II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2897 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Mr. COONS (for himself and Ms. AYOTTE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

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 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti9 ty’’ means a State or a metropolitan area. 


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1 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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

3 of the following: 

4 (A) An institution of higher education, as 

5 defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Edu6 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

7 (B) A postsecondary vocational institution, 

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

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

10 (3) MANUFACTURING SECTOR.—The term 

11 ‘‘manufacturing sector’’ means a manufacturing sec12 tor classified in code 31, 32, or 33 of the most re13 cent version of the North American Industry Classi14 fication System developed under the direction of the 

15 Office of Management and Budget. 

16 (4) METROPOLITAN AREA.—The term ‘‘metro17 politan area’’ means a standard metropolitan statis18 tical area, as designated by the Director of the Of19 fice of Management and Budget. 

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

21 means the Manufacturing Skills Partnership estab22 lished in section 101(a). 

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

24 the several States of the United States, the Com25 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, 


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1 Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin 

2 Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

3 Mariana Islands. 

4 TITLE I—MANUFACTURING 

5 SKILLS PROGRAM 

6 SEC. 101. MANUFACTURING SKILLS PROGRAM. 

7 (a) MANUFACTURING SKILLS PARTNERSHIP.—The 

8 Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of 

9 Education, Secretary of the Department of Defense, and 

10 Director of the National Science Foundation shall jointly 

11 establish a Manufacturing Skills Partnership consisting of 

12 the Secretaries and the Director, or their representatives. 

13 The Partnership shall— 

14 (1) administer and carry out the program es15 tablished under this title; 

16 (2) establish and publish guidelines for the re17 view of applications, and the criteria for selection, 

18 for grants under this title; and 

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

20 (A) the eligible entities that receive grants 

21 under this title; and 

22 (B) the progress such eligible entities have 

23 made in achieving the milestones identified in 

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

25 (b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts appropriated 

2 to carry out this title, the Partnership shall award 

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

4 enable the eligible entities to carry out their pro5 posals submitted in the application under section 

6 102(b)(2), in order to promote reforms in workforce 

7 education and skill training for manufacturing in the 

8 eligible entities. 

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

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

11 grant funds under such grant distributed annually in 

12 accordance with subsection (c)(2). 

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

14 available to award grants under this title for subse15 quent grant periods, the Partnership may award a 

16 grant to an eligible entity that previously received a 

17 grant under this title after such first grant period 

18 expires. The Partnership shall evaluate the perform19 ance of the eligible entity under the first grant in 

20 determining whether to award the eligible entity a 

21 second grant under this title. 

22 SEC. 102. APPLICATION AND AWARD PROCESS. 

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

24 receive a grant under this title shall— 


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

2 from the public, nonprofit, and manufacturing sec3 tors, representatives of labor organizations, rep4 resentatives of elementary schools and secondary 

5 schools, and representatives of institutions of higher 

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

7 this title; and 

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

9 manner, and containing such information as the 

10 Partnership may require. 

11 (b) APPLICATION CONTENTS.—The application de12 scribed in subsection (a)(2) shall include— 

13 (1) a description of the task force that the eligi14 ble entity has assembled to design the proposal de15 scribed in paragraph (2); 

16 (2) a proposal that— 

17 (A) identifies, as of the date of the applica18 tion— 

19 (i) the current strengths of the State 

20 or metropolitan area represented by the el21 igible entity in manufacturing; and 

22 (ii) areas for new growth opportuni23 ties in manufacturing; 

24 (B) identifies, as of the date of the appli25 cation, manufacturing workforce and skills chalVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 02, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2897.IS S2897

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1 lenges preventing the eligible entity from ex2 panding in the areas identified under subpara3 graph (A)(ii), such as— 

4 (i) a lack of availability of— 

5 (I) strong career and technical 

6 education; 

7 (II) educational programs in 

8 science, technology, engineering, or 

9 mathematics; or 

10 (III) a skills training system; or 

11 (ii) an absence of customized training 

12 for existing industrial businesses and sec13 tors; 

14 (C) identifies challenges faced within the 

15 manufacturing sector by underrepresented and 

16 disadvantaged workers, including veterans, in 

17 the State or metropolitan area represented by 

18 the eligible entity; 

19 (D) provides strategies, designed by the el20 igible entity, to address challenges identified in 

21 subparagraphs (B) and (C) through tangible 

22 projects and investments, with the deep and 

23 sustainable involvement of manufacturing busi24 nesses; 


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1 (E) identifies and leverages innovative and 

