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▶ 0:14:36well good morning the uh hearing will come to order and it's um a pleasure to uh welcome everyone to the subcommittee on labor Health and Human Services and education U uh for members day and we're looking forward to taking testimony from members of Congress and um this is an opportunity of course for any member of Congress to come before our subcommittee and to uh draw attention to issues that are important to them important to their districts and of course issues that are important to our entire
▶ 0:15:06nation uh I look forward to hearing from my colleagues that are here today uh and about the challenges they see and how this subcommittee can uh help them address those issues that they see is vitally important um before we begin um let me turn to the ranking member uh Mr lauro for any comments that she would like to make thank you so much Mr chair and get to my colleagues uh uh my apologies for for being late but it is a trek from Canon to
▶ 0:15:36to rabor it doesn't seem that long but in any case uh but I too want to uh welcome you uh to the labor HHS education uh uh a subcommittee um which is an unbelievable committee that uh it really does level the playing field for lowincome children looking to get a good education uh they equip our nation to deal with public health emergencies uh this sub commmittee funds life- saving biomedical research and helps uh Americans get the skills they need to to be able to find a job and the list does go on
▶ 0:16:07and so these programs directly impact the lives of Americans as as you all know um so I just want to uh uh well welcome all of you here and um you know even as we hear from our colleagues about their top priorities for fiscal year 2026 I wish we had fiscal year 2025 finished up um uh uh but I I I would also ask you um implore you really uh to be speak with your colleagues and help us to advocate for these programs in the
▶ 0:16:37unfinished fiscal year 2025 bills as well thank you I yield back I'd like to now recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania uh representative Glenn Thompson you have the floor well chairman ader hold ranking member Doro members of the subcommittee thank you for the providing the opportunity to share my priorities for fisc fiscal year 2026 as co-chair of the bipartisan house career and technal education caucus I strongly support CTE programs that provide Learners of all ages with career
▶ 0:17:07ready skills as a school recently uh presented to me these are the skills that help pay the bills um from Agriculture and artificial intelligence to marketing and Manufacturing CT programs work to develop America's most valuable resource it's people CT is taught in a range of settings including high schools Area Technical centers and Technical and two-year community colleges in total a record number of more than 12 million high school and college students are enrolled in CTE
▶ 0:17:38programs Nationwide today Congress recognized the importance of CTE when it when we passed to strengthening Career and Technical education for the 21st century act in 2018 which was led subsequently uh subsequently signed into law by President Trump this effort the first major federal overhaul of CT programs since 2006 six modernized investments in CTE help connect Educators with industry stakeholders and continue congress's commitment to investing in these successful
▶ 0:18:08programs CT has established itself as a path that many high achieving students choose in Pursuit Of Industry certification and Hands-On skills that they can use right out of high school in skills-based education programs or quite frankly in Cong in college maybe in Congress too um in fact the the foure graduation rate for high school students in career and technal education program is 96% far higher than the national average while I'm
▶ 0:18:38grateful that Perkins state grants were funded at $1.44 billion in fiscal year 2024 those levels adjusted for inflation are roughly half of the amount of the federal investment made in CTE 1980 despite the record number of CTE students that currently rely on this funding as CTE programs evolve to meet the needs of employers in high wage high scale or in demand career fields we must provide strong Federal support for these successful
▶ 0:19:08programs therefore I respectfully urge the subcommittee to strongly support the Carl D Perkins career and technal education acts State grant program and fiscal year 2026 I'd also like to discuss the importance of the community services block grant program virtually every program in the united every count county in the United States has a Community Action Agency a local organization charged by the federal government with the sweeping mission of fighting poverty
▶ 0:19:38about 1,000 such agencies exist Nationwide to help ensure a safety net for low-income individuals and families even more importantly they create opportunities for people to move from poverty to Independence these agencies serve millions of low-income Americans each year helping them gain useful skills access New Opportunities and Achieve Financial Independence the community services block grant is the only Federal program with the explicit and overarching
▶ 0:20:09goal of reducing poverty regardless of its cause csbg pursues this goal by providing critical funding to the Nationwide network of local caas and supporting their locally driven comprehensive approach to fighting poverty as a uniquely flexible source of funds CBG allows caas to address their Community needs through building Partnerships and investing in the creation of opportunities especially suited to local conditions
▶ 0:20:39and the unique circumstances of lowincome citizens moreover csbg funds assist caas in attracting non-federal resources for every $1 of federal of community services block grant funding these Community Action agencies are able to leverage nearly $5 do from State local and private sources in 2020 Congress recognized the need to increased csbg eligibility criteria from 100% to 200% of federal poverty
▶ 0:21:10line and has continued this policy and all subsequent appropriation laws this increased flexibility has enabled caas to stabilize fragile families mitigate the impact of arbitrarily B arbitrary benefit Cliffs and help working households in crisis avoid void a permanent fall into poverty as I continue to work with my colleagues on the education Workforce committee towards reauthorization and improvements within the program I respectfully request you maintain
▶ 0:21:40language in this subcommittee's bill to continue eligibility at 200% of the federal public poverty level and provide the highest amount possible for cspg in fiscal year 2026 in my written testimony that's already been submitted I've also detailed support for various programs within the subcommittee's jurisdiction at bolster and improve rural Health Care uh and I'd respectfully request your consideration of those priorities that are currently desperately needed
▶ 0:22:10in our rural communities uh thank you again chairman aderhold ranking member Doo and members of the subcommittee for allowing me to express my priorities for FY 2026 and I appreciate your consideration look forward to working together on these and other issues thank you very much than thank you and uh we'll include any you want to add into the record and uh glad to have you here uh next uh we will recognize uh can I just make one comment I I I
▶ 0:22:40the programs you talk about are are critical uh the uh Career and Technical education and we did a hearing early on where it mentioned the focus was about the um uh the great outcomes with the technical education and and and what it does I would just want you to be mindful of this you know and I know there really is this move to attack education dismantle the Department of Education um one can view things that are wrong
