[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1330]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             NATIONAL CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as cochair of 
the bipartisan House Career and Technical Education Caucus in order to 
recognize February as National Career and Technical Education Month. 
Career and technical education programs continue to evolve in order to 
ensure that workers are prepared to hold jobs in high-wage, high-skill, 
and high-demand career fields like engineering, information technology, 
health care, and advanced manufacturing for the 21st century.
  During this time of record-high unemployment, career and technical 
education programs provide a lifeline for the underemployed who look to 
begin new careers alongside young adults just starting out of high 
school in the rapidly evolving job market.
  Career and technical education, while historically undervalued, helps 
tackle critical workforce shortages and provides an opportunity for 
America to remain globally competitive while also engaging students in 
practical, real-world applications of academics coupled with hands-on 
work experience.
  Now, as we move toward fiscal year 2014, I join with a bipartisan 
group of my colleagues in not only recognizing the importance of 
maintaining these Federal investments for our country's future but also 
in saying thank you to the countless men and women who make these 
programs possible--the faculty, the teachers and the instructors within 
our career and technical education schools throughout this great 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate Career and Technical Education Month, I 
encourage my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to join me and my 
good friend, Representative Langevin from Rhode Island, the cochair of 
the House Career and Technical Education Caucus, as we continue our 
work together of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education Caucus.
  The goals of this caucus are to provide promising futures for 
individuals who are seeking opportunities for work within this great 
Nation, and for employers, many of whom are in situations, despite 
record high unemployment for the longest sustained time since the Great 
Depression, of having great-paying jobs that are sitting open and 
available where they can't find a qualified, trained workforce and, 
quite frankly, for America, whose competitiveness into the future will 
depend on how well we make these investments.

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