Virginia Foxx

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, it appears now that we do not have any additional speakers, and if the gentleman from Colorado is prepared to close, I will also be prepared.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The world has changed greatly since 1998 when this legislation was first authorized and even since 2003 when this legislation was last reauthorized. I'm very concerned that my colleague has said that this legislation is flawed and that we did not participate or provide a bipartisan process. This is an example of Democrats blaming Republicans for what they themselves do. We gave our colleagues every opportunity to come help fix the flaws in this legislation through regular order. They chose not to do it. The President said in his 2012 State of the Union Address: It is time to turn our employment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work. With 12 million Americans looking for work, the SKILLS Act makes commonsense reforms to a broken workforce development system to remove inefficiencies and ensure that individuals are able to get the education skills they need to find a job. Now the President is saying that he will veto this legislation, and yet it does exactly what he asked us to do. This is another example of the President saying one thing and doing another. The SKILLS Act takes a crucial step forward in the fight to eliminate red tape and create a more effective system to better serve and prepare Americans to compete in the 21st-century workforce. I hope the legislation will see swift approval in the House and Senate and the SKILLS Act will be on the President's desk in the coming weeks to see if he, indeed, will veto the bill that he asked for. Mr. Speaker, the SKILLS Act will build a more dynamic and responsive workforce development system, give priority to well-paying, in-demand industries, expand opportunities at community colleges, and--most importantly--treat all job seekers as individuals. These changes are critical at a time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that more than 3.6 million open jobs are going unfilled because there aren't enough skilled candidates. Let's reform these programs to serve employers and individuals in an effective and efficient manner. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule and the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Ms. FOXX. I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Indiana, a member of the Education and Workforce Committee, Mrs. Brooks.

Ms. FOXX. Yes, we do, Mr. Speaker.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, we do have additional speakers.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have continued to malign what they call a ``political process.'' Regular order, Mr. Speaker, is not political process. The SKILLS Act has been posted online for nearly a month. The Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee held a legislative hearing on this bill on February 26, and a full committee markup last Thursday. Unfortunately, the Democrats opposed the open transparent process of markup and instead requested that members of the committee hold closed-door negotiations. During the markup, the Democrats ultimately walked out and refused even to offer amendments. This is not what the American people asked for in the 2012 elections. They asked us to work together in a transparent, bipartisan way to address our country's challenges, and we gave our colleagues that opportunity. They refused it. Last year, the committee accepted four Democrat amendments during consideration of the Workforce Investment Improvement Act, the predecessor of the SKILLS Act. These four amendments are retained in the base text of the SKILLS Act, hardly a partisan approach. My Republican colleagues and I on the Education Committee have shown we're willing and ready to work with our Democrat colleagues, and it's unfortunate that they instead chose a partisan walkout. In contrast, under Democrat control in the 110th and 111th Congresses, the House considered 66 bills that were referred to the Education and Workforce Committee, but received no committee consideration before being brought to the House floor. The SKILLS Act has gone through an open and transparent process, and it is unfortunate that Democrats have been unwilling to participate in regular committee process. Additionally, the rule before us today provides consideration of six amendments, including all amendments submitted to the Rules Committee by Democrats that were not withdrawn before the Rules Committee hearing. As I stated before, the Democrat substitute amendment was made in order with extended debate time. This exceedingly fair rule is a culmination of a transparent, regular order which allows my colleagues across the aisle multiple opportunities to argue for their approach. With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Hurt).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to now yield 3 minutes to another distinguished colleague from Indiana (Mr. Messer).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I am reminded of a line from ``The Canterbury Tales'': The gentleman doth protest too much. We're told that this is a partisan bill, that the efforts of the other side were in vain. Well, let me remind my colleague, he's one of the members of the committee that walked out of the committee meeting. When there was the opportunity for the Democrats to offer amendments, they did not do it. However, some amendments were offered before the Rules Committee, and we have all of the amendments that were submitted by the Democrats and not withdrawn that are going to be considered today. The Democrat substitute amendment was made in order, and I appreciate Mr. Polis acknowledging that. And we've given them extended debate time. So it's not exactly as though we are shutting them out of this process. