S220 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 8, 2009 

Atmospheric Administration’s research mission and programs. 

(3) Undersea science-based education and 

outreach programs to enrich ocean science 

education and public awareness of the oceans 

and Great Lakes. 

(4) Development, testing, and transition of 

advanced undersea technology associated 

with ocean observatories, submersibles, advanced diving technologies, remotely operated vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles, and new sampling and sensing technologies. 

(5) Discovery, study, and development of 

natural resources and products from ocean, 

coastal, and aquatic systems. 

(b) OPERATIONS.—The Director of the program, through operation of the extramural 

regional centers and the National Institute 

for Undersea Science and Technology, shall 

leverage partnerships and cooperative research with academia and private industry. 

SEC. 205. COMPETITIVENESS. 

(a) DISCRETIONARY FUND.—The Program 

shall allocate no more than 10 percent of its 

annual budget to a discretionary fund that 

may be used only for program administration and priority undersea research projects 

identified by the Director but not covered by 

funding available from centers. 

(b) COMPETITIVE SELECTION.—The Administrator shall conduct an initial competition 

to select the regional centers that will participate in the program 90 days after the 

publication of the final program direction 

under section 203 and every 5 years thereafter. Funding for projects conducted 

through the regional centers shall be awarded through a competitive, merit-reviewed 

process on the basis of their relevance to the 

goals of the program and their technical feasibility. 

SEC. 206. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

There are authorized to be appropriated to 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry out this title— 

(1) for fiscal year 2009— 

(A) $13,750,000 for the regional centers, of 

which 50 percent shall be for West Coast regional centers and 50 percent shall be for 

East Coast regional centers; and 

(B) $5,500,000 for the National Technology 

Institute; 

(2) for fiscal year 2010— 

(A) $15,125,000 for the regional centers, of 

which 50 percent shall be for West Coast regional centers and 50 percent shall be for 

East Coast regional centers; and 

(B) $6,050,000 for the National Technology 

Institute; 

(3) for fiscal year 2011— 

(A) $16,638,000 for the regional centers, of 

which 50 percent shall be for West Coast regional centers and 50 percent shall be for 

East Coast regional centers; and 

(B) $6,655,000 for the National Technology 

Institute; 

(4) for fiscal year 2012— 

(A) $18,301,000 for the regional centers, of 

which 50 percent shall be for West Coast regional centers and 50 percent shall be for 

East Coast regional centers; and 

(B) $7,321,000 for the National Technology 

Institute; 

(5) for fiscal year 2013— 

(A) $20,131,000 for the regional centers, of 

which 50 percent shall be for West Coast regional centers and 50 percent shall be for 

East Coast regional centers; and 

(B) $8,053,000 for the National Technology 

Institute; 

(6) for fiscal year 2014— 

(A) $22,145,000 for the regional centers, of 

which 50 percent shall be for West Coast regional centers and 50 percent shall be for 

East Coast regional centers; and 

(B) $8,859,000 for the National Technology 

Institute; and 

(7) for fiscal year 2015— 

(A) $24,359,000 for the regional centers, of 

which 50 percent shall be for West Coast regional centers and 50 percent shall be for 

East Coast regional centers; and 

(B) $9,744,000 for the National Technology 

Institute. 

By Mr. FEINGOLD: 

S. 175. A bill to evaluate certain 

skills certification programs, and for 

other purposes; to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. 

Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today 

I introduce a straight-forward bill that 

is a first step toward helping American 

workers and businesses. This bill is 

part of my E–4 Initiative, which focuses on issues affecting the economy, 

energy, education and employment. 

The Skills Standards Certification 

Evaluation Act will require the Secretaries of Labor, Education and Commerce to evaluate skills standards certification programs that have been developed with federal funding. 

Skills Standards Certifications have 

emerged over the past two decades in 

response to job growth in high-technology and varied industries. The 

training or classes usually take weeks 

or months, rather than years. Often, 

they are developed in response to the 

needs of one industry or even one company, though the skills are often applicable more widely. 

As the President-elect and Congress 

work to save and create jobs through 

additional funding for infrastructure, 

green jobs, and similar programs, 

among other things, it is even more 

critical that employers be able to find 

qualified workers for a variety of positions. Workers who can easily demonstrate their skills quickly and easily 

will be able to benefit from such investments early on. 

Over the past two decades, the Federal Government has taken conflicting 

approaches to skills standards certifications. That is why, as part of the 

Skills Standards Certification Evaluation Act, I require a recommendation 

from the Secretaries of Labor and Commerce on how Congress ought to move 

forward with funding for these certification programs. Both the national, 

top-down, and a local, bottom-up approach have been tried, and a thorough 

evaluation will make clear how we can 

move forward to get the most out of 

the funding the Federal Government 

provides. 

