Buck McKeon

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), a valuable member of subcommittee, for his work and leadership on bringing this important piece of legislation to the floor. I rise in strong support of H.R. 438, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act of 2003, which provides increased student loan forgiveness to those elementary and secondary public and private school teachers who teach math, science and special education in high-needs schools. The bill is simple and straightforward. Under H.R. 438, teachers may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if they agree to teach for 5 consecutive years in Title I schools with a poverty rate that exceeds 40 percent. This legislation simply expands upon what is in current law for all teachers in an effort to meet the dramatic shortage of teachers in these critical areas. There is no question that we face a critical shortage of qualified math, science and special education teachers across the country. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in the 1999/2000 school year, 67 percent of public elementary and middle schools had vacancies in special education; 70 percent had vacancies in mathematics; 61 percent had vacancies in biology, and 51 percent had vacancies in the physical sciences. Further, in a report called The Urban Teacher Challenge, virtually all of the Nation's largest urban school districts responding to a national survey reported to an immediate need for teachers in these high-need subjects; 95 percent reported an immediate need for math teachers; 98 percent report the need for science teachers; and 98 percent reported an immediate need for special education teachers. With this kind of shortage, we must act quickly to do what we can to help fill this void. The Committee on Economic Development said in its recent report entitled Learning for the Future, Changing the Culture of Math and Science Education to Ensure a Competitive Workforce, ``Improving the math and science skills of our young people is an important step toward innovative-led economic growth in the coming decades. While producing a more scientifically proficient citizenry, widespread math and science achievement will also widen the pipeline of scientists and engineers who drive innovation.'' Mr. Speaker, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act takes a big step in moving toward filling the gap in these vital areas. It is clear that we believe that all teachers are vital to our children and to the future of this country. That is why we have maintained the current law which allows for all teachers who teach in high-need schools to receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness after 5 years of service. With limited Federal resources, we need to make difficult choices and set priorities. There is no question there is a critical need for math, science and special education teachers. There is no question that our children deserve the best education we can provide, and there is no question that this legislation will assist in meeting this goal. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 438 and stand firm in a commitment to our Nation's children and teachers.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), my good friend, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Education Reform.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves).

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, although I do not oppose the amendment, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment, Mr. Chairman, was drafted in consultation with the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and we support it. It does include minimum qualifications for mentors, provides training and stipends for mentors, provides mentoring programs for teachers in their first 3 years of teaching, and provides regular and ongoing opportunities for mentors and mentees to observe each other's teaching methods in classroom settings during the school day. I served for 9 years on a school board before I came here, and we had a mentoring program there which was very beneficial. I think this is a strong amendment to the bill, improves the bill, and I would ask the support of our colleagues for this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, although I do not oppose the amendment, I ask unanimous consent at this time to claim the time in opposition.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), a member of the committee and a good friend of mine.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Boehner) and my colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), a new member of the committee who has shown great leadership in bringing forth this bill. I want to thank him for his work on this important piece of legislation. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2211, the Ready to Teach Act of 2003, a bipartisan bill that seeks to meet the call of the No Child Left Behind Act to place a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. It makes improvements to Title II of the Higher Education Act to help ensure teacher training programs are producing well-prepared teachers to meet the needs of America's students. There is widespread awareness that the subject matter, knowledge, and teaching skills of teachers play a central role in the success of elementary and secondary education reform. More than half of the 2.2 million teachers that America's schools will need to hire over the next 10 years will be first-time teachers, and they will need to be well prepared for the challenges of today's classrooms. For these reasons, the Nation's attention has increasingly focused on the role that institutions of higher education and States play in ensuring that new teachers have the content knowledge and teaching skills they need to ensure that all students are held to higher standards. Accordingly, building on current law, the Ready to Teach Act authorizes three types of teacher training grants, and each play a unique, yet crucial, role in the education of tomorrow's teachers. State grant funds must be used to reform teacher preparation requirements and ensure that current and future teachers are highly qualified. Partnership grants allow effective partners to join