Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, the tired rhetoric about big labor, big labor, big labor, the organizations that workers create and pay for themselves to advocate their interests; yes, there is a lot of support for this bill from the labor movement. This bill is also endorsed by our mayors, by the National League of Cities. It is also endorsed by our community colleges, their national associations. It is also endorsed by multiple industry associations, including associations representing areas that don't have a lot of apprenticeships that hope to have more. And it is endorsed by many equity organizations such as the National Urban League. I also want to point out something else. No company or group of companies has to register their program. They are perfectly free, in this land of the free, to set up a training program, to pay for it themselves, to partner with labor organizations or colleges, to even use the word apprenticeship. Nobody has to register their apprenticeship. They are free to do whatever they want. This is about the Federal Government developing and nurturing training programs that we can proudly say meet high standards to give real opportunities to preserve these kinds of statistics we are talking about: People who complete an apprenticeship earning an average of $70,000 a year; 94 percent of people who complete apprenticeships getting good jobs. Also, some of my colleagues keep saying that all registered apprenticeships are controlled by the Federal Government.…”