Steven Holt: “I rise with some real concerns about this bill. The Workforce Investment Act and the one-stop delivery system that it…”

“I rise with some real concerns about this bill. The Workforce Investment Act and the one-stop delivery system that it created represent the Nation's primary investment in workforce development. It has been successful. The one-stop centers in my district do tremendous work, but they desperately need more money to keep serving the rising, I am sorry to say, rapidly rising number of unemployed. I offered an amendment in the Committee on Rules to reverse the $650 million in cuts to the WIA programs applied over the past 2 years, over the time that the needs of unemployed people were increasing; and these cuts have been enormously harmful. Unfortunately, the Committee on Rules would not allow my amendment to come to the floor so we could debate what is an appropriate authorization here. The bill has been rushed to the floor in a partisan fashion and, worse, fails to adequately respond to the needs of our workers. It sets the stage for reducing job training programs by taking money away from participating partners in the Workforce Investment Act such as the Veterans Employment programs, Perkins Vocational Education program, and the Vocational Rehabilitation program. And in addition, it consolidates adult employment and training programs into one block grant.”