National Apprenticeship Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEFANIK. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Foxx.

Mr. Speaker, as our Nation recovers from the economic toll of the COVID pandemic and strives to restore the livelihood of America's workers, we must take every opportunity to strengthen the pathways to meaningful, family-sustaining careers.

The apprenticeship model of providing paid work experience, coupled with classroom instruction and on-the-job mentorship, is a proven approach to equip workers with the skills they need for lifelong success.

Individuals who complete high-quality apprenticeship programs immediately enter into well-paying jobs and do so without the debt that often saddles our younger generation of workers.

Despite this track record of success, apprenticeships remain the pathway to opportunity for far too few. Less than 3 percent of the workforce comes up through the apprenticeship system, and the vast majority of registered apprenticeship programs are concentrated in just a handful of industries.

This stark reality leaves one of the strongest workforce development strategies vastly underutilized in developing talent for the modern economy. In order to achieve our common goal of expanding apprenticeships to a more expansive set of occupations, we must develop a system that is responsive to the demands of the 21st century workplace and accessible to employers in emerging industry sectors.

Mr. Speaker, my amendment offers a simple step in the right direction: removing a barrier for employers who seek more freedom to design a program that fits their unique needs.

For the nontraditional occupations and sectors, the mandated minimum of 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning may not fit the nature of the job and thus prevent interested employers from ever developing an apprenticeship program. While H.R. 8294 provides a process for these employers to pursue an alternative time-based model that fits their industry, the legislation requires approval from both the State registration agency and the Secretary of Labor.

A State apprenticeship agency seeking to foster the growth of apprenticeships in their State could grant approval to an innovative model only to have these efforts stifled by Department officials in Washington. The bureaucratic nature of this process may discourage employers from even attempting to use this flexibility in the first place.

My amendment removes the Department of Labor from the process and leaves it solely at the discretion of States to approve alternative program models, empowering workforce leaders across the country to inject needed dynamism in the age-old system.

Yet, this amendment alone cannot atone for the countless missed opportunities to incorporate additional Republican amendments, amendments that would have allowed innovation to thrive while still upholding the safety and accountability standards necessary to underpin the taxpayers' investment in apprenticeship programs.

Revitalizing economic opportunity for America's workers and small businesses will require a robust pipeline of earn-and-learn models that can serve an ever more diverse group of job seekers, and I believe more work must be done before this legislation can truly fulfill that promise.

Mr. Speaker, as we stand here in the final weeks of the 116th Congress and recognize that we will be back at this issue next year, I wholeheartedly believe that we can reestablish the bipartisan spirit that has been a hallmark of our efforts on workforce development.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis) for her passion and commitment on this important issue and for her leadership on the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee as well as her leadership on the House Armed Services. I serve with Mrs. Davis on two committees. She will be deeply missed.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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