McGovern pushes GOP on cutting job programs in the so-called "SKILLS Act"

The SKILLS Act would kill a program that provides low-income individuals with the training they need to get jobs - jobs that pay enough to get them off of public assistance.

Washington, DC, March 14, 2013
The SKILLS Act would kill a program that provides low-income individuals with the training they need to get jobs - jobs that pay enough to get them off of public assistance.

U.S. Representative James P. McGovern
Statement on SNAP Cuts included in H.R. 803
March 14, 2013

M. Speaker, the ongoing problem with this Republican Majority is their insistence on partisan political ploys at the expense of sound policy. They are more focused on throwing red meat to the right wing of the right wing than on jobs and strengthening our economy.

That's clear in the bill that we're considering today - the so-called SKILLS Act. Instead of bringing a bill to the floor that will help our economy prosper and grow jobs, this Majority has given us a bill that will gut job training programs.

This is not a good bill - in fact, it does real harm to job training programs that will help put Americans to work. And I'm particularly alarmed by the bill's egregious cuts to the SNAP Education and Training program.

The SKILLS Act would destroy the SNAP Education and Training Program as we know it. It would kill a program that provides low-income individuals with the training they need to get jobs - jobs that pay enough to get them off of public assistance.

The author of this bill, my colleague on the Rules Committee Dr. Foxx, doesn't take a meat axe to this program, but instead cleverly reworks it in a way so that - while it will exist in name - it will not be able to carry out its mission.

Rather than going directly at the program and reducing or zeroing out program funding, the bill instead eliminates the role of the SNAP agency in determining what kinds of services are provided to SNAP participants. Under the SKILLS ACT, the WIA board is authorized to serve "eligible SNAP participants." The way this would appear to work is that the state SNAP agency would still assign some group of participants to SNAP Education and Training Programs, but only to those programs as provided through the WIA.

The concern is that a good number of states, including my home state of Massachusetts, have found WIA services to be inappropriate for SNAP participants.

The fact is, M. Speaker, childless unemployed adults generally cannot participate in SNAP for more than 3 months out of every 3 years unless they are enrolled in certain types of training programs for 20 hours per week. In this legislation, Workforce Investment Boards are not required to provide work slots that meet these conditions, and state SNAP agencies are no longer able to provide additional services. As a result, if jobs are not available, some poor individuals who are willing to work could lose their SNAP benefits.

According to the GAO, -many [SNAP] participants are not ready for many program services such as training classes offered by programs at the [WIA] one-stops because they lack basic skills, such as reading and computer literacy, that would allow them to use those services successfully.-

At best, low-income individuals on SNAP who are lacking job skills that will help them get off of public assistance will be denied access to job training programs. At worst, low-income individuals who rely on SNAP to put food on their table will see either part or all of their benefit cut.

Yes, M. Speaker, this new legislation could actually make hunger worse.

M. Speaker, this is a bad bill that does nothing to help the American economy or the unemployed or untrained in this country. We should be focusing on jobs, not partisan legislation. This is yet another attack on poor people. We should be working to End Hunger Now and not passing bills that make hunger worse.

I yield back the balance of my time.