Joe Courtney

Had we not acted, these pensions would have failed, workers and retirees-from truckers to bricklayers-would have lost nearly everything they had worked to save.

Unions are essential for building a strong middle class and improving the lives of our workers and families.

That's why I reintroduced the bipartisan, bicameral Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act alongside 200 members of the House and Senate.

By threatening to default on our Nation's debt, congressional Republicans are gambling with our fragile economic recovery.

At a minimum, we shouldn't go backward and return to the failed Republican policies that mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic.

This recovery did not happen by accident. It is directly connected to the leadership of President Biden and congressional Democrats.

So, I am hopeful that all of our colleagues will join us in rejecting failed policies of the past, putting people over politics, and delivering solutions that actually help workers and employers succeed.

I would actually ask that the letter date-stamped March 25 from the Acting Secretary transferring a billion dollars out of the Army's account to the Department of Homeland Security be entered for the record.

As the Australian Prime Minister very well described a week ago last Monday: A new chapter in the relationship between Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom is about to begin; a friendship built on our shared values, our…

Again, the latest statistics in terms of what the Biden reforms have accomplished, is that 450,000 borrowers have had their loans properly discharged according to law, and it has resulted in savings of 31 billion dollars.

What the Biden administration did was allow, again our service members who are deployed and out of country to account those months of deployment toward their discharge.

Our duty is to protect the currency in the full faith and credit of our country.

I think clearly we in the Congress had our eyes wide open when these large amounts of funding were authorized and appropriated, that we wanted oversight at every step of the way.

If we're going to get serious about really expanding the workforce of the industrial base it has to be an all-of-government endeavor

This funding is not just going to southeastern Connecticut. This is going all across the country

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for scheduling this important hearing right at the outset of this Congress, which I think sends a strong message that--as an article that I wrote for The Hill, the title was 'It's the Defense Industrial Base…

The President talked about this last night, which is, so if you have a master welder teaching kids how to just do almost intro welding, the good news is, is that when these kids graduate, even at high school age, they are probably starting…

The career and technical education programs that are there are completely packed with waiting lists.

The good news is that it is gone from about 7,000 to about 13,000 workers.

One area where American education that I believe is not in crisis, in fact, it is highly valued is anything particularly in the moment we're in, in terms of our economy, is career and technical education funding.

I am very supportive of the Biden administration's efforts to increase Pell Grants, as well as efforts to support innovation and excellence.

I congratulate you, Chairwoman Foxx, along with Representatives Stefanik, Banks, Hinson, and Thompson, for your vision in bringing forward this legislation.

This is not the first time the executive branch has asked for additional authority from Congress. President Trump's Commission on Opioids issued a report in 2017 which asked for exactly the same reforms. DOL must be given the real…

I appreciate that. And, you know, again, the door is always wide open in terms of continuing this effort.

The Navy's refusal is a change in 40 years of contract policy, which myself and others have been warning is going to create a barrier for work to be performed by private contractors.