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Competitive Workforce
Creating conditions that allow businesses to thrive and create jobs should be one of the highest priorities of the federal government. That is why I fight for policies that give small businesses maximum autonomy to do what they do best: provide services and products to American consumers and the global marketplace, while employing the nation’s workers. The federal government should not be imposing onerous laws, regulations, and taxes on businesses at any time, let alone during tougher economic times. That’s why my colleagues and I are fighting to repeal burdensome laws and regulations, and lower the taxes on our nation’s job producers. The federal government should help the private sector in job creation as well through the Workforce Investment system.
Workforce Investment System
In 1998 I oversaw and ushered into law the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) which created the one-stop WorkSource Centers that many Americans have come to rely upon for job training and skills updating. Through these one-stop centers, workers – both employed and unemployed - can acquire and update new skills in order to keep them integrated in an ever-changing economy. WIA has been in need of reauthorization for the better part of a decade and I am proposing a bill to do just that.
I consider the reauthorization of WIA to be one of the most pressing items on the Education and the Workforce Committee agenda and see it as an integral step to rebuilding our changing economy. In the 112th Congress, I introduced H.R. 4297, The Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012. I am committed to a dynamic, results-oriented job training system that can effectively serve job seekers and workers in need of retraining. Now more than ever it is imperative that the system functions for the benefit of workers.
The Workforce Investment Improvement Act builds on reforms proposed by Republicans in recent years to strengthen and improve programs and services under WIA with the concurrent goals of putting Americans back to work and making the United States more competitive in the 21st century. The key goals of the bill as written includes:
- eliminating duplication
- strengthening coordinating infrastructure
- improving accountability
- enhancing the role of employers
- and increasing state and local flexibility to better serve our nation’s workers
Together, these reforms will ensure the nation’s workforce development system can respond quickly and effectively to the changing needs of job seekers and those in need of training.
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