Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

You could buy that car, and it wouldnt have to be fixed. And we think thats a loophole that needs to be closed. There are also pieces of legislation we wish the senate would consider like giving nhtsa Imminent Hazard Authority. We were criticized last year for having too cozy a relationship with industry, but the reality is, is that when a recall occurs, if the company that has been recalled disagrees with our assessment our recourse so go to court and spend years trying to to litigate that issue while dangerous stuff is on the streets. The alternative is to develop some kind of settlement with the automaker or the oem and, you know usually weve been able to get favorable results that way. But if Congress Wants us to have more teeth, give us the tools so that we can fight those battles directly. And, you know, these are the kinds of things that weve proposed previously, and itd be nice for those issues to be addressed through this legislation. Dave shepardson. East one of those be either one of those be a deal breaker, either the Imminent Hazard Authority or the used car im pointing out that we have serious safety concerns about the provisions in the bill. And its not just the ones i brought up. You know i think were just waiting to see where they land as this goes through a very fluid process over the next several days. So im not prepared to say that it is or isnt a deal breaker or that portions of it are or are not deal breakers. I think right now were just trying to see where the senate lands and to try as best we can to play a constructive role in helping congress get to yes on something thats vitally important to the american public. About the hacking earlier are you satisfied that Fiat Chrysler has not recalled these vehicles and is just offering this voluntary Software Patch . I am going to decline to comment for now on a specific automaker, but theres probably something coming on that. And also Fiat Chrysler, how close are you to a consent order, a deal to resolve this public hearing in the 20odd recalls that nhtsas been looking at . I would urge you to just give us give us some time. Were working very hard to get these issues closed out, but i dont have any news for you this morning. John mccann from the journal, back in the cheap socks. Socks cheap seats. Hey. Could you explain how your Authority Works in the area of price gouging . In other words whats the remedy that you have and do you go to court . Do you impose a fine . How much money could we be talking about . What happens . Yeah. Let me look, our authorities are found in 49usc41712, and it provides we may investigate and decide whether an air carrier has been or is engaged in an unfair or deceptive trade practice in air transportation and we also have the authority to prohibit such conduct. Now, the extent to which we have the ability to levy fines or issue remedies, i would actually need to have our counsels office maybe reach back out to you and give you further clarification on exactly the breadth of our authorities. But if we find that its happening, we can stop it, for sure. And ill get you more information on what other remedies may be available. Susan follow up . John, just ill come back to you, i just want to let susan or don tell people whats coming. Theres a letter that weve talked about were sending out to [inaudible] go back to john. Youre investigating whether this practice is continuing . In other words, it could be going on right now . In theory, perhaps, but i think primarily were looking at the period of time following the accident in philadelphia and what happened immediately thereafter. Francine from the monitor. Yeah. A technical question on this case. You mentioned the doj the department of justice. So are they actually looking at criminal charges . Did you mean to say that . They are theyre investigating. And i think thats been publicly disclosed previously. But beyond what it is theyre finding or looking for thats a whole Different Department and id have to defer to my colleague, loretta lynch, on that. Okay. So my real question that was just a clarification. My real question is if you look at the two approaches to highway funding in both the house and the senate, the house idea is lets just do a quick patch and then work really, really hard to alter tax reform, to Alter International corporate taxes and find a big fix for this that lasts six years. And the senate approach is, no, lets grab from here and there here and there and pay for this for three years. So which approach do you like . Well, the administration has said that because we believe there is a purpose to extending to the end of the year; ie, theres a reasonable chance that the stars could align for the some variation of the Business Tax Reform proposal that we put in our bill, that that weve supported the house provision to this point. The jurys out on the current bill. And so were still waiting on the senate to settle down on a final proposal and were having waiting the ideas that were put forward on tuesday but were also concerned about some of the policy provisions in the bill as it was proposed on tuesday. I know the senate is working to try to clean some of that up, and until we see a final version of it, its going to be hard for us to articulate a solid position on it. Stephanie beasley from bloomberg bna. Hi, mr. Secretary, i just have one question. I know the white house endured the five month extension that passed the house. It has not done so for the senate bill, and im curious do you think the administrations more likely to support an extension if it leads to a longterm bill thats fully funded through tax overhaul, whatever, other means over the senate bill which right now just has three years of funding [inaudible] sort of a variation on the same question. You know, look, theres a lot going on right now. Including the fact that we as an administration are opposed to continuing sequestration. And thats a big philosophical fight that could emerge over the next several weeks. And every time theres some effort to use a source that could help on that issue use for some other purpose including transportation, it creates a bit of a challenge because, ultimate hi theres a lot of government that needs to open back up and get going again. So theres just a lot thats in the chamber right now and what i would say is that were looking carefully at the Senate Proposal. Were taking the proposal seriously as we said we would for months. Weve been saying, congress, just tell us what you want to try to do, and well try to play a constructive role. So im not here to shoot it down whole, you know, whole hog as we say in north carolina. Im here to say that we have some problems. I understand theyre trying to work through some of them and well see where they land on the senate bill. But we have supported the house package because the house package is purposeful to the extent that its trying to get us to a place where we can get a longer term bill done using a Revenue Source that doesnt put us in a compromising position on these other issues. Bernie becker from the hill on the other end. Im going to actually ask another variation of that question. Okay, great. [laughter] so, essentially, are you saying that the Senate Package would be there now, and it would be there at the end of the year and maybe the only time that this that the time would be right for tax reform to pay for this would be this fall . In a sense thats saying youre preferring the house version. What im saying is that the proposal that we put forward two years ago and a revised version this year contains progrowth Business Tax Reform, and we still think that is the best way to solve the problem for transportation over six years. The political reality as weve learned from folks at least on the house side and perhaps even on the senate is that at best the ripe window for that tax reform discussion is probably the end of the year. So that is, in fact, why the white house has supported the five month extension to this point. What the senate is now doing is putting forth an idea to try to address the transportation issue now. And, again this bill is a thousand pages. It was dropped on tuesday. They are furiously working to address concerns that members of the senate have raised about it. And we dont have a final version of that to review right now. So i cant tell you right now that were going to support or not support it. What i can tell you is is that were taking it seriously and were trying to do what we said wed do, which is to consider proposals that came out of congress. Is it fair to say that you would accept the Senate Proposal, maybe theres a chance you would accept the Senate Proposal, but it doesnt sound like theres a way you would prefer the Senate Proposal to the house proposal. I think we would were just going to have to see. I just dont think i have a way of answering the question that youre asking with absolute precision. What we want is to see the Transportation System in this country be as strong as possible and, you know, the policy thats contained in this bill is just as important as the length and the amount of growth in it, and we just have to look at the combination of those things once theyve settled down and figure out whether we can live with it or not. Before we let people do a second round, i want to see whether theres anybody who hasnt had one that wants one. If not, well go to a second round. Michael lindberger from dallas. Just back to this investigation. Obviously, senator murphy asked you to look into it. What else led you to send these letters . Did you look at the pricing . Were there other pieces of evidence why these four airlines, are they the only ones that fly there, or did you see something in their prices that made them stand out . Well we, we have sufficient information to be concerned about it. Ill just put it that way. And part of what an investigation is, is drilling down into what the facts are and trying to understand whether theres [inaudible] and in the coming weeks and months well know. Let me ask you a question about laser attacks