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Floor Debate on Foxx's SKILLS Act Begins Today
Washington, DC,
March 14, 2013
At a time when twelve million Americans are searching for jobs, the SKILLS Act will cut through the current maze of federal workforce development programs and create one Workforce Investment Fund. It will additionally reduce administrative costs and requi
Floor Debate on Foxx’s SKILLS Act Begins Today Congresswoman Virginia Foxx’s Supporting Knowledge & Investing in Lifelong Skills Act (SKILLS Act), H.R. 803, will be debated on the floor of the House of Representatives today and tomorrow, Thursday, March 14th – Friday, March 15th. At the conclusion of debate on Friday, the measure will be presented for a vote in the House. To watch the live floor debate, North Carolinians may tune in to C-SPAN or live-stream House floor proceedings at www.houselive.gov. Thursday’s floor debate begins at 3:45 p.m. EST. Friday’s floor debate is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. Foxx’s SKILLS Act, a joint venture with the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, targets federal waste by consolidating and streamlining more than 30 duplicative federal workforce education programs as highlighted by the Government Accountability Office. In 2012, President Barack Obama urged reform of the nation’s workforce development strategy. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn has also documented how taxpayer dollars are being mismanaged to fund unnecessary overlap in these federal programs. At a time when twelve million Americans are searching for jobs, the SKILLS Act will cut through the current maze of federal workforce development programs and create one Workforce Investment Fund. It will additionally reduce administrative costs and require transparency and accountability for how taxpayer dollars are spent, ensuring that money is used to directly help job seekers, not to preserve bureaucracy. The SKILLS Act also recognizes that the “suits” in Washington aren’t in the best position to help local job seekers find employment in their communities. Thus, it provides flexibility to states and local workforce boards by removing 19 mandates that micromanage Workforce Investment Board membership. The SKILLS Act grants local discretion to ensure that job seekers are treated as individuals and that states are not blocked from making further savings. For a list of the legislation’s supporters, click here. Watch Foxx address the House of Representatives on the SKILLS Act here and here. # # # |