Virginia Foxx: “I thank the chairman of the Education Committee for his leadership, and I want to give special thanks to the staff for…”

“I thank the chairman of the Education Committee for his leadership, and I want to give special thanks to the staff for their hard work on this bill. They've done phenomenal work. Mr. Chair, I am also opposed to this substitute amendment. This amendment blatantly ignores the President's call to ``cut through the confusing maze of training programs'' by creating a number of new redundant programs. In addition to the 50-plus programs already in existence, the amendment reauthorizes programs that President Obama eliminated in his FY '13 budget proposal and funds programs that have not been funded in years. Unfortunately, this substitute amendment gives priorities to bureaucrats instead of un- and under-employed Americans who are hurting. More than 20 million Americans are struggling to find work and turn to their government for answers and assistance. This amendment adds to the confusion of the dizzying maze of existing programs. We should be streamlining our Nation's workforce development system, not making it more complicated for workers and job seekers. This week, several of the North Carolina workforce administrators were in town and shared with me their frustration in filling local workforce boards with members Washington mandates, rather than the partners they know who understand the needs of their local communities and workforce.…”