Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding. And I agree. I wish we could have come here with a bill that we all can agree upon. Unfortunately, instead, I have to say I oppose the bill that we are discussing today. This is particularly important because, over the past few months, we see the impact that the pandemic has had on our workforce. All of us standing here today are fortunate to be in positions where we can learn to do our jobs differently. We can do them differently whether it is remotely, or we can implement new safety measures, or some combination of the two. But there are millions of Americans who don't get that opportunity to work remotely. Instead, they have lost their jobs. We all know that the workforce will not look the same once this public health emergency is over. So it is more imperative than ever that we take actions to help job-displaced individuals learn new skill sets to be competitive and to fit these new jobs that will be available. Expanding apprenticeships is one tool to help accomplish that goal. The bill before us today presented a real opportunity for Congress to make smart reforms to our apprenticeship system when it is needed most, but unfortunately, H.R. 8294 comes up short in achieving this. Now, I will say as well that throughout my past 2 years serving as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment, I have enjoyed working alongside Chairwoman Davis.…”