together, combining strengths and resources to train highly qualified teachers and achieve success where it matters most: in the classroom. Teacher recruitment grants help bring high-quality individuals into teacher programs, and ultimately put more highly qualified teachers into classrooms. H.R. 2211 includes a new program to authorize grants for the creation of teacher preparation programs at minority-serving institutions around the country. These institutions provide equal opportunity and strong academic programs for minority and disadvantaged students to help achieve greater financial stability for the institutions that serve these students. In general, the Ready to Teach Act focuses on three key objectives, accountability, flexibility, and effectiveness, to improve the quality of teacher preparation. While current higher education law contains some annual reporting requirements, these reporting measures have proven ineffective in measuring the true quality of teacher preparation programs. In fact, the current requirements have often been manipulated, leaving data skewed and often irrelevant. H.R. 2211 includes accountability provisions that will strengthen reporting requirements and hold teacher preparation programs accountable for providing accurate and useful information. This legislation recognizes that flexibility should exist in methods used for training highly qualified teachers and, for that reason, would allow funds to be used for innovative methods in teacher preparation programs such as chartered colleges of education, which can provide an adequate gateway for teachers to become highly qualified. Pioneering programs such as charter colleges of education would also implement systems to gauge a true measure of teacher effectiveness: the academic achievement of students. In addition to increasing accountability measures, the Ready to Teach Act increases the effectiveness and quality in teacher training by including provisions to focus training on the skills and knowledge needed to prepare highly qualified teachers. The bill places a renewed emphasis on a broad range of skills required for effective teaching, such as the use of advanced technology in the classroom, rigorous academic content knowledge, scientifically based research and challenging State student academic content standards. Teacher-preparation programs have a great deal of responsibility contributing to the preparation of our Nation's teachers, and this bill will make sure they are meeting their responsibilities. Once again, I want to commend the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) for introducing the Ready to Teach Act, and I appreciate the bipartisan efforts of the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) on this bill. I believe the Ready to Teach Act will help to ensure that the best and brightest teachers are teaching our children. I urge our colleagues to support this legislation. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to control the time of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner).

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition to this amendment, although I do not oppose the amendment.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this amendment was also written with the committee, has the support of the committee, and I believe will be very beneficial to those multilingual children who need this special help; and I urge support for the amendment.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 660, the Small Business Health Fairness Act, which will allow small businesses to join together to better provide their hard-working employees with health care coverage. This important legislation will solve a serious problem with the growing number of uninsured American workers. In September 2002, the Census Bureau reported that as many as 60 percent of the 41 million uninsured Americans were employed in small businesses throughout the country. Over the last few years, small business employers have become unable to provide their workers with affordable health care as a result of the rapid and unjust rise in the cost of health insurance. A survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting found that health insurance costs rose 14.7 percent in 2002. As a former small business owner, I understand the plight felt by employers, who want to provide employees and their families with quality health care. The Small Business Health Fairness Act will afford these smaller businesses the same rights that large corporations and unions have and enable their representative associations to form Association Health Plans (AHPs), which will offer health care nationwide to member businesses. AHPs will be crucial in closing the gap the small business community is facing with the increase of uninsured American workers. The opponents of this bill will consistently tell wild tales about this legislation saying that AHPs will only offer health care to the healthiest. This assertion is wholly untrue, as the bill specifically prohibits AHPs from denying people on the basis of health status. It is imperative that we act now by passing this legislation so that our nation's small business employees can immediately begin receiving health care for their families. We can no longer allow these dedicated employees to live and work without health insurance.