I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4174 

To establish a program that promotes reforms in workforce education and 

skill training for manufacturing in States and metropolitan areas, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 3, 2015 

Mr. CA ́RDENAS (for himself and Mr. ASHFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 

and in addition to the Committees on Science, Space, and Technology 

and Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish a program that promotes reforms in workforce 

education and skill training for manufacturing in States 

and metropolitan areas, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Manufacturing Skills 

5 Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti2 ty’’ means a State or a metropolitan area. 

3 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

4 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ means each 

5 of the following: 

6 (A) An institution of higher education, as 

7 defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Edu8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

9 (B) A postsecondary vocational institution, 

10 as defined in section 102(c) of such Act (20 

11 U.S.C. 1002(c)). 

12 (3) MANUFACTURING SECTOR.—The term 

13 ‘‘manufacturing sector’’ means a manufacturing sec14 tor classified in code 31, 32, or 33 of the most re15 cent version of the North America Industry Classi16 fication System developed under the direction the 

17 Office of Management and Budget. 

18 (4) METROPOLITAN AREA.—The term ‘‘metro19 politan area’’ means a standard metropolitan statis20 tical area, as designated by the Director of the Of21 fice of Management and Budget. 

22 (5) PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘Partnership’’ 

23 means the Manufacturing Skills Partnership estab24 lished in section 101(a). 


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1 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States of the United States, the Com3 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, 

4 Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin 

5 Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

6 Mariana Islands. 

7 TITLE I—MANUFACTURING 

8 SKILLS PROGRAM 

9 SEC. 101. MANUFACTURING SKILLS PROGRAM. 

10 (a) MANUFACTURING SKILLS PARTNERSHIP.—The 

11 Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of 

12 Education, Secretary of the Department of Defense, and 

13 Director of the National Science Foundation shall jointly 

14 establish a Manufacturing Skills Partnership consisting of 

15 the Secretaries and the Director, or their representatives. 

16 The Partnership shall— 

17 (1) administer and carry out the program es18 tablished under this title; 

19 (2) establish and publish guidelines for the re20 view of applications, and the criteria for selection, 

21 for grants under this title; and 

22 (3) submit an annual report to Congress on— 

23 (A) the eligible entities that receive grants 

24 under this title; and 


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1 (B) the progress such eligible entities have 

2 made in achieving the milestones identified in 

3 accordance with section 102(b)(2)(H). 

4 (b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts appropriated 

6 to carry out this title, the Partnership shall award 

7 grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to 

8 enable the eligible entities to carry out their pro9 posals submitted in the application under section 

10 102(b)(2), in order to promote reforms in workforce 

11 education and skill training for manufacturing in the 

12 eligible entities. 

13 (2) GRANT DURATION.—A grant awarded under 

14 paragraph (1) shall be for a 3-year period, with 

15 grant funds under such grant distributed annually in 

16 accordance with subsection (c)(2). 

17 (3) SECOND GRANTS.—If amounts are made 

18 available to award grants under this title for subse19 quent grant periods, the Partnership may award a 

20 grant to an eligible entity that previously received a 

21 grant under this title after such first grant period 

22 expires. The Partnership shall evaluate the perform23 ance of the eligible entity under the first grant in 

24 determining whether to award the eligible entity a 

25 second grant under this title. 


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1 SEC. 102. APPLICATION AND AWARD PROCESS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that desires to 

3 receive a grant under this title shall— 

4 (1) establish a task force, consisting of leaders 

5 from the public, nonprofit, and manufacturing sec6 tors, representatives of labor organizations, rep7 resentatives of elementary schools and secondary 

8 schools, and representatives of institutions of higher 

9 education, to apply for and carry out a grant under 

10 this title; and 

11 (2) submit an application at such time, in such 

12 manner, and containing such information as the 

13 Partnership may require. 

14 (b) APPLICATION CONTENTS.—The application de15 scribed in subsection (a)(2) shall include— 

16 (1) a description of the task force that the eligi17 ble entity has assembled to design the proposal de18 scribed in paragraph (2); 

19 (2) a proposal that— 

20 (A) identifies, as of the date of the applica21 tion— 

22 (i) the current strengths of the State 

23 or metropolitan area represented by the el24 igible entity in manufacturing; and 

25 (ii) areas for new growth opportuni26 ties in manufacturing; 


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1 (B) identifies, as of the date of the appli2 cation, manufacturing workforce and skills chal3 lenges preventing the eligible entity from ex4 panding in the areas identified under subpara5 graph (A)(ii), such as— 

6 (i) a lack of availability of— 

7 (I) strong career and technical 

8 education; 

9 (II) educational programs in 

10 science, technology, engineering, or 

11 mathematics; or 

12 (III) a skills training system; or 

13 (ii) an absence of customized training 

14 for existing industrial businesses and sec15 tors; 

16 (C) identifies challenges faced within the 

17 manufacturing sector by underrepresented and 

18 disadvantaged workers, including veterans, in 

19 the State or metropolitan area represented by 

20 the eligible entity; 

21 (D) provides strategies, designed by the el22 igible entity, to address challenges identified in 

23 subparagraphs (B) and (C) through tangible 

24 projects and investments, with the deep and 


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1 sustainable involvement of manufacturing busi2 nesses; 

3 (E) identifies and leverages innovative and 

4 effective career and technical education or skills 

5 training programs in the field of manufacturing 

6 that are available in the eligible entity; 

7 (F) leverages other Federal funds in sup8 port of such strategies; 

9 (G) reforms State or local policies and gov10 ernance, as applicable, in support of such strat11 egies; and 

12 (H) holds the eligible entity accountable, 

13 on a regular basis, through a set of transparent 

14 performance measures, including a timeline for 

15 the grant period describing when specific mile16 stones and reforms will be achieved; and 

17 (3) a description of the source of the matching 

18 funds required under subsection (d) that the eligible 

19 entity will use if selected for a grant under this title. 

