Supporting Knowledge and Investing in LIfelong Skills Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and it is important. When I first came to Congress, I was the sponsor of this bill when it was in our committee when I first came here.
My experience is I worked for 18 years before I came to Congress in my family's manufacturing business. I remember, when I first got there, we needed skilled workers. We were trying to find skilled workers, and we found out we had a plant full of very smart people who just didn't figure it out when they were in high school for some reason.
I have seen what additional training and education will do for adults--take some of the tool and diemakers in our world, robotics repairmen, and computer-controlled machine programers to a high-wage, high-skilled job and lifestyle.
Also, as I travel through my district--I travel through my district all the time--and all of us do--go into businesses, and there is not a single business that I visited any time recently, even with the unemployment numbers where there are, not a single business, whether or not they are advertising in the paper for applications or not, but not a single one that says that, if the right person came today with the skills that I need, I would hire them.
This is why we are here today. This is what is happening. The process has worked. We are coming together as a country today, to make sure that the workers are getting a hand up, and we are going to make sure they have the opportunity to improve themselves.
I have seen it, Madam Speaker, I have seen it. When people go through these programs and they complete them successfully, they don't just become a more valuable employee. Each employee becomes more valuable to his and herself.
I am very proud to be here. I am very proud to support this. I appreciate our chairman and Ms. Foxx of North Carolina and all the work together through the House and the Senate, to give the workers of America a victory today.
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