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Ready to Teach Act, a bill I am cosponsoring along with Mr. Gingrey, to help improve the quality of our nation's teacher preparation programs. There is widespread awareness that the subject matter knowledge and teaching skills of teachers play a central role in the success of elementary and secondary education reform. More than half of the 2.2 million teachers that America's schools will need to hire over the next 10 years will be first-time teachers, and they will need to be well- prepared for the challenges of today's classrooms. For these reasons, the nation's attention has increasingly focused on the role that institutions of higher education and States play in ensuring that new teachers have the content knowledge and teaching skills they need to ensure that all students are held to higher standards. Accordingly, the Ready to Teach Act authorizes three types of teacher training grants that each play a unique, yet critical role in the education of tomorrow's teachers. State grant funds must be used to reform teacher preparation requirements and ensure that current and future teachers are highly qualified. Partnership grants allow effective partners to join together, combining strengths and resources to train highly qualified teachers and achieve success where it matters most--in the classroom. Teacher recruitment grants will help bring high quality individuals into teacher programs, and ultimately put more highly qualified teachers into classrooms. This legislation addresses key objectives to improve the quality of teacher preparation: 1. Accountability: While current higher education law contains some annual reporting requirements, these reporting measures have proven ineffective in measuring the true quality of teacher preparation programs. In fact, the current requirements have often been manipulated, leaving data skewed and often irrelevant. The Ready to Teach Act includes accountability provisions that will strengthen reporting measures and hold teacher preparation programs accountable for providing accurate and useful information. 2. Flexibility: The Ready to Teach Act recognizes that flexibility should exist in methods used for training highly qualified teachers, and for that reason, would allow funds to be used for innovative methods in teacher preparation programs, such as charter colleges of education, which can provide an alternative gateway for teachers to become highly qualified. Pioneering programs such as charter colleges of education would also implement systems to gauge a true measure of teacher effectiveness--the academic achievement of students. 3. Effectiveness: In addition to strengthening accountability measures, the Ready to Teach Act increases the effectiveness and quality in teacher training programs by including provisions to focus training on the skills and knowledge needed to prepare highly qualified teachers. The bill places a renewed emphasis on a broad range of skills required for effective teaching, such as the use of advanced technology in the classroom, rigorous academic content knowledge, scientifically based research, and challenging state student academic content standards. Institutions of higher education have a great deal of responsibility in contributing to the preparation of our nation's teachers--this bill will make sure they're meeting their responsibilities. I commend Congressman Gingrey for introducing the Ready to Teach Act, I believe this bill will help to ensure that the best and the brightest teachers are teaching our children.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1588, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. First and foremost, I would like to thank our troops, the troops of the United States Armed Forces, for their sacrifices and their outstanding work in Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as in our ongoing fight in our war against terror. I also commend our Commander in Chief, President George W. Bush, for his leadership during recent operations, as well as in the rebuilding of a free Iraqi nation. I recognize Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for managing along with his team including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Ryan and Field Commander General Tommy Franks for managing our troops in a very successful military campaign and also Secretary Rumsfeld for his vision for the transformation of the U.S. military into a more powerful and more efficient military force. Finally, I express deep respect for my friend, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, for his leadership in bringing this authorization bill to the floor. I appreciate his respect and his responsiveness to all of the members of the committee, along with our ranking member and his sidekick Ike Skelton. Mr. Chairman, the bill before us balances the need to address today's national security threats while preparing for tomorrow's challenges. It implements lessons learned from recent conflicts and addresses ongoing concerns by appropriately increasing funding for critical capabilities such as heavy armor, precision guided munitions, deep strike capability, airlift, and missile defense. H.R. 1588 incorporates needed policy, personnel, and procedural reforms at the Department of Defense, including modernizing the Department of Defense management system, which is imperative to national security and the retention and recruitment of civilian personnel. Also, the bill addresses environmental concerns. While we must be responsible stewards of our environment, it is troubling when military officers return from operations and report that their ability to train for operations is far from ideal due to environmental issues affecting their mission profile. This legislation authorizes approximately $4 billion for environmental protection and cleanup programs while recommending a responsible set of initiatives intended to restore the balance between protecting the environment and military readiness. Additionally, H.R. 1588 authorizes better pay and benefits for U.S. servicemembers by providing a 4.1 percent pay raise as well as an additional increase of allowances to cover the 96.5 percent of all housing costs. Finally, Mr. Chairman, the fiscal year DOD authorization bill is a courageous undertaking that strikes an appropriate balance between modernizing our existing forces and investing in next- generation capabilities that will empower the U.S. military and strengthen our national security. I strongly urge adoption of this legislation.