on planes. As you know, there was, there were five planes targeted in new york earlier this week, and it seems that efforts to actually nab the people who are doing this kind of stuff arent very successful. Have i is that a misapprehension on my part, or is that a problem that you really dont have a way to solve at the moment, the laser problem . Well, this is earlier in a previous question you asked i mentioned that we need to look at the consumer side of some of this. And what i mean by that is, if somebody is purchasing a product that could be dangerous, you know like a drone that can go, you know 2,500 feet in the air, right now we dont have a great mechanism to backtrack and find out who the owner is. And we probably need one. In fact, ill take probably out of it, we need one. But finding out who has the authorities to do Something Like that is just the work that were undertaking now. And id say the same thing about these lasers, you know . Were in an era where there are a lot of advantages to technology and a lot of great things that can happen as a result of having these Unmanned Aircraft in the air space. But its got to be done safely and were going to look at every single thing we can do to make sure that our Enforcement Mechanisms have teeth to them. But part of that is being able to follow the bread crumbs back to whos using it. Anybody who hasnt had one . Otherwise we may make a record decision here and let you out early my goodness. That would be clean living on your part. Oh no, see [laughter] there we go. Ap. Mr. Secretary, one of those provisions those safety provisions in the transportation bill is a doubling of the maximum fine you could do against an automaker who is egregiously recalled to 70 million, but theres a caveat that you have to do a rulemaking first outlining exactly what the factors are that go into these fines. I know you asked for 300 million, some democrats think there should be no cap at all. What do you think of this 70 million . Of the amount its not what we wanted, clearly. Theres a little austin powers element to it. [laughter] and, but its better than the status quo. And well just, again have to see where the senate lands on it. I continue to urge them towards the number we put in our bill, but well see. Ellen ferguson, who hasnt had one from cq. Im just filling in. [laughter] youve worked very hard not to take a decision among either the house or the senate approach or to talk about some of the evolving pieces in the senate bill. And i guess im going to take another stab at a question somebody be asked before. Is there anything that the senate could put in that bill that would make it totally unacceptable to the administration . Well, we have previously expressed support for the house measure, so i want to make that clear. So is that a model that the senate could build off of . Its a five month extension. And the only, you know, i think the carrot that made that acceptable to us was because we were advised that there was more time needed to try to get the longerterm measure done. On the Senate Package, you know i think there are a host of issues. I mean the payfors themselves are, are bitter pills for some stakeholders including many in the labor community, for instance and others. And, you know thats under review. Thats something that were trying the look at. The policy provisions and safety provisions are other parts of the bill that, again its not just us, its also members of the senate that are raising concerns about these things. And i know theyre actively negotiating out. But we just havent seen the results of that negotiation yet so its impossible for me to say where we would actually come out on this bill. But, you know, again were trying to take it seriously and were trying to nudge things in a direction a constructive direction. But well have to just see. [inaudible] short followup question. You mentioned austin powers a little while ago in response to another question. On the house bill where theyre saying well do five months, and then well have this grand solution, given how congress functions and particularly some of the ups and downs that the house has gone through wouldnt that be a bit like if you bet be on that bill and that approach like going to the casinos . You have no idea the odds of the house being able to come together on something and then to sell it to the senate are very high. Well, you know, one of the that response yeah im trying to figure out, you know, the guy whos really holding the cards on the house side im trying to work with your analogy is paul ryan. And hes made some very strong public statements that are supportive of the type of payfor that weve been proposing all along. And one has to assume that hes got the backing of his leadership and of other members of the house, and, you know, if youre sizing this issue up or really any issue the house is where, you know, youre going to have a tougher time on any generic issue in the house than the senate. So the feeling is if we can get the house positioned to move, we can really get something done. Now, that doesnt mean that the effort thats underway now couldnt happen in some way and thats why were taking that seriously. But until, until it settles down into something that we feel like is congealed were going to continue watching and go from there. Last question bart. I think i can get a crisp answer. All right. Do you have anything new to announce on either the gulf carrier inquiry no. The norwegian inquiry no. Or consumer rules advance. No. Thanks for doing this, mr. Secretary. Thank you, appreciate it. Thank you. Nice to see you again. Absolutely. [inaudible conversations] the Senate Returns live this afternoon at 2 p. M. Eastern for continued work on the highway and mass transit bill. Yesterday during a rare sunday session members voted to advance an amendment offered by illinois senator mark kirk that would reauthorize the exportimport bank. We can see a final vote on that amendment later today. Follow the senate live here on cspan2 when the chamber gavels in at two eastern. Also today massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and maryland congressman Elijiah Cummings holds a forum on Economic Growth and job creation through federal investments with innovation and science. Well also hear remarks from former House Speaker newt gingrich. Thec forums hosted by the middle class prosperity project. Its live starting at 3 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Tonight on the communicators, fcc commissioner Michael Orielly on key issues before the fcc like net neutrality, regulating the internet and the publics influence on policy making. When the item when an item is made for an open Committee Commission meeting and its presented to the commissioner level, that document should be made available publicly. And i think that would provide an opportunity for everyone to comment on exactly what were thinking. And so it would also allow people to hone in on issues they may see as problematic. Right now we have people who raise concerns regarding our items, but they often dont know exactly whats being put forward. So theyre kind of doing rifle shots in many different scattered structures, you know . And thats problematic from my point of view. Id rather people target in exactly where theyd like to see fixes and not have to spend time needlessly on things that dont need attention. Tonight on the communicators on cspan2. Tomorrow secretary of state john kerry Energy Secretary ernest moniz and treasury secretary jack lew return to capitol hill to discuss the Iranian Nuclear agreement. Last week they appeared before the Senate Foreign relations committee, and tomorrow theyll go before members of the House Foreign Affairs committee. See that live tuesday 10 a. M. On cspan3. This past weekend u. S. Governors met in West Virginia for their annual summer meeting. This Panel Focused on education issues and possible ways to accelerate state economies. Its an hour and a half. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon, everyone. Were going to start our session, please. [inaudible conversations] so the meeting of the National Governors Association Education and Work Force Committee is called to order. Thank you all for joining us. Im maggie hassan, governor of New Hampshire, and im vice chair of the education and Work Force Committee. Governor sandoval is unable to attend todays session as he is overseas on a trade mission bringing more jobs to his state but its truly been an honor to lead the nga education and Work Force Committee with him this year. So first, a bit of housekeeping. The proceedings here today are open to the press and all meeting attendees. As a consideration would you all just take a minute please, to insure that your cell phones are silenced. The briefing books for this meeting were sent to governors in advance and also be found in the but binder in front of you. In the blue binder in front of you. They include the agenda, Background Information updates on state and federal actions under this committees jurisdiction and materials from our speakers. To my right is steven parker, legislative director of the education and Work Force Committee. So please, see him or nga staff if you need any assistance or have any questions. Today we are pleased to be joined by thomas perez our nations secretary of labor. We are also very excited to hear from harold levy from the Jack Kent Cooke foundation and crystal bonds from the City University of new york. As governors, we are constantly trying to create more jobs in our state by helping grow existing businesses and attracting new companies from overseas and sometimes even trying to attract jobs and businesses from other states. Each governor wants to be the best Jobs Creation officer in the country. However, before the press releases announcing the latest deal to bring dozens or even thousands of new jobs to our state, we have to answer one really important question; can we actually fill those jobs . Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to answer yes to that question. In the fall of 2014 a business round table survey found that more than half of the ceos from major corporations view the shortage of skilled talent available for open positions as a major hurdle to their u. S. Operations. Yet this skills gap isnt just affecting our largest companies. Last month as part of a National Federation of independent business study 80 of Small Businesses said that they had few or no qualified applicants for their open positions. As i travel around New Hampshire, what i hear more than anything else from our businesses both big and small is the need for an Even Stronger work force pipeline. We are living in an innovation economy, and it can only be fueled by hard wiring innovation in our k12, our postsecondary and Work Force Training systems. If our students arent prepared for the jobs of the future we cant keep those jobs in our state, and more importantly, we have failed at giving the next generation opportunities for a successful life. Thats why we are doing everything in the Granite State that we can to help our students develop the skills and innovative thinking needed for good jobs in the 21st century economy. Earlier this year i proclaimed 2015 a year of s. T. E. M. In New Hampshire. And just last week i signed an executive order reestablishing the Governors Task force on science, technology, engineering and math education bringing together experts from the education and business communities to help implement the Previous Task forces recommendations and to develop new ones. In New Hampshire modernizing how we educate our students this these highdemand fields is critical to helping them develop the skills needed for good jobs in the innovation economy which will help lead to better paying and more stable careers. Were developing innovative partnerships between Higher Education and the Business Community such as the one between albany saffron in rochester and Great Bay Community college thats helping to position our emerging Aerospace Sector as a leader in the industry. And New Hampshire is also breaking new ground on how student progress should be measured with innovative, high quality, competencybased assessment that is provide more certainty that students have mastered key content and skills before moving to to the next grade level. New hampshires performance assessment for competency education, what we call p. A. C. E. , is a first in the nation accountability strategy and p. A. C. E. Is allowing districts to reduce the level of standardized testing in favor of more locallymanaged assessments that will be more integrated into a students daytoday work. Bolstering s. T. E. M. Education is just one pathway to creating career opportunity. In Iowa Governor branstad is making his state a leader in registered apprenticeships. Since 2011 the governor has increased the number of registered apprentices to more than 8,000 participating in more than 600 Apprenticeship Programs. The governor is utilizing grants and local online the groups to type of training and skills that is colleges are teaching directly to help more tennesseans qualify for good paying, high quality jobs. And just last month governor hickenlooper signed a bill ensuring colorado students get a head start on Career Training while theyre still in high school through and innovation dual enrollment program. The governors new pathways in technology, Early College high schools will allow students to earn an Associates Degree while completing their High School Diploma through programs focus on high demand s. T. E. M. Fields. With the governors from connecticut to california, connecting education to the workforce system and creating Innovative New pathways to careers, the federal government took notice and has taken steps to support this work in the past year with we authorizations of key legislation. The workforce innovation and opportunity act reauthorized last year by Congress Gives governors more flexibility to meet governors more flexibility to meet the Training Needs other states workforce by allowing them to connect federal education and workforce programs with their state systems. Congress bill on this alignment this year as he worked to reauthorize the elementary and secondary education act and create a role for governors to bring the Business Community and the workforce system to the table to ensure that college or Career Readiness is our reality. Today secretary perez will engage us in a conversation on how to leverage these federal resources to build a worldclass workforce in every state. Following the second to come harold levy and and crystal bonds will poster to innovative state policies are creating opportunities for students every day in high schools and colleges across the country. They will offer action steps for governors to continue to great pathways to current and future high demand job opportunities. Following each of their presentations time is reserved for q a. The bulk of this session at the start for governors and discussion to share policies in our states that accelerate reform. Before we proceed to our program we will hear what others have been doing at the state and federal level to advance education and workforce so im now going to turn our program over to martin simon and Richard Laine from our best Practices Group and they can talk about what role they will play. Thank you. Governors, thank you bring much and good afternoon. My name is Richard Laine, director for education anna eshoo cubs also shouldnt center for best practices my colleagues and i are the team to provide Consulting Service to you and your staff to appearance many of the questions we ask the question whats research say about best practice what to the programs in the States Invest on specific areas . What are the challenges you need to grow to start a path into the good practices and learn lessons from each other . My division supports the education reform as governor hassan said on the entire education by one for Early Education to k12 to postsecondary and into the workforce. Let me give you a specific example of the work we are doing in collaboration with the Workforce Division. In terms of connecting the education pipeline to the workforce. Building on governor fallins initiative, America Works a patchwork of the center, and the fact as governor hassan said you are jobs governors and education governors, our division and the Workforce Division great a twoyear consulting engagement to work with 14 states, many represented around this table, to help you improve and align education and Training Pipeline to the workforce needs. We are working hand in hand with martin simon and his team but in terms of the Technical Assistance were providing and the grants of up to 170,000 per state, we are bringing together state leaders from the k12 system postsecondary, labor commerce and the private sector to articulate what the needs for the private sector are so that you can start to align your twoyear or fouryear, your Workplace Program to the needs of the economy integrate data opportunities for students to make choices that will give them better Life Opportunities to into the middle class and beyond. We are helping your states connect the labor and Education Data that theyre collecting that oftentimes sit inside those to start to better understand how do you all find the programs and the opportunities that students need to understand where the jobs are what the training requirements are. The other piece of data stored to play very strongly in the states this summer and beyond is a healthy the states in the door the federal and state resources are available to you so start to think about how youre spending for training and workforce dollars. Its amazing when asked the question of states where are you spending the dollars . Most dont know the money that sits in isolation from the federal government and states that could be relied to the vision you are trying to create for students and creating the education and workforce training opportunities. As a result of the 14 states that were working with, we are creating Lessons Learned of positive and negative integrating the tools both from the states that in this policy academy as well as many other states are not involve the work you on this issue and putting together tool kits and other states will be able to utilize to start inventory resources how to present data in a way that is meaningful to students and families and to employers and start to reallocate resources to make a difference on the ground. In fact from these lessons will be working through with the current 14 states we expect to have a second cohort of states elected in army 2016 that will be able to export the work and effort you trying to do in connecting education and the workforce. So thats a snapshot of what were doing in the 500 let me turn over to martin simon to talk more about future opportunities. Good afternoon, governors. Im martin simon, the Program Director for Workforce Development at the and she center for best practices there as part of the economic Human Services and Workforce Division i got to bring this closer. Okay. Use all of my time here just getting the mic said. I cant im with the economic, Human Services and Workforce Division in Detention Center that appreciates the opportunity to spend a couple minutes talk about a new project that we just started at the nga center that builds on the work that richard described and will complement the work underway in your states that governor hassan just described. On july 1 we initiated a new project that is focusing on demand driven workbased learning that supported by the siemens foundation. As part of this project we are going to be working with six states that will be looking at strategies for connecting young people 1629, connecting them with jobs middle skilled jobs in stem areas. Will have a competitive Selection Process, participating states will receive up to 1000dollar grant to cover the extra cost of participating. We will issue a selective Selection Process this fall for this project. On a parallel track weve we have been working with the u. S. Department of labor on the American Leadership initiative that focuses on rethinking apprenticeship in