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my distinguished colleague from North Carolina, Congresswoman Ellmers.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Ms. FOXX. House Resolution 113 provides for a structured rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 803, the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act, also known simply as the SKILLS Act. Mr. Speaker, today, the House will consider the SKILLS Act, which reauthorizes the Workforce Investment Act, WIA, of 1998. While these programs have continued to receive funding through the appropriations process, the WIA authorization expired in 2003. WIA seeks to coordinate local employment services through a unified workforce development service and a one-stop career center delivery system. Reforming the Nation's workforce development system is critical, and in these difficult economic times, when roughly 20 million Americans are struggling to find adequate work, we cannot afford to delay action any longer. Delay is costly for those seeking to find work. Today, many unemployed and underemployed Americans have turned to Federal workforce education programs to develop the skills they need to be competitive for jobs, but instead of an easy-to- navigate, responsive system, many have found a complex bureaucracy unresponsive to their needs and concerns. In January 2011, the Government Accountability Office, the GAO, identified 47 separate and distinct workforce development programs across nine different Federal agencies that cost taxpayers approximately $18 billion annually. The GAO report found that almost all of these programs were duplicative and overlapping, that only five of these programs had had any type of evaluation, and that those evaluations had not been very effective ones. Through the Education and the Workforce Committee's oversight of the WIA system, even more programs have been identified, and the true number of Federal workforce development programs is greater than 50. We know this is a problem, and we all agree this needs to change. President Obama recognized the challenge of the current bureaucratic system in his 2012 State of the Union address. Let me quote the President directly: I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs so that, from now on, people have one program, one place to go, for all the information and help that they need. These are among the many reasons I introduced the SKILLS Act earlier this year. This legislation streamlines 35 duplicative Federal workforce development programs, and it creates a single workforce investment fund to serve employers, workers, and job seekers. The SKILLS Act establishes a dynamic, employer-driven workforce development system by ensuring that two-thirds of the State and local Workforce Investment Boards' members are employers, and it repeals 19 federally mandated board positions. This legislation expands decisionmaking at State and local levels so that these individuals can make the best decisions to meet the needs of their communities. The bill also addresses the administrative bloat in Washington by requiring the Office of Management and Budget to identify and reduce the number of Federal staff working on employment workforce development programs that will be consolidated under this bill. The SKILLS Act holds these programs accountable for taxpayer dollars spent by requiring annual performance evaluations and by establishing common performance metrics. The bill also allows States to determine eligible training providers, simplifying the bureaucratic process that has forced many community colleges and other providers out of the system, and it gives local boards the flexibility to work directly with community colleges to educate large groups of participants. Additionally, the SKILLS Act encourages these programs to focus on in-demand jobs and industries so that participants will be able to succeed in the workplace upon completion, and it ensures that funds are spent directly on services rather than on administration and bureaucrats. This bill improves transparency by requiring States and local areas to report annually on administrative costs. Each day we delay is another day employers are not hiring the workers they need, another day unemployed workers are not receiving the best technical education and another day taxpayer dollars are wasted on red tape and well-intentioned but broken programs. We have a responsibility to move this process forward. The time to act is now. With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the comments of my colleague from Colorado, as he's on the Education Committee. And I certainly wish that he and his colleagues had stayed in the Education Committee markup on this bill and offered the many ideas he said that they had to make it better; but, unfortunately, they walked out and did not take the opportunity to offer those amendments in the committee. I would now like to yield 3 minutes to my distinguished colleague from Florida (Mr. Yoho).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I am used to hyperbole on this floor. I'm used to hyperbole from my colleague from Massachusetts, but I really think this one was a little over the top. This bill does not kill the employment program with SNAP, and only 6.8 percent of the recipients of food stamps even participate in that program. So to say that this bill is going to create additional hunger in this country is really over the top a little bit. The best way we can help people who are hungry in this country is to help them get a good-paying job, and that's what we need to be doing. With that, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague from Ohio (Mr. Stivers).