On the recordJune 25, 2014
I thank all of the Senators for their strong affirmative vote for the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, now called the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It is a great bill. A 95-to-3 vote I think indicates that people worked hard, put together a great bill that meets the needs of our country in training our new workforce for the future. Again, I thank Senator Alexander, our ranking member, for a very close working relationship on our committee. I would note for the record that the passage of this bill marks the 14th bill reported out of our committee during this session of Congress, during this Congress, that will go to the President for his signature. Our committee met a little bit ago. We are now reporting another bill, the Autism Cures bill we hope to have again before the Senate very shortly also for passage. Our committee has worked very hard across party lines to reach these agreements. Again, I thank Senator Alexander. On this bill, especially, I thank Senator Isakson and Senator Murray for sticking with it. This bill took 5 years and a lot of ups and downs, a lot of knots to untangle. But they did it. They worked hard at it. I think there is a lesson here for all of us, that if you stick to it and you focus on the areas in which you have agreement, not those where you do not have agreement, but you focus on the areas you have agreement and build from there, you can get good things done. So this is a good bill.…