20 (c) AWARD BASIS.— 

21 (1) SELECTION BASIS AND MAXIMUM NUMBER

22 OF GRANTS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Partnership shall 

24 award grants under this title, by not earlier 

25 than January 1, 2016, and not later than 


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1 March 31, 2016, to the eligible entities that 

2 submit the strongest and most comprehensive 

3 proposals under subsection (b)(2). 

4 (B) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF GRANTS.—For 

5 any grant period, the Partnership shall award 

6 not more than 5 grants under this title to eligi7 ble entities representing States and not more 

8 than 5 grants to eligible entities representing 

9 metropolitan areas. 

10 (2) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Partnership shall 

12 award grants under this title in an amount that 

13 averages, for all grants issued for a 3-year 

14 grant period, $10,000,000 for each year, sub15 ject to subparagraph (C) and paragraph (3). 

16 (B) AMOUNT.—In determining the amount 

17 of each grant for an eligible entity, the Partner18 ship shall take into consideration the size of the 

19 industrial base of the eligible entity. 

20 (C) INSUFFICIENT APPROPRIATIONS.—For 

21 any grant period for which the amounts avail22 able to carry out this title are insufficient to 

23 award grants in the amount described in sub24 paragraph (A), the Partnership shall award 


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1 grants in amounts determined appropriate by 

2 the Partnership. 

3 (3) FUNDING CONTINGENT ON PERFORM4 ANCE.—In order for an eligible entity to receive 

5 funds under a grant under this title for the second 

6 or third year of the grant period, the eligible entity 

7 shall demonstrate to the Partnership that the eligi8 ble entity has achieved the specific reforms and mile9 stones required under the timeline included in the el10 igible entity’s proposal under subsection (b)(2)(H). 

11 (4) CONSULTATION WITH POLICY EXPERTS.— 

12 The Partnership shall assemble a panel of manufac13 turing policy experts and manufacturing leaders 

14 from the private sector to serve in an advisory ca15 pacity in helping to oversee the competition and re16 view the competition’s effectiveness. 

17 (d) MATCHING FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving 

18 a grant under this title shall provide matching funds to19 ward the grant in an amount of not less than 50 percent 

20 of the costs of the activities carried out under the grant. 

21 Matching funds under this subsection shall be from non22 Federal sources and shall be in cash or in-kind. 


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1 SEC. 103. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated to carry out this title such sums as may be nec4 essary for fiscal year 2016. 

5 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Funds appropriated under this 

6 section shall remain available until expended. 

7 TITLE II—AUDIT OF FEDERAL 

8 EDUCATION AND SKILLS 

9 TRAINING 

10 SEC. 201. AUDIT OF FEDERAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS 

11 TRAINING. 

12 (a) AUDIT.—By not later than March 31, 2016, the 

13 Director of the National Institute of Standards and Tech14 nology, acting through the Advanced Manufacturing Na15 tional Program Office, shall conduct an audit of all Fed16 eral education and skills training programs related to 

17 manufacturing to ensure that States and metropolitan 

18 areas are able to align Federal resources to the greatest 

19 extent possible with the labor demands of their primary 

20 manufacturing industries. In carrying out the audit, the 

21 Director shall work with States and metropolitan areas to 

22 determine how Federal funds can be more tailored to meet 

23 their different needs. 

24 (b) REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—By not later 

25 than March 31, 2017, the Director of the National InstiVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Dec 05, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4174.IH H4174

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1 tute of Standards and Technology shall prepare and sub2 mit a report to Congress that includes— 

3 (1) a summary of the findings from the audit 

4 conducted under subsection (a); and 

5 (2) recommendations for such legislative and 

6 administrative actions to reform the existing funding 

7 for Federal education and skills training programs 

8 related to manufacturing as the Director determines 

9 appropriate. 

10 TITLE III—OFFSET 

11 SEC. 301. RESCISSION OF DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FUNDS. 

12 (a) RESCISSION OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any 

13 other provision of law, an amount equal to the amount 

14 of funds made available to carry out title I for a fiscal 

15 year shall be rescinded, in accordance with subsection (b), 

16 from the unobligated discretionary funds available to the 

17 Secretary from prior fiscal years. 

18 (b) RETURN OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any other 

19 provision of law, by not later than 15 days after funds 

20 are appropriated or made available to carry out title I, 

21 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

22 shall— 

23 (1) identify from which appropriations accounts 

24 available to the Secretary of Labor the rescission de25 scribed in subsection (a) shall apply; and 


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1 (2) determine the amount of the rescission that 

2 shall apply to each account. 

Æ 


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