboration and
alignment of workforce programs.
``(h) Reporting and Evaluation Requirements.--
``(1) Report to the secretary.--An entity that receives a
grant under this section for a returnship program shall
prepare, certify the contents of, and submit to the Secretary
an annual report containing data regarding--
``(A) the total number of the participants, and the number
of such participants disaggregated by sex, race, and
ethnicity;
``(B) the total number of the participants transitioned
into full-time employment, and the number of such
transitioned participants disaggregated by sex, race, and
ethnicity; and
``(C) if the returnship program includes participants in an
internship, the conversion rate of the internship
participants to employees, for the total number of those
participants and the conversion rate of those participants
disaggregated by sex, race, and ethnicity.
``(2) Evaluation and report by the secretary.--Not later
than 180 days after receiving the annual reports from grant
recipients under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall--
``(A)(i) prepare a report that presents the data collected
through the reports, including data disaggregated by sex,
race, and ethnicity, and an evaluation based on that data of
the best practices for effectively implementing returnship
(including internship) programs; and
``(ii) submit the report 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; and
``(B) post information on a website on best practices
described in subparagraph (A)(i).
``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section
$50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.''.
(c) Table of Contents.--The table of contents in section
1(b) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is
amended--
(1) by redesignating the item relating to section 172 as
the item relating to section 173; and
(2) by inserting after the item relating to section 171 the
following:
``Sec. 172. Grants to support skilled workers in returning or
transitioning to the STEM workforce.''.
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