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 113 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. FOXX. For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During the consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, congratulations are due to the entire Cintas Corporation branch in Statesville, North Carolina, and to each of the Cintas team members who worked together to earn OSHA's Carolina Star distinction for their workplace. This past week, I was honored to join the employees and management of Cintas Statesville and take part in the celebration of their shared achievement. The environment at Cintas was so impressive and collegial, I wanted to bring their story of success to Washington. The Carolina Star Program considers more than just exemplary safety and health standards when it designates award winners. Companies are expected to show how they've built a culture where employees and management share the duties of keeping a safe workplace. Every Cintas employee in Statesville takes ownership of this task, spotting and diffusing hazards together and teaching others to put safety first. Statesville's Cintas has an atmosphere of open dialogue and shared responsibility among all employees that sets it apart. Where collaboration, cooperation, and inclusion were weighed by the Carolina Star Program, Statesville's Cintas branch excelled. Those are qualities that make for more than a safe workplace. They make for a good workplace and, in Cintas Statesville's case, a workplace that not only thrives but enables other businesses to thrive by providing key support services. Again, congratulations to Cintas Statesville and their entire team on this achievement.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, today, millions of Americans are looking for work. At the same time, there are 3.6 million jobs sitting vacant, in part because there aren't enough qualified applicants to fill them. What can we do to erase the skills gap? Washington has tried, to the tune of $18 billion, to run more than 50 different workforce education programs that are supposed to be teaching job seekers the skills and expertise required to compete for jobs. Despite the hefty price tag, only a fraction of job seekers are completing these programs and many more are getting slowed in a maze of duplication and one-size-fits-all mandates. In 2012, President Obama said: I want to cut through the maze of confusing job training programs, so that people have one program, one place to go for all the information and help that they need. The SKILLS Act is the only plan on the table that treats job seekers as individuals and brings us closer to the President's stated target. Let's pass the SKILLS Act.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Today, the Federal Government spends $18 billion a year to operate more than 50, often duplicative, workforce education programs. Even with that significant investment, roughly 20 million Americans remain un- or -underemployed. Businesses, too, are also struggling, struggling to find workers with the right technical skill sets to fill vacant jobs on payroll. Why the mismatch? Why aren't workforce education programs efficiently preparing capable job seekers for these careers? Job seekers and employers alike would be better served by a more responsive, individualized, and modern workforce development strategy. With my colleagues on the Education and Workforce Committee, I have introduced H.R. 803, the SKILLS Act, which will eliminate arbitrary roadblocks within existing workforce education programs, prioritize well-paying, in-demand industries, expand opportunities at community colleges, and most importantly, treat all job seekers as individuals. Let's pass the SKILLS Act.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the President is wrong to suggest taking more money away from the American people would ease the effects of his sequester or correct the debt crisis his policies have exacerbated. Despite high tax revenue, Washington has been overspending by at least $1 trillion each year of the Obama Presidency. When families run out of money, they do the smart thing--stop spending so much. Washington has to do the same, but arbitrarily cutting budgets through sequestration isn't the best way. Twice since last summer, House Republicans passed legislation to achieve the same savings while completely removing the indiscriminate threat of sequestration. Our plans targeted waste and limited government growth. The President threatened to veto our proposals because they didn't include taxes, and the Senate never agreed on a sequester alternative. As the President's sequester begins to take effect, I will continue to advocate for common sense: replacing the arbitrary cuts with less wasteful spending and reforms to debt-driving programs.