Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Thompson for his partnership on this legislation, and Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott for their leadership. Lastly, I thank our colleagues in the Senate for working hard to pass H.R. 2353 earlier this week. It has now been 12 years since Congress acted to update this critical program. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported a skills gap of 6.5 million unfilled jobs. Compared to this time last year, there are now an additional 1 million job openings where employers can't find applicants with the adequate skills or training to fill them. For the health of our economy, the prosperity of our workers, and the strength of our businesses, we must reverse this trend, and we must reverse it now. Our bipartisan legislation, the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, implements critical reforms to ensure American technical education and training programs prepare students for high-wage, in-demand jobs in their communities. This legislation aligns CTE programs to meet the needs of local labor markets, gives business and workforce experts a seat at the table when CTE curricula are crafted, and preserves robust accountability standards to protect American students.…”