this country and the department is investing 100 million in grants to expand apprenticeship both in Traditional Industries and a new industries. I know secretary perez is going to talk more about this initiative. Workbased learning, training, approaches bridge the world of learning and work their apprenticeship, internships, on the job training and they are work experience. These are earn and learn approaches to prepare young people with the relevant skills employers need but also so that they can achieve economic success for themselves. All 14 of the states that are participating in the Talent Pipeline policy academy that richard talked about are incorporating workbased learning approaches into their strategies for developing pathways to jobs and careers into Growth Industries in their states. The workforce innovation and opportunity act that went into effect july 1 1st anniversary on the 22nd, a couple days ago, requires governors workforce investment boards to implement Career Pathways that include workbased learning approaches with a particular emphasis on apprenticeship. We think this work in this area with the states is timely and important part of building a Talent Pipeline in your state so we look for to working with you and your staff. Thank you. Turn it over to david quam Deputy Director for policy at the nga spirit think you martin, governors, good to be with you today. During the winter meeting to give us all a charge of the way 150 days to publish three things. One was to open the regulations around the new workforce investment act to make sure that states could implement it. Work with the secretary at the department of labor to make sure that law works. Number two restore governors 15 satisfied until a which was part of the underlying law to meet the appropriations. Number three was to governors back into esa make sure the lockout of the force of 43 states operating under waivers have to do that dont have to do that. At this point in time we have made strides on all three fronts. Let me start quickly with the regulations. We worked with barnes group to put together state examples of how those regular something to work and provide all the information to the department of labor. They are due to come out with that regulation of the early in 2016. Will continue to be an active partner with the department on behalf of governors to make sure the law works. On the 15 satisfied on that report the Senate Appropriations committee has just said they will restore a full 15 under the appropriations. The house is still behind the we are convinced we can get them to join the senate and restore the 15 satisfied. As a quick reminder in 2011 edit been reduced to 5 . We have slowly been increasing that amount. We return over 103 million to governors in that set aside since that time. This will be the final step to fully restore the 15 . Finally, under esea, both house and senate to move major authorization bills. In the Senate Working with the chief state School Officers come nga was able to get an amendment with centers mansion and heller. To have governors and the central part of espn and to sign off on those state plans. What that does it brings together richard work on a pipeline because only governors can bring together all the different aspects of education from early and the k12 dignity colleges to higher ed in the workforce system to make sure that all online and Work Together a friend of ilex is a Public Education is a team sport the governors come youre always the leader of the team and so that commitment and this bill will put you back in the chair to align all those programs. So we have more work to do. The we a conference to bring those bills together. This committee will be busy but we look forward to final that makes it to the president s desk. Thank you, david, very much. A lot of work and a lot of activity in a short amount of time come and i think were making good progress. So now we are going to turn to our program and it is my distinct honor to introduce our first speaker, thomas perez, the nations 26 secretary of labor. He has committed to making good on the promise of opportunity for all giving every working family a chance to get ahead and put a middleclass life within reach of everyone willing to work for it. To accomplish this secretary perez priorities for the department include ensuring a fair days pay for a fair days work, connecting ready to work americans with ready to be filled jobs, through skills programs like registered apprenticeship and on the job training, promoting gender equality in the workplace, ensuring that people with disabilities and veterans have access to equal employment opportunity, and insisting on a safe and level Playing Field for all american workers. Most recently secretary perez was assistant attorney general for civil rights and the United States department of justice. From 20022060 was a member of the Montgomery County council. He was later appointed secretary of Maryland Department of labor licensing and regulation. Secretary perez received a bachelors degree from Brown University in 1983. In 1987 he received both a masters of Public Policy at the law degree from harvard. He lives in maryland with his wife and their three children. Mr. Secretary go out half of the nations governors, welcome and thank you for being with us today. They do so much governor. Its an honor to be here with so many people and i want to start by saying thank you to you and thanks to all of you. Workforce has been a joint venture between all of us between federal, state and local government, between the public sector, private sector, secret sauce of Community Colleges across this country. As someone who worked as a state labor secretary and before that as someone who was a local elected official, i bring to this danger as he was labor secretary an acute appreciation for the Important Role of the states and the Important Role of local government. And that has certainly i think helped me. I would want to say thank you. Theres so much innovation around this table and around this country. We just celebrated the 25th anniversary this week of the americans with disabilities act and we continue to celebrate a. I want to say thank you to governor to guard and governor markell. We sent a letter out signed by myself and the two of them earlier this week to again underscored the importance of disability component. The Unfinished Business of the ada is a jobs. Many people that this those who can work and want to work and we need to do more to focus on the last seven letters of the word and less on the first three lifted so thank you for your leadership governors. Governor fallin, thank you for your unflagging commitment to workforce. This has been remarkable. We are seeing results. When i go around the country i hear the same story. Its a great story. I talk to Large Businesses Small Businesses, businesses and between and again the same thing, which is im optimistic about the future. I want to grow my business and one of my Biggest Challenges is making sure that we have a Skilled Workforce to compete. My life is groundhog day. I hear that everywhere i go. I see that as a remarkable opportunity to guess we do have the wind at our back. Weve seen 64 consecutive months a private sector job growth to the tune of 12. 8 million jobs. We collect data on the number of job openings. We have more job openings in america right now, 5. 4 million, and weve ever had since were collecting this data set. We have in the depths of the recession seven job seekers roughly for every job opening. We now have about 1. 6. Im not good enough but i would rather compete against one person rather than six people for a job. You have openings across various sectors and you know the situation in your state. Opportunities abound. What id like to do is talk for a little while about what we are trying to do to help with partnership with all of you in partnership with your Education Partners locally and partnership with business. And also give you some reflections on my experience in State Government because i learned a few things. We did some things right, we did some things we thought were right. As i go through some of what were trying to do now, i want to give you the benefit of that insight. Because we speak to folks within in this base for a long time people like martin simon and others, want to hear consistently is we have a historic opportunity right now. Ive never seen more excitement in this field than we see no. Opportunities indeed about. I called the eisenhower moment. Dwight eisenhower rodders the interstate highway system. The challenge for us is to construct what i call a skilled superhighway. We need to make sure there are onramps and off ramps for everyone. Thats exactly what we are trying to do. The destination for workers is the middleclass. The destination for employers is du jour for the and sustainable prosperity. The challenge for us as we construct this ecosystem and the skills superhighway is to take the remarkable best practices that we see emerging across the country, figure out the principles of general application, understanding that what works on onesided country may not have immediate application elsewhere but recognizing our principles of general application. And then figuring out how we scaled and sustained those. One of the onramps that we have discussed in the skills superhighway is the onramps of apprenticeship. I have traveled across thisn germany is roughly half of what it is here. The apprenticeship model in germany and in some in other countries enjoys the stature that we allowed to atrophy in this country. Thats unfortunate. What weve been trying to do and we innocent is not the federal government and the president but so many of you around this room, because apprenticeship is a tried and true method of Workforce Development and Skill Development and this is the belvedere when i was a boeing in seattle recently they said that roughly a third of the workforce id that roughly a third of the workforce is within seven years of retirement. Apprenticeship is very much on their mind. The grain of the workforce is a very real phenomenon. The interesting thing about apprenticeship is the what a lot of people think about apprenticeship they think about the Skilled Trades. Apprenticeship has remarkable application. Yesterday, today and tomorrow in the Skilled Trades. We have to of our efforts. I feel like our plumber often charge more than olympic is a good middleclass jobs. So we should be training people in these fields. But apprenticeship also has application in i. T. So when i was with the mayor of philadelphia recently to announce the 100 million investment, they have an investment in philadelphia where they are taking kids from the Philadelphia Public School system and putting them into i. T. Friendship partnerships. As a parent of three teenagers, one that i know is young people are good with gadgets. When we had a problem with my iphone, i go to my 13 year old. Because hes pretty fluent in debt. So theyre taking that fluency and interest and translating it into a middleclass career. Of those 5. 