American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008

Floor Speech

AMERICAN HOUSING RESCUE AND FORECLOSURE PREVENTION ACT OF 2008 -- (Senate - July 11, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the distinguished chairman of the Banking Committee, and thank him for his leadership on this legislation. As the chairman knows, I have been a long-time advocate of our Nation's job training programs as an effective tool to help people get the skills they need to secure family-wage jobs, improve their quality of life, and keep our communities healthy and competitive. In fact, I believe that giving workers the opportunity to grow their skills is one of the critical elements of our Nation's economic security. That's why I fought for the passage of the Workforce Investment Act in 1998 and will continue to push for its reauthorization and increased funding levels for its job training programs. Workforce boards around the country, including those in my home State of Washington, administer great job training programs that help millions of Americans get off unemployment rolls or out of low-paying, dead-end jobs.

I think the program that my colleague described sounds like an initiative that is certainly worth study. Indeed, any ideas that could help even more people avoid the economic turmoil and emotional hardship foreclosures cause for themselves and their families should be considered.

Mr. DODD. I thank my colleague from Washington for her comments and for her leadership on this issue. I also would ask the Senator from Washington if it is her understanding, as it is mine, that workforce boards administer programs that train workers for jobs in cutting-edge industries such as renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator from Connecticut for his question. We believe now, as we did when we passed the act into law, that for training to benefit working families and their communities, it must respond to the skills needs of thriving industries that lead to family-wage jobs. An example of this is the green jobs sector. Innovative States, such as my own State of Washington, are leading the expansion of career opportunities in the green economy, making sure that opportunities are readily available for workers to acquire the skills to qualify for these good jobs. In fact, Washington State set a new goal to increase the number of clean energy jobs to 25,000 in the next 12 years and committed to finance the necessary training. Innovative workforce boards across the country increasingly are providing training for green collar jobs that will be critical in meeting the demands of a low-carbon economy and providing workers with quality jobs. And Congress also is taking action. As a member of the Committee on Appropriations, I supported the recent passage the Labor/Health and Human Services bill; we reported that a greater training investment needs to be made in areas such as renewable electric power, biofuels, energy-efficiency assessment and environmentally sustainable manufacturing and directed the Secretary of Labor to competitively award community based job training grants in these areas. All of these programs will be instrumental in developing the skilled domestic workforce necessary to maintain our Nation's competitive edge.

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