Josh Harder

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 46, beginning on line 17, amend clause (ii) to read as follows: (ii) by striking the period and…

I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from California will be postponed. Amendment No. 7 Offered by Ms. Shalala The Acting CHAIR. It is…

I have an amendment at the desk. The CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Add at the end the following: SEC. 3. GAO REPORT ON AFFECT OF STATE INNOVATION WAIVERS ON COVERAGE OF INDIVIDUALS…

Are we cutting these centers? Are there going to be fewer centers in 5 years if this budget passes?

Mr. Harder. And yet you're trying to cut this budget by 40 percent, when in fact you say we should be doubling down on it.

I actually want to put that on the side for a minute and talk about the Job Corps program.

Mr. Harder. Hard for me to imagine we cut a budget by 40 percent and we don't actually cut some of the centers.

this is a proven program with high success, and yet all the centers that exist are in areas that don't actually have the same needs as my district.

Mr. Harder. Sorry to interrupt you, Secretary. But am I correct in believing that about a fifth of the current job centers for the Jobs Corps are going to be closed with this budget?

This is a public safety concern for the farmers, families, and water users across the state, and it's a concern for anyone across the country who eats our produce.

In my district, any guess what our unemployment rate is? It's about 7 percent.

If we commit to making these investments, we are going to protect not only the local needs of our valley, but the country's access to healthy, home-grown food.

We have an obligation to move quickly to invest, to prepare for the one that we know is just around the corner.

What are you going to do to expand access to Job Corps programs outside of the major cities that have these low unemployment rates?

We have some real issues in making sure that folks actually can get the career education that they need to be gainfully employed in our economy.

This is a program that I think really works.

Our region's access to water allows us to deliver over half of America's fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

We should have made investments in our water systems 20 years ago--but the least we can do is make those investments right now.

We have real challenges making sure that we actually are connecting people into jobs.

The sustained period of low prices and negative margins is something he has never seen.

As the Chairman said, I represent the California Central Valley, and if you have ever seen those happy cows come from California, that is us.

It is one of the most critical keys to agriculture and to jobs.

I hear again and again how much tougher things are going.

I think what kills me about this isn't just the context of the fact that we are cutting some of the most critical programs to improve literacy, it is the hypocrisy of what I see from this Department.

We must work toward enacting fundamental agricultural guest worker reform that will benefit American agriculture, the American consumer, and hungry people all over the world.