Date: 1983-02-10
Speaker: ST GERMAIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing two bills as amendments to the Defense Production Act of 1950. They are the Higher Education Technical Equipment Grant Act. and the Job Retraining Act of 1983. I ask that these proposals be printed in the RECORD. immediately following these brief remarks regarding the need for legislation. Mr. Speaker. in the closing days of the 97th Congress. the House engaged brief debate on the need to step up efforts to modernize key plant and equipment sectors of our national industrial base. and to take those steps necessary to the upgrading of the skill of the labor force needed to effectively operate these sectors of our industrial base. This debate highlighted several important aspects of the problem we have in trying to retain our status as a world power with a firstrate industrlal base for. in fact. serious doubts have arisen regarding the capacity of that industrial base to be responsive to any sudden or "surge" demands for production that might be placed upon it. It is hard to believe that the average age of a machinetool operator today is 58. but that is a fact. Puthermore. we know that he is looking forward to retirement within the next few years. Significantly. for the sake of our industrial output system. his replacement has not yet been found. nor is he H 466 CO in training. if he has been found. Yet. we will need. 572.000 such people by 1987a mere 4 years from now. The same story can be told. for differing reasons. concerning tool and diemakers. we will need 223.000 by 1987. Electrical engineers? 360.000 by 1987. Metal molders? 60.000 by 1987. Computer specialists? 547.000 by 1987. Mechanics? 1.8 million by 1987. Mr. Speaker. though the list is almost endless. the problem is not. It is true that we can expect serious shortages to occur in a number of very critical vocations and skills.- It is also true that these delinquencies will be much more apparent if and when the United States gets into accelerated production in key industries that depend on these skilled workers in adequate number. Yet. we are not without the means of being able to deal with these problems at this time. That is the basic reason for offering these two bills as amendments to the Defense Production Act of 1950. The Banking Committee. has conducted extensive harings on these problems and has reported its findings to the most recent Congress. These two proposed pieces of legislation can advance the prospect of handling fundamental problem areas we were able to determine as major sources of doubt regarding the health of our industrial system. Mr. Speaker. the Job Retraining Act of 1983 and the Higher Education Technical Equipment Act would. if adopted. vastly improve our ability to be more competitive on a worldwide basis in essential industrials such as machine tooling. forging. diecasting. and the like. Adoption of these proposals could aid many of our skilled and professional workers through their retraining and through the upgrading of their skills. as well as provide new recruiting opportunities within the labor force for those many Americans now left without hope or opportunity for entry. Mr. Speaker. though the current status of our industrial system is. a matter of debate and doubt. I believe. that we can improve upon that system. and contribute to the general revival of the Nation. In that respect. it is my conviction that we must make every effort available to our fellow citizens for training. retraining. upgrading of skills. and for the retention of that necessary teaching force we. require in order to maintain a steady supply of professional manpower such as engineers. scientists. and researchers. To this end: It is my hope that the House will be able to take early action on this legislation.e