These certifications have a tremendous benefit for workers. First, because 

the training is often condensed into a 

few weeks with a flexible schedule, it 

allows people to complete certifications without leaving a current job 

and without the financial cost of attending a full-time program that lasts 

a year or more. In addition, these programs allow workers to clearly demonstrate a certain set of skills, and 

may open more doors for higher-paying 

employment. Because these programs 

can be completed without leaving 

work, they also allow workers to advance within a career or company to 

more skilled positions and better wages 

and benefits. 

For employers, Skills Standards Certifications can simplify the search for 

employees. I have heard from numerous Wisconsin employers, especially 

small businesses with limited resources, that it is hard to find employees with the skills they need, or who 

will be dedicated and loyal. Skills 

Standards Certifications clearly show 

the qualification of an individual, of 

course, but also tell the employer that 

he or she is dedicated enough to invest 

in the course to earn the certificate. 

Very few people will spend the time 

and money to enroll in such a program 

if they don’t intend to use the certificate. 

Lastly, these programs can help state 

and local governments quantify their 

skilled workforce, which can be invaluable when marketing the area to businesses and investment. 

This bill is a small first step in what 

I hope can be a continuing effort to 

help hard-working Americans obtain 

and use high-demand work skills. 

By Mr. FEINGOLD: 

S. 176. A bill to improve the job access and reverse commute program, 

and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs. 

Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today 

I reintroduce a piece of my E4 initiative, so named because it is a collection of proposals that address issues 

important to the economy, education, 

employment and energy. This piece of 

the E4 legislation focuses on the important supporting role that transportation can play in economic development by creating an environment 

where employers and those seeking employment or better employment are 

connected together. Having such a system to overcome transportation hurdles can benefit both employers and 

employees, as well as the local economy and is all the more important in 

these difficult economic times. 

In more general terms, investing in 

our infrastructure like roads, bridges 

and transit systems can have direct job 

creation impacts. This is one reason I 

have fought hard with the rest of the 

delegation for a fair rate of return for 

Wisconsin from the highway bill. It is 

also why in a letter I sent to Presidentelect Obama and Senate leaders I included highway and transit projects as 

part of a variety of ready-to-go infrastructure projects that should be included in the forthcoming economic recovery program. 

In addition to supporting transportation-related jobs, linking workers 

and businesses that need them can also 

be an important part of a more comprehensive job creation strategy. This 

can mean supporting a robust public 

transportation system or more specific 

programs designed to link low-income 

individuals with jobs. I have consistently done the former by supporting 


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January 8, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S221 

public transportation during consideration of the highway bill and Amtrak 

reauthorizations. But my specific proposal today focuses on the latter and 

improving the Job Access and Reverse 

Commute, JARC, program that links 

low-income workers with employers. 

I have heard good things about the 

JARC program and was glad that it 

was shifted away from earmarks and 

was made available as a combination 

formula and competitively awarded 

program in the last highway bill. The 

primary program goal is to locally assess the transportation needs of low-income workers and then plan and fund 

programs to help alleviate transportation-related barriers to employment 

or better employment. While initially 

this may have been viewed as a way to 

support reverse commute projects 

whereby transit routes were established to allow city center residents to 

access jobs in the suburbs, the program 

actually does much more than just this 

and provides reliable transportation to 

low-income urban, rural and suburban 

workers. 

In Wisconsin, the Federal JARC program is jointly administered by the 

State departments of transportation 

and workforce development as the Wisconsin Employment Transportation 

Assistance Program, WETAP. According to the Wisconsin Department of 

Transportation, transportation barriers can include a lack of a dependable 

vehicle or bus service in the area, an 

absence of local jobs, or childcare 

transportation problems. The State 

agencies in Wisconsin have found several different types of projects to be effective depending on the local circumstances. These projects have included the traditional public transit 

projects such as extending bus lines or 

supporting van-pooling, along with 

other programs such as providing cars 

or car repairs to low-income individuals. Wisconsin has even found that assisting with indirect barriers such as 

transportation of children to and from 

childcare facilities is critical in allowing some individuals to improve their 

job prospects. 

A recent University of Illinois Chicago, UIC, study found that the societal benefits from this program are 

$1.65 per dollar spent and estimates 

lifetime benefits to low income participants of $15 per dollar spent due to 

their ability to find and retain better 

paying jobs. While the goals of the Job 

Access and Reverse Commute program 

are important and the program has 

been found to be fairly effective, there 

are some details that have prevented 

the program from reaching its full potential. Working closely with transportation officials in Wisconsin and partially based on recommendations from 

the UIC study, I’ve come up with some 

specific ideas to improve the program. 

