On the recordJune 22, 2017
I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his great work on this bill that would reauthorize a program that is critical to both American workers and businesses, and the future of our American economy. I am continuously hearing from family-owned manufactures across my district, such as Atlas Tool and Die and ODM, that they cannot find workers with the skills they need to fill good-paying jobs. I hear this from companies also like Boeing, Intel, and Abbott. At the same time, millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs, but they don't have the skills that they need. This bill addresses this problem by supporting career and technical education programs that are matched to regional, State, and local labor markets. These applied science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM education programs, are an important component of the innovation engine that drives our economy. As we work to move innovative technologies into the marketplace, we need a skilled workforce to build and implement them. We also need to make sure that our innovation economy benefits all Americans, especially the middle class. I thank my colleagues for this bill and urge all my colleagues to support it. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
