This Bill's Got SKILLS

Rep. Foxx (R., NC) introduces the SKILLS (Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills) Act, which attempts to strengthen the federal workforce development system (partial press release below). 

Leading Workforce Education Officials Laud Reforms in Foxx's SKILLS Act

02/27/13

LEADING WORKFORCE EDUCATION OFFICIALS LAUD REFORMS IN FOXX’S SKILLS ACT
Courtesy of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce

Higher Education & Workforce Training Subcommittee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx presents the SKILLS Act, H.R. 803, legislation to reform and modernize federal workforce development programs in order to better serve job seekers and employers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, chaired by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Tuesday held a hearing on the urgent need to strengthen the federal workforce development system. Members discussed a number of legislative proposals intended to address flaws in federal job development policies, including the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act.  

“Today’s workforce development system is failing workers, employers, and taxpayers,” said Chairwoman Foxx.“Instead of a dynamic network of employment support, we have a massive bureaucracy that stifles innovation and wastes resources. The need to fundamentally change the status quo has never been greater. President Obama said last year that it was ‘time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system.’ That is precisely what the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act will do.”

The SKILLS Act (H.R. 803) reauthorizes the Workforce Investment Act, which has not been reformed since 1998. State and local workforce development leaders described the need to reauthorize federal law and discussed the positive reforms reflected in the legislation. ...