Bob Schaffer: “the constituents of my colleague were perfect people to testify; and Minnesota turned out to be a perfect place to hold…”

“the constituents of my colleague were perfect people to testify; and Minnesota turned out to be a perfect place to hold the hearing that we did because their comments were reflective, I think, of the same kind of comments that we have heard throughout the country. But one of the interesting perspectives that I think we probably spend more time on in Minnesota than most other States is on the topic of the School to Work Program, which passed in 1994 by Congress. It was a program that was inspired by the Nation's desire to see schoolchildren graduating with the skills necessary to help them become more gainfully employed and ready to go to work. And so, as classically happens here in Washington, there is a legitimate need that is identified by the country; and we throw lots of money at it in Washington. Now, this was before we took the majority. This was when the Democrats ran the House, and we saw even more of that then. But create a new program, throw hundreds of millions of dollars into a program called School to Work; and these dollars were funneled back to the States and once again the States were told, if you want your money back, you have to spend it the way we tell you to. The School to Work Program is something that is in full force today in all 50 States. It is a mandatory program, there is no voluntary quality about it, that even from the very young ages of kindergarten starts orienting more and more students toward workplace skills.”