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this Pension Security Act of 2003, and I commend the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Boehner) and the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Johnson), for their leadership in getting this bill to the floor to help America's workers. In the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, this Congress must ensure that innocent, hard-working, dedicated employees have safeguards to protect their savings. When Enron stock was dropping, its employees had no other option but to ride its tidal wave until it ran aground and crashed. As a former small business owner, I understand the desires of an employer to provide his or her employees with good, stable pension plans to ensure a comfortable retirement. By providing sound retirement benefits, employees' productivity increases through the peace of mind that they will have a financial future long after they retire. With the ever-changing economy and the differing retirement plans that are available to employees, it is the responsibility of an employer to ensure that his or her workers are given the freedom to direct the course of their financial future. We must increase workers' access to financial advice to help them choose the best investment for their individual needs. It is for this reason that I am pleased that the Pension Security Act will allow investment advisers to work in a purely fiduciary capacity to help employees understand the complexities, advantages, and opportunities in diversification of their investment pensions. If Enron workers had had the same sound advice from unbiased, trustworthy sources, many former employees would not have incurred the great financial losses that most employees have had to undergo as a result of the company's failure. When large corporations go bankrupt for whatever reason, whether it be through corruption or through innocent financial problems, management is generally more insulated from the blow than the employees because of their freedom to invest and their access to information. This bill will simply give employees the same benefits as management: the flexibility to make individual decisions with their money. They should not be penalized for the failure of management or the company. This bill will greatly alleviate the problems illustrated by Enron and WorldCom and fill a gaping hole, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the vice chairman of the subcommittee and one of the great leaders on the committee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of our time to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the chairman of the committee.

Mr. McKEON. How much time do we have left?

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As I stated, we do not oppose the amendment. We feel that it will improve the bill. This amendment ensures that administration of entities providing adult education and literacy activities are included in the membership of each local board. The composition of the local workforce boards have been streamlined in H.R. 1261, and it is important that participants in adult education are represented on the local boards alongside superintendents of the local secondary school system and the presidents and chief executive officers of secondary educational institutions. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for picking this up and offering the amendment, and we would be happy to accept the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, although I do not oppose the amendment, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1261, and I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), chairman, for his support and his leadership on this bill, and the committee in general. Simply put, H.R. 1261 will help strengthen America's economy. For example, this important bill includes amendments to Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which provides for the Nation's one- stop workforce development system. The bill also contains the Adult Basic Education Skills Act, which reauthorizes State programs for adult education. It also would reauthorize the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which provides services to help individuals with disabilities become employable and achieve full integration into society. Last week the Department of Labor released updated economic figures showing that the Nation's unemployment rate for April rose to 6 percent, its highest level since the 2001 recession, matching the rate that occurred this past December. With the April decline of 48,000 jobs, the fall in payroll employment over the past 3 months reached 525,000 jobs. Payroll employment has declined by 2.1 million jobs since the beginning of the recession. With hundreds of thousands of Americans searching for new jobs, we must take action to strengthen the job training opportunities for American workers. The Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 2003 builds upon and improves systems created in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which consolidated and integrated employment and training services at the local level in a more unified workforce development system. One of the hallmarks of the new system is that, in order to encourage the development of comprehensive systems that improve services to both employers and job seekers, local services are provided through a one-stop delivery system. At the one-stop centers, assistance ranges from core services, such as job search and placement assistance, access to job listings, and an initial assessment of skills and needs, intensive services such as comprehensive assessments and case management, and, if needed, occupational skills training. Even though States and local areas have created comprehensive services and effected one-stop delivery systems, there have been challenges with the system. H.R. 1261, the Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 2003, goes even further and addresses some of the challenges of the current system. For example, the bill streamlines unnecessary bureaucracy, increases effective cooperation among workforce development partners and places an increased emphasis on basic skills and adult education programs. This bill aims to streamline current WIA funding in order to provide more efficient and results-oriented services and programs by combining the adult, dislocated and employment service funding streams into one funding stream. This will eliminate administrative duplication that remains in the system, improving services for individuals. There is a need to increase the financial contribution of the mandatory partners in the one-stop career centers while at the same time increasing the service integration among the partner programs. This includes serving special populations, like individuals with disabilities who have unique needs, through the one-stop system. There