Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I thank Ranking Member Miller for yielding me this time.

Today I rise in opposition to the SKILLS Act. This partisan bill, unfortunately, takes a one-size-fits-all approach, freezing funding, eliminating programs that help veterans, the disabled, young workers, and older Americans find work, and ending the requirement that community colleges serve on workforce investment boards. As a graduate of a community college, I take that very seriously.

This bill also fails to address the skills gap issue. When I'm out in my district talking to businesses large and small, especially in the high-tech sector in Oregon's Silicon Forest, they often say there are job openings but not enough qualified workers.

There's a substitute bill, the Workforce Investment Act, sponsored by Mr. Miller, Mr. Hinojosa, and Mr. Tierney. Unlike the substitute bill, the SKILLS Act doesn't include the WISE Investment Act language that I authored to address the skills gap problem. The WISE Investment Act helps connect the needs of small businesses and other stakeholders with the training programs available through community colleges and elsewhere.

It's time to set ideology aside and work together so that the best ideas rise to the top. Unfortunately, this bill does the opposite. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and let's start working together to get a bill with broad support. I urge my colleagues to support real workforce reforms that we need, that are bipartisan, and that address the skills gap issue as well as the other important issues that are included in the Workforce Investment Act, but unfortunately not in the partisan SKILLS Act.

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