4 million openings i would note roughly 10 are in the i. T. Sector. As you think about apprenticeship in your state i would encourage you not only to think about the traditional Skilled Trades but to think about other opportunities. Our 100 million grant solicitation was explicitly attempting to branch out not only to the traditional skills great but in other areas. Ubs operates a remarkable a Partnership Program into logistics content. We funded before Health Care Apprenticeships that enable people to get pathways to the middleclass in health care. The i. T. As i mentioned many states have made available apprenticeships every state funding, most recently governor molloy. Governor branstad at iowa. We could go around the table and talk about that. Cvs has been a very prolific user of the tax credit for South Carolina put in place. What theyre doing is taking folks who are on this by giving them a Career Pathway into a career as a pharmacy tech. I met with one person was now decided she wants to become a pharmacist. Thats what its all about is creating Career Pathways. I would encourage it is my own experience, this is very much consistent with what you heard from your professional staff to take a look around your agencies and do i try to do which is follow the money. Because you give a 22 yearold veteran returning from military service and is living with his mother and subsidized housing and he is on perhaps food stamps and he wants a cart path wycombe i just advocate have a dozen agencies within your government that of workforce dollars to the federal government. We create a workforce subcabinet when i was in maryland their the president has great a workforce cabinet that i had the privilege of cheering. Our goal was to employ stovepipes and were working together. For instance, would get a grant recently to help people who are on snap get access to grid pathways, and states were awarded the grant and were working together so we dont define success nor a snap recipient is getting a job come in the jeff gregory defining success now as a Career Pathway jobs that give you the selfsufficiency that we all want. And so that source told type stovepipe implosion between the Labor Department and the usda is an example and were doing that in other areas. I predicted one of agencies about the most money when you can been or if we decide to convene cabinet, that would be whatever agency administers your can of program. Theres a lot of workforce dollars in the tanf. In other words, theres a lot of opportunity. When you do that stovepipe implosion that were trying to do in the federal government and i think one of great application elsewhere can you can make Real Progress and get the chip context is one area. I very much encourage you to follow the lead of the colleagues have done great work. They present set forth a goal of doubling the number of registered apprentices in the schedule the next five years and were making tremendous progress thanks to people like governor branstad and governor molloy and governor fallin s. O. B. Others in this room. Ill tell you we are going to foreign countries. We just signed an m. O. J. With the government of switzerland. Switzerland is the seventh largest country in terms of Foreign Direct Investment in the u. S. What theyre doing with us is a of the apprenticeship footprint as part of their dna and have the u. S. Footprint. What we do with them is they are becoming our ambassadors as we customers will be calling a Leaders Program of industry because when Companies Come to us and say im thinking about this but im not sure, i think the best answer for the question is for me not to talk but for me to have them talk to another business. Because when you have that business to business mentoring going on at a great way to grow up and shipped their i encourage you to continue to partner with us. We have our Leader Program which is going gangbusters. We have a partnership with Community Colleges called the registered friendship Community College consortium. One of the Biggest Barriers you will find our parents. We said were apprenticeship to didnt they say no my kid is going to college. What we are here to say is apprenticeship is the other college, except without the debt. And when you get enrolled in the Apprenticeship Program you get affordable and stackable credential. After this registered apprenticeship Community College consortium, those credits are been articulated to the Community College and you are twothirds to the way to your Associates Degree and sometimes more. So theres a lot happening in this space, ample opportunity and i encourage you to get involved. One of the on ramp that we are constructing in the skills superhighways, the onramp to reenter their i want to applaud your efforts. Weve had many conversations with you throughout. Im a big believer in Second Chances the i know you all are as well. One of the largest private employers in the state of maryland this Johns Hopkins company worldclass facility. The most prolific employer of people returning from prison in maryland is Johns Hopkins. If i had ron petersen, the president of the hospital would become his what he would tell you. This is not an act of charity. This is an act of enlightened self interest. We have remarkably touted pipeline and we have taken that pipeline. Its not simply entrylevel positions. Its xray techs. Its not phlebotomist and other allied health professionals. And we have the lowest attrition, and our people who have come out of theres a lot to be done. One thing we did when i was in maryland was we took correctional education and brought within the work force system. One question you might want to consider when you go back is ask who is running correctional education in your state. Ask them whether Outcome Measures are. Ask them how they are connected to the workforce system. Talk to people who run your local jails. Because we just gave up 15 million in grants to state and county jails. Because was in Montgomery County, maryland, we built a one stop center in the county jail. The return on investment has been remarkable. Because the best way to reduce recidivism is to give people the skills they need and then the job they need. There are many businesses who are out of their who are willing and in need of how the. We have an opportunity here. So as we build the skills superhighways i encourage you to think about the opportunities in reentry. We give out a lot of competitive grants. We work closely with the department of justice is our competitive grant grant opportunities for you to innovate in this important space. In terms of Community Colleges they are the secret sauce of success in my expand i refer to is oftentimes at the department of labor as match. Com. We match job seekers want to punch their ticket to the middle class with mrs. Want to grow their business, and the secret sauce is Community Colleges who are so remarkably adept at devising programs in partnership with businesses because we must always be demand driven. Thats the first principle of effective Workforce Development, demand driven. We dont train widget makers if there isnt a business hiring a widget maker anymore. The Community College system has worked so remarkably well. And one of the biggest differences between 10 years ago and now and why this is working well is the love of this is engagement. The effort. Governor fallin thank you for the leadership on behalf of Community Colleges. We have four years worth of what we call tax grants. What it stands for its using Community Colleges to catalyze change in the work system. What i learned from the grants is that often times businesses werent talking enough to educators, and so in los angeles, for instance we gave a grant to the six Community Colleges in los angeles for Health Related focus and what happened there was it turned out that they seldom been coordinating with each other. If you took nursing 101 course, the curriculum wasnt necessarily the same. These sorts of grants helped the catalyze the partnership and they learned that they had or the career opportunities. These Community College grants are catalytic. We been working with our colleagues in congress. I want to thank you by the way by the feedback that weve gotten from other holders. Im a big behavior that the most important thing today is listen and build a big table and bring bill we think we have some knowledge, but we know that all of you have remarkable knowledge. Its been really helpful, one of my biggest frustrations to be frank, we had four rounds, they have been wildly successful, we know what works we need to make sure that we can do continue investment. Theres a 27dollar return. One dollar invested, 27 return. Thats a pretty good. We need to continue our conversations about round five. We want to continue and stay stay in the momentum that exists across the country. In order today so we need the investment. I want to stop because i really want to engage in dialogue. Before i stop i did want to mention that as part of the trade prom ocion authority passed recently there was a reauthorization. The reason i bring it back because its a really important resource