2 effective career and technical education or skills 

3 training programs in the field of manufacturing 

4 that are available in the eligible entity; 

5 (F) leverages other Federal funds in sup6 port of such strategies; 

7 (G) reforms State or local policies and gov8 ernance, as applicable, in support of such strat9 egies; and 

10 (H) holds the eligible entity accountable, 

11 on a regular basis, through a set of transparent 

12 performance measures, including a timeline for 

13 the grant period describing when specific mile14 stones and reforms will be achieved; and 

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

16 funds required under subsection (d) that the eligible 

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

18 (c) AWARD BASIS.— 

19 (1) SELECTION BASIS AND MAXIMUM NUMBER

20 OF GRANTS.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Partnership shall 

22 award grants under this title, by not earlier 

23 than January 1, 2015, and not later than 

24 March 31, 2015, to the eligible entities that 


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1 submit the strongest and most comprehensive 

2 proposals under subsection (b)(2). 

3 (B) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF GRANTS.—For 

4 any grant period, the Partnership shall award 

5 not more than 5 grants under this title to eligi6 ble entities representing States and not more 

7 than 5 grants to eligible entities representing 

8 metropolitan areas. 

9 (2) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Partnership shall 

11 award grants under this title in an amount that 

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

13 grant period, $10,000,000 for each year, sub14 ject to subparagraph (C) and paragraph (3). 

15 (B) AMOUNT.—In determining the amount 

16 of each grant for an eligible entity, the Partner17 ship shall take into consideration the size of the 

18 industrial base of the eligible entity. 

19 (C) INSUFFICIENT APPROPRIATIONS.—For 

20 any grant period for which the amounts avail21 able to carry out this title are insufficient to 

22 award grants in the amount described in sub23 paragraph (A), the Partnership shall award 

24 grants in amounts determined appropriate by 

25 the Partnership. 


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1 (3) FUNDING CONTINGENT ON PERFORM2 ANCE.—In order for an eligible entity to receive 

3 funds under a grant under this title for the second 

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

5 shall demonstrate to the Partnership that the eligi6 ble entity has achieved the specific reforms and mile7 stones required under the timeline included in the el8 igible entity’s proposal under subsection (b)(2)(H). 

9 (4) CONSULTATION WITH POLICY EXPERTS.— 

10 The Partnership shall assemble a panel of manufac11 turing policy experts and manufacturing leaders 

12 from the private sector to serve in an advisory ca13 pacity in helping to oversee the competition and re14 view the competition’s effectiveness. 

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

16 a grant under this title shall provide matching funds to17 ward the grant in an amount of not less than 50 percent 

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

19 Matching funds under this subsection shall be from non20 Federal sources and shall be in cash or in-kind. 

21 SEC. 103. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro23 priated to carry out this title such sums as may be nec24 essary for fiscal year 2015. 


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1 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Funds appropriated under this 

2 section shall remain available until expended. 

3 TITLE II—AUDIT OF FEDERAL 

4 EDUCATION AND SKILLS 

5 TRAINING 

6 SEC. 201. AUDIT OF FEDERAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS 

7 TRAINING. 

8 (a) AUDIT.—By not later than March 31, 2015, the 

9 Director of the National Institute of Standards and Tech10 nology, acting through the Advanced Manufacturing Na11 tional Program Office, shall conduct an audit of all Fed12 eral education and skills training programs related to 

13 manufacturing to ensure that States and metropolitan 

14 areas are able to align Federal resources to the greatest 

15 extent possible with the labor demands of their primary 

16 manufacturing industries. In carrying out the audit, the 

17 Director shall work with States and metropolitan areas to 

18 determine how Federal funds can be more tailored to meet 

19 their different needs. 

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

21 than March 31, 2016, the Director of the National Insti22 tute of Standards and Technology shall prepare and sub23 mit a report to Congress that includes— 

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

25 conducted under subsection (a); and 


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1 (2) recommendations for such legislative and 

2 administrative actions to reform the existing funding 

3 for Federal education and skills training programs 

4 related to manufacturing as the Director determines 

5 appropriate. 

6 TITLE III—OFFSET 

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

8 (a) RESCISSION OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any 

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

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

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

12 from the unobligated discretionary funds available to the 

13 Secretary from prior fiscal years. 

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

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

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

17 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

18 shall— 

19 (1) identify from which appropriations accounts 

20 available to the Secretary of Labor the rescission de21 scribed in subsection (a) shall apply; and 

22 (2) determine the amount of the rescission that 

23 shall apply to each account. 

Æ 


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