J. Thurmond: “This legislation addresses the issue of preparing our youth to meet the challenges of a highly skilled, highly…”

“This legislation addresses the issue of preparing our youth to meet the challenges of a highly skilled, highly competitive workforce. It is intended to help students make a successful transition from school to their first job by linking academic instruction with on-the-job experiences. S. 1361 will be jointly administered by the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education. It will provide grants and waivers of Federal regulations to build a national framework for State school-to-work systems. Mr. President, the U.S. General Accounting Office recently cited over 150 existing job training and education programs on which the Federal Government spends over $20 billion each year. This is unreasonable. We must encourage our States to coordinate existing programs into statewide school-to-work systems. My amendment will do just that, by removing the paid work mandate from this legislation. It will thereby remove the limitations of requiring paid work, and allow businesses more opportunities to participate.”