for you. Theres tense of thousands of people across this country who have lost their jobs either through globalization or traderelated activity. This is an important feature of the work system. One act is it is retro active to january 1st, 2014. There are various versions that have been in place. The version that has been in place since 2019 was the stripdown version. The version that was passed in the end of june is a much more robust version. Its a really important tool in your cool tool kit. You have partners with us. Ive spoken to folks that lost their job in a steel plant and now with retaining they working in manufacturing. Theyve gotten their mojo back. Its a really important investment. Its a really important resource and i would encourage you to make sure that your colleagues doing the investment work in your state ha certainly well aware of the fact that we have an important new tool thats back in our arsenal and we look forward to working with you together. Let me stop there. I think we can talk about off ramps and on amps. The wind is at our back. This is a remarkable moment, weve got to turn this moment into a movement. Its a movement that will help workers and businesses and our nation alike. A movement to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to compete for todays jobs and tomorrows jobs. Thank you very much, mr. Secretary. [applause] im going to open it up to questions, im just going to kickoff a question to you and i can see governor has one too. We want to thank you for the presentation, we greatly appreciate your efforts to make statewide training initiative. And we know that you are not a congregational but youve been around to a lot of our states and i wonder if you could give us a sense from your viewpoint what that 15 set aside would do for flexibility for governors what kinds of things we can see in the states . Im a big fan with 15 . I know what we did when i was in maryland, we were able to scale the innovation. You have a strong supporter in 15 fund in me. We have been able to gradually ramp up. We want to make sure that we are mindful of is we do not want, i think it would be potentially zero sum if we ramp up the 15 sum at the expense of formula dollars that go into the work force system. We want to be able to try to do both. We want to continue to be catalytic and scaling in what area as well. Thats the one challenge we have. Thats why we been trying to do the garagual rampup. Thats a false choice and we should ignore that. But im a big fan of it and i can give you a chapter and verse as you could of uses that youve made of it. Governor. Thank you. First of all great presentation. You covered the water front which i appreciate and tied a lot of things that were tied together. I appreciate your focus on reentry. 97 of the people in prisons in delaware are coming out. I have to say, one of the most inspiring events is the High School Graduation within the prison. I went a couple few weeks. Its astonishing to meet these men, i happen to be in the mens prison with various degrees of education, had to learn algebra two while in prison. And a budget year you know, we have very, very few additional resources, one of the places that we did put the money was additional vocational opportunities within our prisons. That being said, this has been such a an issue, i think really difficult. We live in this world where theres probably never been a person with the right skills and too many times a worst time to be something without the right skill. So many people that are caught in this cycle of crime drug dealing and the like who frankly would be pretty happy to hold out a job and many of the jobs that were around 20 years ago 30 years ago that didnt require a lot of additional skills beyond high school, you know, a lot of them are gone. Win of the things i am eager to learn from my governors and folks like you. Were doing really well with all the technology jobs. We are doing well growing other jobs that require a lot of other skills. This has been particular point of frustration. Related to that, you want to talk about reentry we talk about preentry and try to avoid for reentry in the first place. Now is like 30 something states bipartisan very effective 93 success rate, keeping kids in school. I know that governor has done unbelievable job in nevada increasing the program there. Were very grateful to the number of folks that has helped us grow. The last point i want to make on apprenticeships, you mentioned switzerland specifically. Took me to swiss companies. One of the things that were interesting to me to learn you mentioned in switzerland the aparen paren apprenticeship go beyond manufacturing field. I spoke to the north american ceo of one of the swiss banks he started his career as an apprentice in switzerland. We are working very hard in delaware to try and follow that lead and were you know, weve invested. Were increasing over the year, to get hands on experience while in high school, get College Degree College Credits under the belt, tangible, credentials and the like. This is and i thought, there is so much going on in this field as it should be. When i visit delaware visit i ask what can we do to facilitate the success the overwhelming majority, the answer is having access to skilledwork force. I appreciate the focus that you bring and certainly any insights you may have about programs that are working effectively around the country particularly that at risk population. They would love to have a job. For lots of reasons end up doing things that they shouldnt be doing and get caught in bad and vicious cycle. Thank you for observations and leaderships. A couple quick points. The ceo of zrvecion urch so, again, the main observation i would make is to think broadly about the application of this model because it applies in virtually every sector where you have a demand need and you can get folks at a very young age. The point of former offenders, i have done a lot of work in maryland and now nationally, and you have an opportunity. We do a number of champ owns champions for change events. Monday ill be at the white house. We are doing an event. Northrop grumman is an example. What ive learned in the space as it relates to hiring former offenders is you have employers like hopkins that are going gang busters and are very proud to talk about it publicly. Ive met other employees that are doing it. I respect the choice they make. There are other employees who are thinking about doing it and they need a when they go to an event and they say that Johnson Hopkins the anchor of Baltimore City is going it and they see the Construction Company i found out that in the construction entry aye met a lot of employers who have such shortages of skills that this issue of whether you have record is of no moment. One thing to keep in mind, this is a tool in your toolbox right now. If your employer comes to you and says im a little worried. This guy has a record for theft. You have a tool in your toolbox. We use it for great success. The work force toolbox that you currently have. You can say ok, if thats your major concern i will ensure you against that concern. Once that employer employees one person he will hire more. Thats been my experience. Last observation i would make, this is a longterm observation, governor, when we when the president rolled out my brothers Keeper Initiative to address the chronic opportunity gaps confronting young men of color, we had a meeting at the white house before the public event and we had a lot of ceo ss there, we had a number of experts. A question was asked of the experts by a ceo who said, you know what, i want to do something in this space but i dont know what today. What are the interventions that could be the difference maker kind of on theprevents side of this that we have enough data that says works. Without missing a beat the two folks in the room said you should replicate the sixyear high school model. We funded in 150 million. This model theres a ptech academy in brooklyn. Its a sixyear high school. Grade 914. Ibm has been the lead corporate sponsor and they have built in ptech a stem model where the curriculum is open source. You have youre partnered with an employer, so you have amen mentor at ibm. Youre getting those opportunities to see what its like. When i was in fed douglas high school, the thing that sticks in my mind was a kid said im smart, i dont have any ap courses here, i dont have any opportunity. You go to places like sarah good and ptech. You have high minority, high poverty, high performing. Thats what theyre doing. Theyre building their pipeline. If youre thinking about how they build Educational Opportunity and to take and apply the principles that know work the principle of partnership and demand driven, the print principle of stem foundation, these programs work. Theyre open source. You can pick up the source and call ibm and i guarantee theyll be on the next plane to visit the community and brainstorm with you about how to build a program. It maybe a health care or aerospace some where else. These are really battletested investments. States and local governments are helping to catalyze innovation that helps prevent that cycle. Thank you governor. Secretary perez, first of all i want to thank you for emphasis on apprenticeships. We also got significant dollars from from your department, from the department and i want you to know that really being you mentioned it, advanced manufacturing as well construction, because of success we have some big construction projects. The governor mentioned, we have facebook and google as well as microsoft that are Building Centers in my state in the millions in because they are like a billion dollar investment. We have fertilizer plants and all that. Everywhere we go we visit with employers and thats the big thing and apprenticeships and convincing parents, i think you mentioned this, these are great creaser they pay well and you dont end up with a huge amount of college debt. The more we can partner on that and encourage apprenticeships the better. To make iowa more attractive more military veterans. Theres a major