[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11227]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           LIFETIME LEARNING

  (Mr. DeLAY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, strong economic news can be found wherever we 
look these days: 337,000 new jobs created in March; another 288,000 in 
April. May numbers due out at the end of this week are expected to be 
good, but numbers alone do not paint the picture of the economy that we 
are trying to build. That is why the summer economic agenda in the 
House, the Careers Initiative, is about much more than numbers.
  This week, we will take on the third component of the Careers 
Initiative: lifelong learning. When people have access to training and 
higher education, they can acquire skills and expertise in new and more 
valuable technologies and improve both their stability and mobility.
  They cannot only provide for themselves and their families in the 
short term but can find the kinds of jobs that will give them and their 
families security for the future. In other words, Mr. Speaker, lifelong 
learning can be the difference between having a job and having a 
career.
  The difference may seem small, but it could not be more important. A 
job is for survival in the here and now. It is something you do for a 
paycheck to make ends meet. A career, on the other hand, is for the 
future. It is long-term security for you and your family. It pushes you 
to get out of bed in the morning and inspires you with a sense of 
purpose and the feeling that you are making a contribution, and it is 
something that stays with you your entire life, not just until you 
punch out at the end of the day.
  Through reforms in the Higher Education Act and the new, innovative 
Worker Reemployment Accounts we will take up this week, the House will 
help Americans not only make the transition from welfare to work but 
from jobs to careers.
  Lifelong learning is a noble undertaking, Mr. Speaker, and it is more 
valuable than any numbers could ever show. The men and women who work 
to get it are heroes and deserve our help to help themselves.

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