Congressman Krishnamoorthi Urges Senate To Pass The Build Back Better Act, Including Its Workforce Development Programs He Championed

WASHINGTON - Today, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi issued the following statement encouraging the Senate to pass the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), which the House approved last month and included nearly $40 billion for workforce development programs. The Congressman fought for these provisions forcefully over the last several months:

"I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass the Build Back Better Act while safeguarding the historic investment in workforce development programs which the House approved. The Build Back Better Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will create millions of new jobs across our country, and funding for these workforce development and job training programs will be essential to ensure that we have the highly-skilled workforce necessary to fill them."

The Build Back Better Act would invest $10 billion in existing workforce development programs, including career and technical education, dislocated workers programs for workers in declining industries, adult employment services and apprenticeships, as well as an additional $10 billion for industry and sector partnership grants, which will help close the skills gap by aligning training programs with what businesses need from their workforce. The bill also includes $20 billion for public service programs, including $4 billion for workforce programs specifically focused on addressing the impacts of climate change to help meet the workforce needs of our warming world.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has been a tireless champion of job training programs and career and technical education throughout his time in Congress. Representative Krishnamoorthi co-led the bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, a landmark modernization of our national skills and career education programs which was signed into law in 2018. And in July of 2021, Congressman Krishnamoorthi led a letter signed by over 100 Members of Congress calling on congressional leadership to include robust funding for workforce development programs in the Build Back Better Act.