[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4550-4551]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  COMMEMORATING SKILLS ACT ANNIVERSARY

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday will mark the 1-year anniversary 
of House passage of H.R. 803, the SKILLS Act. This bill, which I 
sponsored, would bring much-needed reform and reorganization to our 
broken Federal workforce development system.
  There is bipartisan agreement that the current mishmash of Federal 
workforce programs is not meeting the needs of America's job seekers. 
The President called for reforms in his 2012 State of the Union 
Address. Republicans in the House responded to that call with the 
SKILLS Act. This bill

[[Page 4551]]

would streamline 35 ineffective and duplicative programs, including 26 
identified as being ineffective in a 2011 GAO report. The SKILLS Act 
empowers job creators, promotes accountability, and gives workers 
access to the resources they need to fill jobs that are available now.
  I call on our colleagues in the Senate to act on this vital piece of 
legislation. America needs a workforce development system that works 
for job seekers, not bureaucrats.

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