Mike Enzi: “I rise in support of the Workforce Investment Partnership Act, offered by Senator DeWine, Senator Jeffords and other…”

“I rise in support of the Workforce Investment Partnership Act, offered by Senator DeWine, Senator Jeffords and other members of the Subcommittee on Employment and Training on which I serve. I would like to take a minute here to express my reasons for supporting the bill and explain why this is a good piece of legislation. Our mission in this area was most clearly put before us by the General Accounting Office. In their testimony to the Senate Labor Committee they showed that our current system for delivery of job training and vocational education is broken. The 163 programs across 15 agencies result in a disjointed and uncoordinated system that is a very inefficient use of the taxpayers' money. I have said that we probably need an education program just to teach people how to figure out how to find federal job training assistance. We need to simplify the process and this bill fixes many of the problems that the GAO outlined. This legislation is built around the idea that we need more flexibility for state education and labor programs to work. It builds on local needs and interests, ensuring a fair partnership between business and educators. Importantly, it maintains strong program objectives while at the same time, allowing individuals to make decisions about their own training programs through a voucher system. The goals of the vocational education program are clear--to prepare kids for what happens after high school. Not all kids are college-bound.”