[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11366]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               SKILLS ACT

  (Mr. FITZPATRICK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, each year, hardworking American 
taxpayers send $18 billion to Washington for Federal job training and 
workforce development programs. While training unemployed Americans is 
a worthy goal, even after spending billions of dollars, only a fraction 
of workers receive and complete the necessary training to get a job.
  That is not only an unacceptable return on investment, Mr. Speaker, 
but that is an unacceptable outcome for the millions of Americans who 
are trying to get ahead in this economy.
  A bipartisan majority in the House and Senate are working to take 
action to close the skills gap that is keeping Americans from filling 
the nearly 4 million American jobs right now. This week, the House will 
finalize work on a bill that originated in this Chamber. We will vote 
on final passage of the SKILLS Act, which modernizes and reforms 
Federal job training programs to be more efficient and effective.
  This bipartisan action is a true jobs bill. I hope this serves as a 
starting point for further Senate action on the dozens of other jobs 
bills waiting in that Chamber that would invest in our Nation's 
competitiveness.

                          ____________________