[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17946]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, ensuring Americans are capable of filling the 
skills gap and finding quality jobs through stakeholder-led and 
accountable workforce development programs has been one of my highest 
priorities in Washington.
  That is why I was so proud last Congress to see legislation I 
sponsored, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or WIOA, 
enacted into law. WIOA was the first major workforce development 
legislation to be enacted in more than 15 years and included many vital 
provisions to modernize, streamline, and localize our workforce 
development system.
  The highway bill that passed the House earlier today included a 
frontline workforce development program intended to address human 
resources needs in public transportation that was not subject to the 
reforms contained within WIOA.
  In order to ensure that program is assessed consistently with other 
Federal workforce development programs and targeted to areas that have 
identified needs in public transportation as part of their broader 
workforce development programs, I introduced a bipartisan amendment to 
the highway bill with my colleague from Washington (Ms. DelBene) that 
applied WIOA's performance measures and coordination reforms to the 
program.
  All of our Federal workforce development programs should be assessed 
in a consistent manner and be considered as part of an overall package 
tailored to State and local needs that provide stakeholders on the 
ground greater input and control. That is why I am also pleased the 
House adopted our bipartisan amendment as part of the broader 
transportation package and strengthened the frontline workforce 
development program in order to better serve the workers who learn 
skills through the program and those policymakers who evaluate the 
programs to improve its future outcomes.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________