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, every year Washington imposes thousands of pages of rules and regulations on small businesses and local governments across this country. Hidden in those pages are costly mandates that make it harder for companies to hire and for cash- strapped States, counties, and cities to keep streets clean and parks safe. Republicans and Democrats alike agree that each regulation the Federal Government dictates should be deliberative and economically defensible. That is why I've banded together with Democrats Loretta Sanchez, Mike McIntyre, and Collin Peterson and Republican James Lankford to introduce H.R. 899, the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act. This legislation will ensure a public and bureaucratic awareness about the cost, in dollars and in jobs, that Federal dictates pose to the economy and to local governments. There is precedent for bipartisanship on this issue. In 1995, Members from both parties got behind, and President Clinton signed, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA), which sought to expose Washington's abuse of unfunded Federal mandates. By forcing the Federal Government to estimate how much its mandates would cost local governments and employers, regulation would necessarily become better and more efficient for everyone involved. And it has, to a certain extent. But over the years, weaknesses in the original legislation have been revealed, weaknesses that some government agencies and independent regulatory bodies have exploited. The Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act will correct these oversights and put some weight behind UMRA to ensure no government body, purposely or accidentally, skirts public scrutiny when jobs and scarce resources are at stake. The spirit of the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act and its underlying principle, that the American people would be better served by a government that regulates only with the best information, is truly bipartisan. Lawmakers and unelected regulators should know the price of their dictates. So, too, should the people, private enterprises, and governments, all of whom are being asked to foot the bill. Funds are very tight for families across this country. Millions of Americans remain unemployed, and many more still rely on small businesses and local governments for jobs, health care, public safety, and education. Washington should think carefully before it decrees mandates that could siphon from the limited dollars governments and private sector job creators use to keep people employed and localities functioning. But as loopholes within the original UMRA legislation have revealed, Federal mandates are not universally preceded by thoughtfulness. The Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act we have introduced will require that from government.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the President seems to think that the only way for us to replace the arbitrary spending cuts, known as the sequester-- the sequester which the President's own operatives came up with--is to enact more tax increases. But should we really be talking about raising taxes when so many examples of government waste abound? Do we need to spend $1.2 million to have the National Science Foundation pay people to play video games? Do we need the EPA to give away over $100 million in grants to foreign countries like China? Or what about bankrolling Tax TV? The IRS spends $4 million of our tax dollars every year to run its very own full-service television studio. Instead of raising taxes, let's get serious about cutting waste. The House has acted to replace the sequester with commonsense cuts and reforms. It's time to see a serious plan from the President.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. The President is hitting the road this week for yet another tax increase on hardworking Americans. He already raised taxes just 8 weeks ago. Why the sudden urge to do it again? The President says this is the plan to replace his sequester that's scheduled to hit on March 1, but the President and the rest of the Democrats who run Washington apparently haven't figured out that we cannot tax our way out of this mess. Tax revenues are set to double over the next decade, and top tax rates have hit their highest levels since 1986. We are already taxing wages and salaries at rates as high as 44 percent. We need to replace the President's sequester with commonsense spending cuts and reforms, not more taxes. The House has acted twice to achieve this, and now the President needs to put forward a serious plan.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, since declaring its independence from the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has been a reliable friend and valuable ally of the United States in a turbulent region. In this true spirit of friendship, it seems appropriate for Congress to commemorate the victims of the Khojaly tragedy as Azerbaijani people mark the 21st anniversary of this event. The town of Khojaly is located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and was home to some 7,000 Azerbaijani citizens during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war. On February 25 and 26 of 1992, in a period of less than 12 hours, 613 citizens, including women and children, died at the hands of Armenian forces and Russian military troops. Human rights organizations described the advancing forces as having committed unconscionable acts of violence against civilians as they fled. The bodies of fallen men, women and children were observed by foreign journalists who visited the region in the wake of the tragedy. Given our deepening ties with Azerbaijan, it is important for American citizens to remember this event. Twenty-one years later, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has not yet been fully resolved. The anniversary of this horrible tragedy is an appropriate time to honor the victims of these atrocities and reflect on the need for all parties to work together to bring a swift end to this conflict. I urge my colleagues to join me in standing with Azerbaijanis as they commemorate this tragedy.

Ms FOXX

Ms FOXX. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.