▶ 0:23:10and address them and so forth but I think the Department of Education really has to be Central uh to our ability to provide the kinds of resources that you don't so deeply care about with the c CTE and again just be mindful as the the the debate goes on and on and where we are in terms of the overall Appropriations process and making sure that this is a program that does not uh Fall by the wayside or get underfunded for some reasons the community
▶ 0:23:40service block rant is you know everyone knows about its its benefits as well and so we have yet to see whether or not that will be a a target of of any Cuts yeah both both programs uh rank member I I believe are forces for good day um quite frankly uh Career and Technical education I shared with you you know the graduation rate of students enrolled in Career and Technical education is 96% far above the General High School
▶ 0:24:10completion rate in in you know with uh for the remainder of the students it is uh uh one of the things I I didn't mention in my testimony and I don't think it's in a written testimony either is uh today as a result of that 2018 modernizing career and technal education for the 21st century I was really proud to stand in the Oval Office when it was signed into that was my legislation signed into law we now where we had under um underutilized programs in the past programs
▶ 0:24:41that ended because they didn't have enough students University across the board today we have waiting lists and that's something I would wish should you would certainly respectfully request a subcommittee take into consideration as well you know that there are students that are looking for those uh they're great opportunities and not just youth I mean our a lot of our career and Tech education programs run do track so appreciate it it works thank you okay thank you thanks so much all right
▶ 0:25:11U next we have uh Congressman Seth magaziner from the great state of Rhode welcome and you have the floor thank you very much ad all
▶ 0:25:52to hire education for millions of low and middle-income students no young person who has the grades the work ethic and the ambition to go to college should be denied that opportunity just because their parents don't make a lot of money and if we are going to compete with China and the rest of the world and the global economy we need a Workforce with 21st century skills approximately 6 million students receive pel grants in the 2023 to 24 school year
▶ 0:26:22and a majority of those grants went to students whose families make less than $20,000 year however the value of the pel grant is not keeping up with the rising cost of tuition and cost of living today pel grants cover less than onethird of the average cost of attendance at a public four-year University they used to cover 80% in fact the maximum pel Grant amount has only been increased by about $1,600
▶ 0:26:52over the last decade last year I led 126 of our colleagues in calling for the pel grant to be doubled and indexed to inflation and I plan to do so again this year restoring the pel Grant's purchasing power will not only make College more affordable but also improve outcomes by providing Grant recipients more opportunity to focus on school by covering their basic needs we must increase funding for the pel grant so that the next generation of Americans has access to the education they deserve
▶ 0:27:23I also urge this committee to increase funding for Career and Technical education Innovation and grants as we have heard there is more than one path to success in this country and we need to support a range of different education and job training opportunities including for those kids who are eager to enter the job market or who may not want to attend for your college Career and Technical education can prepare young people for good paying jobs in a range of growing Fields like healthcare manufacturing and
▶ 0:27:53the skilled trades and students want these programs in Rhode is in my State Career and Technical education programs have been so successful that the demand is larger than the number of spots available more than half of Rhode Island public high school students are participating more than half of high school students in my state are in CTE programs Innovation and modernization grants fund research and pilot programs to ensure that Career and Technical education programs are keeping up with labor
▶ 0:28:23market needs they also identify support and evaluate evidence-based strategies to improve the effectiveness of Career and Technical education the needs of employers are constantly changing and we need to ensure that Career and Technical education programs are adapting to meet those needs so that students know there is a good job waiting for them when they finish their program last year I led 31 of our colleagues in sending this committee a letter in
▶ 0:28:54support of 64 million for CTE Innovation and modernization grants and I look forward to doing the same again this year I'm glad that Career and Technical education has historically had robust bipartisan support in the house and I'm optimistic that we can continue to work together on this important bipartisan issue finally we must acknowledge that last week uh the house passed a budget plan that directs the education and Workforce committee to make cuts of at least $330 billion
▶ 0:29:24in order to pay for tax cuts that will largely benefit the rich and president Trump has repeatedly stated his intention to eliminate the Department of Education we cannot sell out America's students and employers by gutting education and job training I ask my colleagues to take education off the chopping block and instead invest in providing opportunities to the Next Generation including through expanding pel grants and Career and Technical education I thank you for your consideration
▶ 0:29:55and I yield back thank you Mr magazine ranking member I I was just to say thank you very very much we should be increasing the amount of pel Grants I just to say about Clayborn pel who I did get get to know uh Clayborn pel was a Senator to the manor born he was very from a very affluent family but he recognized that there was a need to be able to provide an educational opportunity to workingclass families middle class families lower income families thereby we have the pel grant
▶ 0:30:25we should continue it we should increase it we make the opportunity for kids uh to be able to reach uh and reach their dreams and their aspirations you talked about the career in technical which we talked about earlier and I think it's worthwhile noting that uh uh education needs to come off of The Chopping Block education is the great equalizer as Horus man said and we need to provide resources to make sure that people have the uh educational opportunities for their success thank you for your testimony thank
▶ 0:30:55you thank you ranking member like to thank all the students who took an interest in your federal government today and and uh thanks for what you're doing to enter the workforce uh I know a little place in just south of Dallas that's got a a high quality of living and a low cost of living that you're welcome to come to and a lot of manufacturing jobs in any number of places that uh any number of uh uh industries that you might seek uh um uh to work
▶ 0:31:26so come on down to Ellis County and Midlothian and Dallas we'd be happy to have you all down there but thank you for exection interest Mr magaziner thank you for coming today seeing no other uh today hearing is
▶ 0:32:56e for