reduction in military. Theres a lot of skilled people that have great work e ethic and skills. Theres real opportunities to help build the work force of the future. Obviously my Lieutenant Governor is also heading up and preparing for kids in our schools science, technology, engineering and math. I just want you to know the assistance an your support for that. Thank you, one of the things that we are doing, we are engineering ourselves as we Work Together with you. The old model of apprenticeship are primary role was it was an Important Role, we were Quality Control officer making sure that Apprenticeship Program is riggerrous. That will continue. We are a facilitator, you know, we are attempting to catalyze partnerships. We are working with states, local governments educators nonprofit partners to make sure we can indeed dramatically expand. They are structured differently in different states. Sometimes they tend to be off on their own. One take away i would recommend that you consider, figure out where apprenticeship is in your state. There really is a wide array of structure. Im not recommending one structure over another. Make sure its embedded somehow into your work system. It really is a critical work force tool. Our experience was we were able to get a coalition of the Building Union and nonunion contractors as well as manufacturing Business Community all on board and we were able to get through split legislator, bipartisan support and it is working extremely well. And obviously our department is playing a key role in coordinating all of that and specially the federal dollars that are coming from you. Thank you. Thank you. I think we have one more time for one more question and i think, governor fallin you had one. We appreciate you being here today. I want to thank you for the flexibility that youre giving the state as you heard, there are allot of great things happening, certainly there are a lot of great things that are happening with innovation, investment programs, we appreciate having the 15 set aside. But, one of the things that we have done in oklahoma, we launched a program called oklahoma work in which we took our Work Force Investment and developed into eight regions of the state analyze metric data, types of job openings we have and worked with colleges to see what types of courses, they are offering in degrees. And so we been working really hard with the individual communities. Governor highlighted disabilities, veterans returning for more, i mean theres so many Different Things that we have done. A couple of things for inmates we changed a portion of our law to allow them to get licenses in certain professions. Many times you come out and you cant get a commercial Truck Drivers license that we deem wouldnt be a threat to public associate. We changed our licensing that really helped. Veterans returning to war. They have a lot of skill sets that they may not have college hours, career tech hours. Now we give them hours for that to apply to twoyear community or College Degree to help with that. Another thing i wanted to ask you about and maybe this has been done, with unemployment, and the latest figures you know better than i doe, how many people in america that could work but choose not to work, we need more workers that from what i understand the latest number was 60 that could work, working in our work force. I think its about 62 . On the Unemployment Benefits, is there a way, maybe this already happens in our nation that we could work with our employers that need workers but yet we have these people that are unemployed, inbetween jobs to work to encourage our employers, i dont know a grant of some sort, if you hire this unemployed person, the money to give it to the employer, to give them a try to see if they can work out in that job is there any way of doing that with Unemployment Benefits . You asked with a number of really good questions. Thats called onthejob training. You have the ability to subsidize the wage of certain workers who are looking for work. I did a visit with the Vice President and it was really interesting. We went to small manufacture two people we met of note. One was an engineer that last his job. He is what employers called 70 percentor. And so, with this tool, his wage was subsidize for a period, i think six or seven months. At the end of that, its up to the employer to keep them on. Employers love this. It has worked swimmingly in every corner of the country. And then there was another person she was a receptionist and had lost her job and again the ojt funds. A tool in your toolbox. I encourage you to take a look at that. Weve seen it used in a number of different sectors to great advantage. And your other points are spot on. What im observing that employers the work force system has become more demand driven. We are not training people to be widget makers unless we know someone is hiring widget makers. We have to keep encouraging them to be more involved in local work systems because i still hear people are coming out with degrees but they are not translating into competencies. We have to get employers and educators working even more there. I see dramatic improvement in understanding what i think is a core print principle of success. The best example i can think of of recent for me is in north carolina, i was with virginia your folks from your department of commerce and we were at a Community College. They were producing tomorrows work force in the Science Field and one of the Biggest Barriers to folks who wanted to upscale was they had to take a lab and the lab is like four hours a week, and these are folks who have commitments when i say you have to take the job seeker where you find him or her people have kids, people have parents to care for, people have other responsibilities. And so what they did was Community College the lab was opened from like 8 00 to 10 00 six days a week and you call ahead and you do your fourhour lab and it allows people to work around life. That is a wonderful example that if were going to succeed in helping everybody punch their ticket to the middle class. We have to understand the situation in life. Some people have transportation challenges. Some people have family commitments, some people have criminal record. Some people have whatever the barrier is. Weve got tools for that. And thats what people in oklahoma are doing and thats what we have today to do at scale across the country and we cant. I see success everywhere i go. Its very inspiring and anything you all need from us and any feedback you have for us about how we could do better, i hope you continue to give it to us. Skill superhighway is still looking like a highway but still onramps that we need to do. Meeting the hours of when workers need the education, i think its the major areas that academia need to budge. K12 took summers off. You cant take summers off. Thats and you have to work after hours not academic hours 9 004 00, so thats the big change that academia has adjusted to commerce time and peoples time. Thats going to be true in universities and k12. Thank you governor, thank you mr. Secretary thanks. We cant thank you enough for your time and expertise. Thanks so much. Thank you. [applause] well, now it is my pleasure to be joined by chris tall and harold leavy. They have spent their creaser ensuring that children receive the knowledge and support necessary to have a successful life. Harold leavy is the competent cuetive director serving for three years starting in 2000 including during 9 11. Prior to working with the Foundation Special situations, debt stretch fund. He started university on line school of education and as director of global compliance. Received a bs from Cornell University and economics from the university of oxford. One of nine specialized high schools in new york city. She assumed leadership at 2011 after serving for eight years as an assistant principial, one of the Top High School in the nations and ranked among the top in new york city and new york state. Most diverse Public School in new york city. Holds master degree in education, School Administration and supervision. Harold and cristal welcome and thank you for being with us here today. Good afternoon, it is truly an honor and pleasure to be here. I am the principial of the high school in harlem 30,000 students take an exam. Again, we also have 100 of senors who graduate. 100 of them go to college. 70 of them are enrolled in stem stem major and attending some of the most prestigious colleges. We have the largest German Program in new york state. Im also the president of a Nonprofit Organization called the Class Coalition. A coalition of more than one hundred principials from top highly selected schools nationwide, many of which are stem. The goal of the the organization to provide advocate, to engage corporation and policy as partners to create systematic ways to create pipelines for use to work force. We recognize that the demands of 21st Century Work Force are changing. Each one of our schools proactively implementing policies that help connect our students with reallife training skills that will matter in the workplaces. According to the National Science foundation, students with parents in stem are more likely to go in the field. However, those who dont have parents in the field that becomes an opportunity gap. All students to a body of knowledge, combined with skilled to prepare them for future, major concentration in college. I would like to share with you a few examples of some thing that is we do. We begin with a con kept called an opportunity gap iep, which is to inform, expose and prepare. Some of them dont know what they dont know. We believe in exposing them to all. One of the examples are we host a monthly luncheon. Then they will provide lunch because they know teens love to eat. Each day a professional provide insight, attending workshops serves as a prerequestionsty to possible internship with the company. Another idea that we have and that we actually implemented we host monthly advisory with Industry Partners meets with students to give insight on entry perfective. Resume writing personal