is also a need to simplify the local and State governance processes and to strengthen the private sector's role by ensuring greater responsiveness to local area needs. We accomplish this by removing the requirement that one-stop partner programs have a seat on the local boards. This will provide for greater representation and influence by local business representatives who currently are frequently frustrated that they are not able to connect with, or access, resources from the local boards. We are also strengthening the membership requirements and role of the State board to increase support for partner usage in an effort to create a more coordinated approach to addressing the workforce needs of each community. Additionally, we need to increase training opportunities by providing for greater flexibility in the delivery of core, intensive, and training service. Individuals will have the opportunity to receive the services that are most appropriate for their needs. In short, this bill aims to empower individuals in improving their careers by strengthening the infrastructure of the one-stop delivery system, improving accountability, enhancing the role of employers, and increasing State and local flexibility. The bill also includes the Adult Basic Skills Act to reauthorize State programs for adult education. This bill places more of a focus on the delivery of the basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, and math. Additionally, we have sought to ensure that instructional practices are based on scientific research. Provisions have been included to increase accountability for States and local providers to have measurable improvement in basic skills and GED graduates and those entering higher education. The bill also makes improvements to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which provides services to help persons with disabilities become employable and achieve full integration into society. The Vocational Rehabilitation title of this bill enhances and improves transition services, which promote the movement of a student served under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act from school to post-school activities, which we passed last week. H.R. 1261 will strengthen our workforce development system to aid those Americans most in need of help getting back to work. I am pleased to support this legislation and urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Musgrave), one of our outstanding new freshmen. (Mrs. MUSGRAVE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), another new member of our committee.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule on H.R. 1261, the Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 2003. This important bill will reauthorize the Nation's job training programs. In 1998, under the Committee on Education and the Workforce's leadership, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act to reform the Nation's job training system that formerly was fragmented, contained overlapping programs, and did not serve either job seekers nor employers well. WIA consolidated and integrated employment and training services at the local level in a more unified workforce development system. The act created three funding streams to provide for adult employment and training services, dislocated workers' employment and training services, and youth development services. These services are directed by the local business-led workforce investment boards. One of the hallmarks of the new system is that, in order to encourage the development of comprehensive systems that improve services to both employers and job seekers, local services are provided through a one- stop delivery system. At the one-stop centers, the system ranges from core services such as job surge and placement assistance, access to job listings, and an initial assessment of skills and needs, intensive services, such as comprehensive assessments and case management, and, if needed, occupational skills training. In addition, to further promote a seamless system of services for job seekers and employers, numerous other Federal programs also must make their services available through the one-stop system. The WIA system contains the Federal Government's primary programs for investment in our Nation's workforce preparation. Even though the system is still maturing since its full implementation in July of 2000, States and local areas have created comprehensive services and effective one-stop delivery systems. The system is serving the needs of unemployed workers seeking new jobs in this time of economic recovery. In addition, the training services provided through WIA are invaluable in helping employers find the workers they need in areas of the country facing skill shortages. Nonetheless, there have been challenges with the system. For example, we have heard of the need to create to increase the financial contribution of the mandatory partners in the One-Stop Career Centers while, at the same time, increasing the service integration among the partner programs. This includes serving through the one-stop system special populations that have unique needs. We have heard that we need to simplify the local and State governance processes and to strengthen the private sector's role. In addition, we have heard about the need to increase training opportunities and improve performance accountability. Solutions to these challenges have been included in H.R. 1261. They will enhance the system so that it will continue to meet the training and employment needs of the information-based, highly-schooled 21st century workforce. As many Members have talked about already, the Nation's economic recovery has been slow at best. Between March and April, job cuts jumped 71 percent. U.S. employers wiped out over 146,000 jobs last month, compared with a little more than 85,000 in March. My home State of California experienced the biggest loss, with a loss of 32,891 jobs. This Congress cannot sit idly by while more and more Americans are added to the unemployment rolls. We must act now and pass legislation that will help Americans search for good and stable jobs. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this rule and allow us to move forward in bringing H.R. 1261 to the floor for a vote.