With a proven effective program and 

continuing unmet needs by employers 

and low-income individuals seeking 

employment, JARC could use a boost 

in funding. So that is why my proposal 

ramps up funding by $100 million over 5 

years from the current funding of $165 

million to $265 million in fiscal year 

2014. 

My proposal would also allow the 

Federal share of projects to increase to 

80 percent from the current 50 percent 

level for operating expenses. The 50 

percent local and State match wasn’t 

feasible for far too many local governments in Wisconsin and as a result Wisconsin has not been able to spend all 

its Federal funds. The higher Federal 

cost share will better balance the need 

to leverage Federal funds, while ensuring that these critical funds are fully 

utilized—millions of dollars in an account does nothing to link people to 

jobs. 

Besides the challenge in coming up 

with a 50 percent local cost share, the 

other main issue that has kept JARC 

from being as effective as it could be is 

the paperwork and reporting burden required by the program, especially for 

the small nonprofit groups that often 

have never dealt with Federal grant requirements before. My proposal directs 

the Federal Transit Agency, FTA, to 

examine the current reporting requirements to see if there are ways to 

streamline the amount of paperwork 

required while still ensuring that the 

program goals are met. 

My bill also includes a pilot program 

funded at $10 million a year for 5 years 

in order to test a few areas that seem 

very promising, but should be evaluated more fully before broader implementation. The first portion of the 

pilot program builds off the regulatory 

streamlining evaluation and allows the 

FTA to test streamlined reporting requirements to help get the balance between oversight and administrative 

burden right. 

The second part of the pilot program 

focuses on improving education- and 

employment-related transportation for 

teens and young adults. Enabling students and young people to reliably get 

between their high schools or neighborhoods and technical colleges, job training centers or apprenticeships can have 

a lifelong positive impact. 

The third section of the pilot program would allow experimentation 

with combining different transit programs and integrating JARC projects 

across local political boundaries to 

provide a more comprehensive local 

transportation system. Instead of having one transit program to assist the 

disabled, one targeted toward the elderly and another focused on jobs, this 

pilot program would encourage funding 

combined applications to meet these 

needs together with one comprehensive 

project. There is even the potential for 

the Department of Transportation to 

further coordinate with other departments such as Health and Human Services for healthcare-related transportation. Similarly, the needs of employers for employees do not recognize 

local political boundaries, so encouraging greater collaboration between 

local entities to make a more robust 

interconnected system should ultimately provide more efficient and effective service. 

While the FTA already provides some 

technical assistance for the JARC program, my proposal provides a small 

boost in funding and some additional 

areas of emphasis. For example, after 

hearing about the struggles that some 

small nonprofits have with the reporting requirements, in addition to looking for ways to streamline the requirements, my proposal would direct the 

FTA to also provide some technical assistance especially targeted to this 

need. 

The final element of my proposal is 

the offset. The new spending authorized in the proposal is fully offset by 

rescinding highway and bridge earmarks that have not had funds spent 

from them despite being authorized 

over a decade ago as part of the TEA– 

21 highway bill. Helping connect workers and employers is a much better use 

of these funds than letting them sit unused in some obscure DOT account. 

Providing reliable transportation to 

low-income individuals only goes so 

far—it is the companies and innovators 

creating the jobs and the individuals 

seeking to better their lot through education or more challenging employment, that are doing the heavy lifting. 

That being said, transportation can 

clearly be a challenge for companies 

and workers and in the case of the 

JARC program can play an important 

supporting role. 

By Mr. FEINGOLD: 

S. 177. A bill to amend the Small 

Business Act to extend the Small Business Innovation Research and Small 

Business Technology Transfer programs, to increase the allocation of 

Federal agency grants for these programs, to add water, energy, transportation, and domestic security related 

research to the list of topics deserving 

special consideration, and for other 

purposes; to the Committee on Small 

Business and Entrepreneurship. 

Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, we 

are all aware of the serious challenges 

our economy faces in the short term 

and the urgency of our need to promote 

job creation and economic development. I am committed to engaging in 

this broad effort with my colleagues on 

both sides of the aisle. But it is essential that our efforts not just be short 

term fixes—they must not only aim to 

create jobs and investment opportunities in the short term, they must be 

part of strategic efforts to strengthen 

our Nation’s innovation capabilities 

and sustain long term economic development in a changing and competitive 

global environment. There is no better 

way to do this than by stimulating and 

supporting small business innovation, 

especially in areas of national priority. 

As part of this effort, today I am introducing the Strengthening Our Economy Through Small Business Innovation Act of 2009. 

Job growth, innovation and economic 

development are driven by our small 


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