May 1, 1998

Mr. President, I commend my colleagues, Senators Jeffords, Kennedy, Wellstone and DeWine for their tireless efforts to bring this bipartisan bill to the Senate floor. I hope that any remaining disagreements can be worked out in Conference.

Few issues that we have a chance to debate and vote on are as critically important to the future of this country as the one before us today. The strength of our workforce is directly linked to a lifetime of quality education and training. And never have the challenges been greater. We must remain steadfast in our efforts to continue educating and training our workforce so that more of our companies can successfully adapt to the rapid developments of modern technology.

The Workforce Investment Partnership Act is the culmination of many years of hard work. The current maze of more than 160 separate programs which are administered by 15 separate federal agencies has become unnecessarily cumbersome for both those in need of training assistance and those employers seeking to hire skilled workers. This bill streamlines these programs by giving more authority to state and local governments, but retaining crucial federal requirements in order to ensure that the most vulnerable and deserving members of our population, including disadvantaged youth and displaced workers, receive the support and training assistance they need. This focus will ensure that these individuals have a chance to share in our nation's continued economic prosperity and growth. In addition, by emphasizing results and accountability from job training programs, our workers will be better equipped with the skills they need to land high-wage and high-skilled jobs.

I know firsthand the struggle many hard-working individuals face as their company downsizes or scales back production. For many years, the Connecticut economy was dependent on defense-oriented industries. In the past few years, many qualified, highly skilled workers in Connecticut have lost their jobs as a result of military downsizing. In the last 12 months, more than 1,500 defense related jobs were lost in my state.

The Workforce Investment Partnership Act ensures that defense employees who are adversely affected by base closings and military downsizing will have access to job training and supportive services through the National Reserve Account in title III of the Job Training Partnership Act. If these workers receive access to training, they can acquire the skills needed for employment in the technology driven economy of the 21st century.

The Connecticut economy is changing. In February, a group of 120 business leaders stated that a highly educated and trained work force is the only way that Connecticut can capitalize on the promises of the new technology driven sectors such as software development, information technology and photonics. For too long, we were focused on job loss. It is now time to focus on the rebuilding of our economy and ensure that all potential employees, including former welfare recipients and displaced workers, receive the training and skills they need.

I am especially pleased that a cornerstone of the job training bill will be streamlined service delivery. The bill accomplishes this integration by building on the One-Stop system to unify the patchwork of fragmented job training and employment programs into a single, customer-friendly environment. The proposed legislation would expand the concept of universal access to services for job seekers and businesses without eligibility criteria.

Connecticut is nearing completion of implementation of its One-Stop Career Center System, Connecticut Works, which is being financed through a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. This network has reformed the delivery of job training services in Connecticut. To date, a total of 16 centers have been created across the state and I have had the privilege of visiting many of them. Gone are the dreary unemployment centers of the past.

Each of the centers in Connecticut offers a broad array of services including a variety of job search workshops and self-service research rooms with computer and Internet access. A wide range of written material is provided in the research rooms, and customers have access to fax machines and telephones to assist them in their job search. Enhanced and coordinated services to businesses are provided through the use of an Employer Contact Management System. Customer surveys and performance measurements ensure that customer needs are addressed. The partnership with the State library has brought access to electronic labor market and job search services through local libraries to over one hundred sites throughout Connecticut, bringing services to more customers with expanded days and hours of operation.

Mr. President, vocational educational activities are also provided for within the Workforce legislation. Significantly, WIPA will put into place challenging performance measures to gauge the efficiency of the educational programs it oversees. These measures will require proficient training in the areas of job readiness skills, vocational skills, and placement, retention, and completion of educational opportunities. The Carl D. Perkins vocational educational title, which will separately appropriate and administer all vocational educational programs, will teach participants computer skills and new technologies to prepare them for the burgeoning high-tech labor market.

WIPA further provides for the coordination of adult education and job training systems, allowing adult education to play a crucial role in a participant's job training program. In the area of adult education and literacy, WIPA specifically targets those communities demonstrating significant illiteracy rates to receive adult education programs on a priority basis. I am pleased that the Workforce legislation also includes a provision that will direct funds designated to support English as a Second Language (ESL) programs to those ESL programs in communities with designated need. This means that ESL programs with waiting lists--those in communities with the greatest need for the valuable services these programs provide--will receive funds on a prioritized basis.

Mr. President, in order to better assist non-native English speakers and fully assimilate them into our society, we must help them become more fluent in English. I can think of few more important factors in determining whether or not someone new to this society will successfully make this difficult transition than their ability to speak English.

A clear and effective grasp of the English language is still the best indicator of success for non-native English speakers. The ability to speak English for anyone in today's marketplace represents an `open door,' Mr. President. This `open door' can lead to greater employment and advancement opportunities for those whose first language is not English.

The reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act, offered as an amendment to the Workforce legislation, is critically important legislation that I am proud to cosponsor. The Rehabilitation Act provides comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services designed to help individuals with disabilities become more employable and achieve greater independence and integration into society.

Under the Rehabilitation Act, States, with assistance provided by the federal government in the manner of formula-derived grants, provide a broad array of services to individuals with disabilities that includes assessment, counseling, vocational and other educational services, work related placement services, and rehabilitation technology services. In 1995 alone, Mr. President, more than 1.25 million Americans with disabilities were served by vocational rehabilitation programs.

I am particularly pleased that a provision dealing with assistive technology was included in the reauthorization legislation. This provision, Section 508, will require the federal government to provide assistive technology to Federal employees with disabilities. This provision will put into place for the first time regulations requiring the federal government to provide its employees with disabilities with access to appropriate technology suited to their individual needs.

This legislation would allow the federal government to take the lead in providing critical access to information technology to all federal employees with disabilities in this country. It strengthens the federal requirement that electronic and information technology purchased by federal agencies be accessible to their employees with disabilities.

Electronic and information technology accessibility is essential for federal employees to maintain a meaningful employment experience, as well as to meet their full potential. We live in a world where information and technology are synonymous with professional advancement. Increasingly, essential job functions have come to involve the use of technology, and where it is inaccessible, job opportunities that others take for granted are foreclosed to people with disabilities.

Presently, there are approximately 145,000 individuals with disabilities in the federal workforce. Roughly 61 percent of these employees hold permanent positions in professional, administrative, or technical occupations. Nationally, there are 49 million Americans who have disabilities, nearly half of them have a severe disability. Yet most mass market information technology is designed without consideration for their needs.

It is critical, Mr. President, given the rapid introduction into the workforce of novel technologically-advanced products, that persons with disabilities not be allowed to fall behind. The federal government must truly be an equal opportunity employer, and this equal opportunity must apply fully to individuals with special needs.

I view Section 508 as a hopeful first step in an effort to ensure that all individuals with disabilities have access to the assistive technology providing them the ability to reach their full ability. Though Section 508 will presently only affect federal employees, it is my hope that one day all individuals with disabilities will have the same access to assistive technology now afforded federal employees because of Section 508.

Lastly, Mr. President, I would like to commend Senators Jeffords, DeWine, Kennedy and Wellstone for the important role they each played in making the Workforce legislation and the reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act a reality. They worked closely with myself and my staff to address numerous concerns and for that I wish to thank them.