Date: 1982-07-01
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. the legislation we are considering today is vitally important to the future of our Nationa future which depends upon a workforce equipped with the skills to compete in an evermorecompetitive environment. I believe wholeheartedly that Government. for the benefit of all who live in these United States. must make available job training programs and provide assistance in linking those who need jobs with jobs that employers need done. Such a role for Government is vital to workers and their families. it also is vital for the American economy if we are to compete successfully with other economies around the world and if we are to maintain the standard of living that has made us the envy of the greatest portion of the Earth. The training for jobs bill preserves a number of vital employment and training programs. and makes a number of changes in them which. by and large. will strengthen them. In particular. I am pleased to see the summer youth employment program preserved. I believe a very significant step has been taken by establishing a program to aid displaced. skilled workers who have little likelihood of returning to their previous jobs as a result of the decline of various industries. foreign competition. and other factors. In my own 4tate of West Virginia. for example. the steel industry has been especially hard hit. This program of assistance for displaced workers will make it possible to take the dedicated. energetic workers who have lost their jobs when steel plants have closed or curtailed their operations. and assist them in acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to find new employment that will make full use of their capabilities. I also believe that important benefits will result from the way in which this legislation will assure a greater degree of coordination between the employment service and the training and assistance programs authorized by this bill and between the employment service and private sector employers. These linkages should result in the employment service being more helpful both to those seeking jobs and to employers who need workers. In this same vein. the bill also has taken a valuable step toward improving the usefulness of public job training and job search assistance efforts by instituting a much more intimate and regular connection between these efforts and the private sector. and by involving private sector businesses in actually designing and overseeing the functioning of these programs. These are all steps in the right direction. and I compliment the members of the labor and Human Resources Committee and managers of the bill for their efforts to produce a bipaitisan compromise bill. I know that the negotiations were difficult and lengthy. Like any compromise. it does not fully satisfy everyone involved. But the bill does extend the Federal Goverments participation in employment and training programs. which has been and will continue to be a matter of great importance and is an absolute imperative as we are trying to dig ourselves out of this recession. The bill does make some important improvements in the way these programs are operated. And* its passage will allow us to conference with the House on this matter and move to enactment legislation so there is no hiatus when the CETA program ends this fall. Consequently. I expect to vote for final passage of the bill. Mr. President. we currently have the highest unemployment rate in over 40 yearssince before the beginning of World War II in 1941. The last figures compiled by the Department of Labor show that over 10.500.000 workers have lost their jobs and do not have work. That is very nearly 10 percent of the entire work forcevery nearly 10 percent of all American workers now are unemployed. And. of course. this does not even count the approximately 1.3 million workers who are so discouraged in their search for employment that they have simply given up looking. nor does it count the hundreds of thousands who are working part time only because they cannot find fulltime jobs. This is having nothing short of catastrophic consequences for these jobless workers and their families. As they exhaust their 39 weeks of regular and extended unemployment benefits and use up their savings. they face foreclosure on their mortgages or eviction from rented homes. inadequate diets. and postponement of needed medical care. Ultimately. they face true destitution. Mr. President. the Congress has a moral obligation to try to cushion the blow on these unemployed Americans. For this reason. I introduced S. 2542. along with 21 original cosponsors. to establish a temporary emergency supplemental unemployment benefits program. Under my bill. a maximum of 13 additional weeks of unemployment assistance would be availablecurrently. in over 30 Statesto jobless workers who are exhausting the extended benefits for which they are eligible. Today we are considering a jobs training bill designed to help equip unemployed persons to secure and hold private sector jobs. But while they are learning employment skills and looking for jobs. they and their families must eat. They must make mortgage or rent payments. They must pay for electricity. for medical bills. and other essential expenses. Mr. President. even though the bill we are now considering will be extremely beneficial in man. ways. it will not put groceries on the tables of the families of any unemployed workers. It will not pay a single months mortgage or rent payment. It will not pay off a single creditor. The bill that is before us today in necessary but really is not sufficient. The bill I introduced on May 18 would make major strides toward meeting the other essential tieed of the unemployedkeeping them and their families alive. helping them last economically until we can manage to turn our sour economy around. But the mere introduction of the bill does not help even 1 of the 10/ million unemployed workers or their families. To provide help. the Congress must enact such a program. My bill has been referred to the Finance Committee. During consideration of the budget in late May. I was heartened by t e comments of the chairman of the Finance Committee. the distinguished senior Senator from Kansas. He agreed that our unemployment problem is distressing and that Congress must respond to it. and he assured this Senator and others that the Finance Committee would address the subject of supplemental benefits. But the committee has held the bill for over 6 weeks now. and I am not aware that any action has been scheduled on it. Mr. President. we must not ask Americans who are suffering intensely at this moment to just hold on and sit tight. We must act now. I seriously considered offering my bill as an amendment to the legislation before us today. However. I have decided that this is not the proper vehicle. I also believe. as I have said earlier. that the Finance Committee should consider my bili and recommend any adjustments to it that it believes are desirable. I am fully prepared to assist the members of the committee in their deliberations in any way possible. but I do not think further delay is acceptable. I hope that we have a report in the very near future on this matter from the Finance Committee. One way or another. the Senator must act to address this issue. and it must do so immediately. Returning to the bill at hand. Mr. President. again I want to emphasize that enactment of Job search and training legislation by this Congress is vital. The legislation presented to this body by the Labor and Human Resources Committee. the Training for Jobs Act on which we will vote momentarily. is an important step in the right direction. I support its passage. and I am hopeful the House will act quickly so legislation can be put in place well before current law expires in September. This is nothing short of an obligation to the people of this Nation. (Purpose: To impose an income limit on those eligible for assistance who are not economically disadvantaged)