Date: 1982-08-04
Speaker: WILLIAM J. COYNE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chairman. if our Nation is so fortunate as to have an economic turnaround. the number of new jobs created will. of course. mean a rise in the demand for employees. The administration devotes much of its effort to stimulate that demand to such devices as large business tax cuts. It falls to address the supply side of the workplace equationtrained labor. Without a trained workforce. a job boom can mean an employee bust. As the House Education and Labor Committee says In its report on H.R. 5320. the Job Training and Partnership Act: It is perhaps the ultimate irony that at time when we find ourselves primarily concerned with the revitalization of the American economy. we find the most vital sector of our workforce unschooled. untrained. and unemployed. The administration fails to recognize the irony of the situation. The Republicancontrolled Senate wisely rejected the administrations wholly inadequate job training bill. approving instead a $3.8 billion measure sponsored by Senators QUAYLE and KENNEDY. The measure we consider today. H.R. 5320. is superior to the Senate proposal. improved through the QuayleKennedy bill Is over the administrations bill. The House bill merits support not simply because it authorizes more funds for this critical program-$5.4 billion compared to $3.8 billionalthough adequate funding is essential. The House bill contains an element the QuayleKenndey bill sorely lackslocal control. Like the administration measure. the QuayleKennedy bill gives State governments far too much control over decisionmaking that should be carried out at the local level. Pittsburgh Mayor Richard S. Caliguirl makes a persuasive case for local. rather than State. control of job training programs. He says: The city strongly opposes the shifting of planning and programing authority from the local level to State level as depicted in the QuayleKennedy bill. The city strongly feels that the current prime sponsorship program needs to remain intact. Undoubtedly. local elected officials are in the best position to design. implement and manage programs which serve the ever increasing and rapidly changing employment and training needs of the local community. The local governments are also in the best position to expediently marshal and efficiently allocate local resources among all segments of the community. including business and industry. Mayor Caliguirl points out the difference between Statelevel decisionmaking and that at the local level: The vast differences between State level and local level economic priorities and policy and decisionmaking processes will make it virtually impossible for States to develop and implement a standard set of policies which will be uniformly responsive to the economic needs of each and every local community. Problems specific to local economic needs require solutions specific to each local political jurisdiction rather than statewide corrective action applied by the State in a unilateral manner. Over the years. the current prime sponsorship system has proven for the most part that elected officials better serve all segments of the community and are dutifully held accountable for the integrity of these decisions by their constituents. Madam Chairman. I strongly support H.R. 5320. and I urge my colleagues to do likewise. It retains the principle of local control over job training. It authorizes funding for such effective programs as the Job Corps. and it includes a new provision. of special importance to those of us who represent industrial cities. one which would aid in the retraining of skilled workers displaced from their jobs by plant closures or permanent reductions in force. If we are to stimulate job demand. as virtually everyone in this Congress would have this Government do. we must be sure to pay attention to the needs of labor. The most critical need is training. I favor this type of supplyside eco. nomicsan economics that recognizes an investment in human capital as the equal to an investment in monetary capital. The need for trained labor Is clear. Rebuilding our crumbling cities. for example. may be the growth industry of the future. But is must be coupled with job training. Passage of H.R. 5320 is a vital part of that effort. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this measure.