branding, goal setting or how to interview. We al have our career and Technical Education programs referred to ct e. We also have a Work Base Coordinator who helps our students to get internships. This helps us not only keep a pulse on industry, but at the High School Level we can create, adopt and infuse these skills and con kepts in our classes. We realize the importance and value of engineering and computer science, which we em expose every student to. We also partner with college and universities, for example the university of michigan love the preparedness of our students. They know that we have highly skilled teachers who were former engineers who have detail and give realworld experiences in the classroom. Our German Program, i have traveled to germany. We partner german consolate to create opportunities for them. Many of these practices are not unique, many are doing the same things and even more to engage their students. I was assistant principial at brooklyn high school, 300 employers, the largest high school in the country. Now that im at the high school with approximately 500 students and 40 employees whether large or small the job of a school ladder has evolved. Not just about educating but also about being a connector and making connections for them. Nga have made Great Strides in recognizing the importance of strengthening the school and identifying better ways to connect employers students and educators. Ensuring that america has more skilled workers is extremely important. By starting at the High School Level it is key. We have learned and we have students excuse me to reach beyond our wildest dreams. Class hopes to work can nga and the department of labor to support them in efforts to better prepare students for 21est century careers. We want to take back the nation in lading the world in Economic Growth and innovation. We maybe preparing students for jobs that havent even been created yet but together bringing all parties to the table we will create a platform with policy makers secondary and Postsecondary School leaders and Industry Partners meet to discus what are the specific skills that are needed in the fastchanging industry and infuse the skills to our curriculum. As secretary perez has mentioned, we should include educators at the table in this communication. Having School Leaders give another prospective and engage policy makers with us. Through class youll have access to many of the top Public Schools around the country. This will help the bridge the gap concept having internship under the age of 18, or with the lack of internal champions at the companies who will advocate for them, internships and apprenticeships could be difficult. Will allow us to connect or just have conversations with Industry Leaders about their willingness to dedicate time and effort and staff to this important topic is worthwhile. We at the Class Coalition call on governors to serve as bridge and encourage more entry partners to engage with school to work towards this Labor Mobility movement. Together i know we can figure this out. Thank you. [applause] governor, thank you for your leadership in this process. Sessions like this give us an opportunity to really think about the core issues behind education, open up questions that are otherwise rarely addressed and i appreciate the opportunity that youve given us, thank you. As you heard im director in cook foundation, scholars for poor kids. The quick scholarship is the available. We give it in the seventh grade for high school, in 12th grade for under grads and to transfer students from Community Colleges seeking a fouryear degree. I can tell you that we have three students going to oxford next year. We have a relationship with the university and two of those started off in Community College. Its actually quite fascinating because if you get a cook scholarship and carry to grad school it could mean up to half a million dollars. It puts in prospective both the cost of education and the fact that we have lots and lots of extremely talented kids who wind up in Community Colleges and perhaps are capable of going to fullyear institutions but dont go there for other reasons. Secretary perez spoke about demand driventraining the skill superhighway and Employer Needs and certainly apprenticeships and cristal has spoken about her efforts to bridge the gap among employers and government leaders. I want to shift the conversation a little bit and talk about a different kind of gap not the skills gab but the excellence gap and relates. What is the excellence gap . Disparity from low income and high income students despite having ie identical capacity. If you take the kids in the top 25 on reading scores in the tenth grade and of those kids take the kids who are in the bottom 25 financially whether they wealth or income, so you have very smart very poor kids, 22 of them do not take the act or the sat and 23 do not go to college. I found that stunning. I always thought that if you were poor and smart you could write your own ticket and that turns out to be simply not true. The reason its not true is that these kids feel that they dont see themselves going to college. It is quite an extraordinary thing in this country where we pry ourselves on the American Dream of social mobility that these kids do not have a chance, and its almost the poor kids at the very top of capacity. And its not just that they are theyre not going to school, the ones who do go to school are undermatched so theyre often not going to the best schools that theyre capable of getting into. The numbers of how many go to the selective highly selective colleges is quite extraordinary. If youre a highincome kid about 46 go to highly selective schools. If youre a poor kid 17 . Thats not america. The numbers continue. Theyre ugly. The amount of time it takes to get through clij college, longer if your poor. And the number who go the graduate school, about 20 fewer if youre poor. Theyre not becoming lawyers accountants. It is a serious serious problem. I say again if i had known this day, if it had been generated, i would have done things differently. The kids, highperforming low income kids are fragile they drop out, its too expensive. They see the number and dont understand that in fact, theres a discount factor, and i must say some of this firsthand the quality of counseling in the the high schools is the train sg too poor and the kids dont have a sense of outreach or embracing. National economy weakened, the American Dream of social mobility in some cases denied and it reduces our economic creativity. One point that i want to make that doesnt get talked to about a lot. As the secretary alluded to the eisenhower people, the stray can hay need National Security you only need to look at the kinder attacks to quietly think how are we going to get enough people to take care of this for us if we dont train them if we dont make sure they stick with the math, science and Engineering Program theyre not going to there. They did more harm and eisenhower got the federal government into the National Defense student loan business and that was why and that was why. It is and i eisenhower people but for a different reason. I want to add i want to think about these issues about apprenticeship slightly differently. At the time i was there it was one million one thousand my focus on the bottom, i wanted to get as many kids as i could to pass to exit exams to get a High School Diploma, we all know what it means better life, better health, more stability thats what a High School Diploma represents, but its not enough. By focusing exclusively on getting all children we lose sight of the special need, of the poor. Thats not enough. We also need to ensure creativity of mind because we need to run to where the ball is thrown and not where it is today. Todays Employer Needs must be met but the employers themselves herself doesnt know today what the skills is they will need tomorrow and thats what we also have to keep focus on. So i submit to you we need identification, we need pathways and we need accountability. Its intellectual development. Not just labor preparedness. Its both. Thank you. [applause] thank you, very much both of you. I regret to say that ive just been past multiple note that we are running out of time. I would encourage my colleagues to talk with you both outside of this. I thank you both for the excellent work youre going its so important to our country and our states. Thank you. Thank you governor. [applause] returns live for continued work on the highway and math transit bill. Yesterday during rare sunday session, members offered by senator that would reauthorize the export import bank. We could see a final vote later today. Final the senate live at 2 00 eastern. Also today massachusetts senator elizabeth around marilyn congressmen hold the forum on Economic Growth and job creation. Well also hear remarks from former House Speaker grinning rich. It start live 3 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Tonight commissioner on key issues. When an item is pretended to the commissioner level that document should be made available publicly, that would provide an opportunity for everyone to comment exactly what were thinking and also for people to home in on issues they see problematic. You know, and thats problematic from my point of view. Tonight on the communicators on cspan2. Tomorrow secretary of state john kerry, secretary moniz and jack lou return to capital hill. Tomorrow theyll go before members of the House Foreign Affairs committee road to the conch continues now. Spoke to supporters about immigration, healthcare and donald trump. [inaudible conversations] nice to meet you, thank you for coming out today. How are you . [laughs] hi, there. Thanks for coming. How are you . Good good. Great to see you. Thank you for coming. You didnt have a far drive . Glad you came today. Hi how are you in great to see you. Nice to see you. We have the same last name. We probably know each other. How are you . I wonder why. [inaudible conversations] i appreciate it. How are you sir . You were just there. How are you . Nice to see you. In real life