Providing for Consideration of H.R. National Apprenticeship Act of Providing for Consideration of H. Con. Res. Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Morelle for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, today's rule provides for consideration of two pieces of legislation. The first, H.R. 447, is the National Apprenticeship Act. The bill seeks to improve and streamline access to apprenticeships. These goals are broadly supported by Members on both sides of the political aisle, in the House and in the Senate.

We considered an almost identical bill in the 116th Congress, which was the previous Congress. At that time, Republicans expressed a desire to work together to achieve the goal of modernizing the National Apprenticeship Program. Since then, the Democrats have pushed through their bill that did nothing to streamline the program, nothing for flexibility for employer-driven apprenticeships.

The bill before us today is largely the same. Rather than work with Republicans in a meaningful way, the majority remains committed to codifying decades of rigid regulations and red tape. The Committee on Education and Labor did not even have a hearing or a markup on this bill before it came before the Committee on Rules, essentially shutting out committee Republicans from the negotiation process entirely--many of whom were new members on the Committee on Education and Labor and did not participate in the discussion in the last Congress.

Mr. Speaker, between 2009 and 2019, America saw a 128 percent growth in apprenticeships. In September of 2020, the Department of Labor reported that 94 percent of all apprentices who completed their apprenticeship received an average annual salary of $70,000. Today's registered apprenticeship system is an important tool for job seekers and employers.

It does have some flaws, however. In 2019, 252,000 individuals began an apprenticeship. Good for them, but only 81,000 graduated.

This bill would make the apprenticeship system the only registered and Department of Labor-supported apprenticeship option, shutting the door on opportunities for those who participate in nonregistered earn- and-learn programs. While so many in the Nation have lost work due to the economic toll of the pandemic, now is not the time to make it harder to find adequate training by reducing an individual's apprenticeship options.

Mr. Speaker, the National Apprenticeship Act would make this system even less receptive to innovation and create prescriptive requirements on apprenticeships. It also makes it difficult for small and medium- sized businesses to participate, as they do not always have the resources to navigate the lengthy and Byzantine Department of Labor registration process.

America desperately needs more lab technicians. We need more medical assistants. We need more pharmacy technicians. In the middle of a global public health crisis, we cannot afford to stymie motivated future employees.

Republicans agree that this 80-year-old system can and must be improved, but the solutions must be targeted and effective. The majority claims that the increased funding in this legislation will create 1 million apprenticeships. While it is true that the legislation provides significantly more funding, unfortunately, more money alone doesn't guarantee better outcomes if the underlying systems don't work in the first place.

Mr. Speaker, the second part of this rule provides for consideration of H. Con. Res. 11, establishing a budget for fiscal year 2021, and providing the budget reconciliation instructions for fiscal years 2021 through 2030. Budget reconciliation is a fast-track, budgetary tool used to implement policy changes into law. This procedure requires only 51 votes in the Senate--not the normal 60 votes to break the filibuster, but only 51 votes in the Senate--which, unfortunately, can turn this into a partisan exercise, which is what happened here today.

President Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, but under the reconciliation instructions included in the resolution, the deficit would increase to between $2 trillion and $3 trillion.

Look, on the west front of the Capitol 2 weeks ago, the President called for unity--his first move. And, today, we see the Democrats employing a partisan process to jam through their wish list of policy priorities.

The Budget Committee has not yet even organized as a committee, but the Committee on Rules adopted a rule to consider budget reconciliation without any prior hearings or markups. This will be the first time since 1974 that Congress has bypassed the Budget Committee and gone straight to the floor with a budget resolution.

In addition, the Democrats did not pass a budget resolution at all for fiscal year 2021. So the budget resolution before us today is exactly 290 days late.

Barely 1 month ago, Congress passed--and President Trump signed into law--a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. Combined with previous relief packages--and there were many--there remains $1 trillion in unspent funding. To my knowledge, there have been very few, if any, authorizing and oversight hearings to account for what funds are needed and how these funds have been spent and ensure they are being used in a way that best benefits the American people.

With all of that as background, then you have to ask yourself: ``Why is it now so urgent to pass another $2 trillion bill?''

Well, the answer lies in the progressive, partisan policy priorities that the majority wants to push through, including raising taxes, increasing the minimum wage, implementing the Green New Deal, providing a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, lowering Medicare eligibility, providing universal basic income, and canceling student loan debt.

But these policies do not address the immediate needs of Americans who are trying to survive the pandemic. Now is not the time to push partisan priorities.

Look, Republicans do stand ready to work with Democrats to provide the needed resources for the American people. Yesterday's visit by 10 Republican senators to the Oval Office and the time that President Biden spent with them certainly should be indicative to people that there is a willingness to work together to solve the problems of the country, but we also are obligated to ensure that the proposals are thoroughly vetted and will be implemented in a way that actually helps rather than further harms our recovery.

Mr. Speaker, I would add that Mr. Morelle referenced some of the other things contained in the rule. I think it is important that Members understand the threats under which we operate. As such, I, frankly, do not understand why we have not been provided a classified briefing by the Speaker of the House as to what the threats were prior to January 6 and what the threats are going forward. Suffice it to say, that the people's House--the House of Representatives--now is completely on lockdown. There are no people in the people's House other than the Representatives, and that is not the way it was intended.

I think we are owed an explanation for what the level of threat is so that we may adequately prepare ourselves in our personal lives, as well as our work in our districts. I would call upon the Speaker to make such a bipartisan Member briefing available as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to the rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately consider H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act, to encourage local educational agencies to resume in- person instruction in elementary and secondary schools.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans agree that apprenticeships are vital to American livelihoods and our national interests. We agree that reforms to these programs are necessary and prudent. It is time to update the apprenticeship program to better reflect the needs of employers and the needs of our Nation. Republicans stand ready to negotiate. Now is the time to give Americans opportunities to succeed, and I sincerely hope that we will do just that.

To recover from this pandemic, we must also not push through policies that do not address the immediate needs of the American people. The budget reconciliation resolution provided for in this rule will drastically increase the deficit and seek to implement nonessential partisan policy priorities without first conducting the necessary authorization hearings and conducting the necessary oversight to ensure that current funding is spent effectively and efficiently.

After the multiple calls for unity, it is disappointing that the first move that we are seeing from the majority in this Congress is to employ this partisan procedural process. I do hope they reconsider and come back to the negotiating table through regular order.

Let me just also ask again that the Speaker allow Members to be briefed by the appropriate law enforcement agencies as to exactly what the threats are here in the Nation's Capital. I think we would all benefit from that not just in our work here in Washington, D.C., but also when we work with constituents and staff back in our districts.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question, a ``no'' vote on the rule, and a ``no'' vote on the underlying measures.

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Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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