Waiving points of order against the conference report to accompany the bill (S. 250) to amend the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 to improve the Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, today this House is considering the conference report for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act. This is a good bill, a worthy bill. This bill addresses the needs of America's changing workforce and hopefully it will help close the gaps that threaten our long-term ability to compete in the global economy.

I want to express my appreciation and my respect for the leadership and hard work invested over the past 15 months by House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Buck McKeon and ranking member George Miller in moving these vital issues forward and that resulted in this strong, bipartisan supported bill.

Mr. Speaker, the conference report successfully improves several aspects of the programs authorized under the Perkins Act. It provides for more effective accountability for these programs. It establishes stronger links to businesses and stronger partnerships between high schools, colleges and businesses, including small businesses. It

creates better links and sequences of courses from high school to college and it promotes a much stronger academic focus, consistent with other Federal K-12 educational programs.

Mr. Speaker, I am a very strong supporter of vocational, career and technical education, and I am not alone in Central Massachusetts in believing in the importance of vocational and technical education.

Let me share with my colleagues an important milestone that took place just last month in Worcester, Massachusetts. On June 8, the last class to occupy the old Worcester Vocational High School graduated, ending an era that began in 1910 when the Boys Trade School opened its doors to 29 ironworkers and 23 woodworkers.

That evening, 204 graduating seniors who attended classes in that 1910 building received their high school diplomas in subjects as diverse as telecommunications, cosmetology and hotel management. These students represent a well-educated workforce.

In the past 5 years, in Worcester alone, the number of vocational technical graduates attending college has nearly tripled, from 24 percent in 2001 to 68 percent this year. It is not surprising, therefore, to know that the scores of these students on the Massachusetts mandatory State test, which has formidable high standards, have risen significantly, a testament to the hard work of students, faculty, school administrators and parents.

This coming September, a new era will begin for Worcester's vocational and technical students when they start classes in a new state-of-the-art school, the Worcester Technical High School. I have had the opportunity to tour this new school, the first vocational high school in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to be built in the last 30 years. I can assure my colleagues that the goals and programs outlined in today's reauthorization bill will find fertile ground and flourish at Worcester Technical High School.

But, Mr. Speaker, it takes more than just a good framework like the one provided by this conference report to ensure a quality education. It takes resources. It takes money. And, quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, that worries me.

I worry whether this House has the same bipartisan dedication and commitment that so successfully negotiated this conference agreement to make sure that these same programs are adequately funded in the future. Every year President Bush recommends the elimination of the Perkins vocational education programs in his budget. Every year, Mr. Speaker, every year he does this.

Will the Republican leadership of this House pledge to organize a bipartisan effort and convince the President that he must include full funding for the Perkins Act in his budget?

Each year when the President has eliminated the Perkins vocational and technical programs, the Republican majority of this House passes a budget resolution that matches the President's request, which means it also eliminates the funding for the Perkins Act programs.

Where does that leave us, Mr. Speaker? It leaves us with an appropriations allocation for education that is so low it is impossible to adequately fund our Federal education programs. In order to restore $1.3 billion to the Perkins program, we are forced to steal money from other critical K-12 and higher education programs.

This year is no exception. In the FY 2007 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Act, which has been waiting in the wings for 6 weeks since June 13 for a chance to come to the House floor, we once again see damaging cuts in education funding. For the second year in a row, funding for the Department of Education has been cut, this time $404 million below FY 2006 levels and $1 billion below FY 2005 levels. While the appropriations bill provides $1.3 billion for vocational education programs, this is the same level as last year. This means vocational education grants will have lost $83 million in real purchasing power since FY 2005.

Mr. Speaker, nearly half of all high school students and about one- third of all college students take vocational education courses to be ready for today's world of work. We cannot keep freezing the funding for these programs. The result is a de facto cut in resources at exactly the time when this authorization increases standards and accountability for vocational and technical schools.

So I hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will finally commit themselves not just to authorizing these critical programs, but to working in a bipartisan, all-out effort to make sure that they are adequately funded. Otherwise, nothing we do here today matters.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I am a little bit confused. Only July 12, this House voted 260-159 in favor of a motion to instruct the conferees appointed to negotiate on this conference report to state clearly that when this authorizing bill describes as its purpose to prepare students for high wage jobs, that those jobs should, in no case, pay less than $7.25 an hour. 260-159, Mr. Speaker. That is an overwhelming vote. Sixty-four Republicans joined every single Democrat and Independent in this House in support of this language. But somehow, Mr. Speaker, it does not appear in the conference report.

High skilled jobs are important, Mr. Speaker. High wage jobs matter. And so does raising the minimum wage. The minimum wage was established 63 years ago to alleviate poverty. Today, the minimum wage condemns workers and their families to a life of poverty. That is more than 6.5 million hardworking American workers. I thought that was why 260 members of this House voted 2 weeks ago to demand that the conferees include in this bill that the phrase ``high wage'' means no less than $7.25 an hour.

Did the House conferees not take the Members of this House seriously? Did they fight during negotiations to include these words in the final conference report? Because, if so, then why isn't it there?

Mr. Speaker, I have worked in this House for a while now, 10 years as a Member of Congress and 13 years before that as a Congressional aid. I remember when motions to instruct conferees were taken seriously by Members appointed to the conference committee.

The Republican leadership will not allow this House to act on the FY 2007 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Act because it contains an increase in the minimum wage. Every Health, Education and Labor Department program is being held hostage to the Republican majority's determination to keep 6.5 million hardworking Americans in poverty.

Now they will not allow a handful of words, supported so strongly by Members of this House, to be included in this conference report. What are they so afraid of?

As we take up the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act conference report, we can all be proud of our support of vocational, technical and career education. But with all due respect, Mr. Speaker, what we do today is meaningless. It is worthless if we fail to ensure adequate appropriations for these programs and if we continue to let the minimum wage stagnate and willingly and deliberately condemn more and more American workers to lives of poverty.

In closing, I will support this bill because it does authorize a number of good programs. But let me repeat so my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can hear this loud and clear: It is not enough to authorize programs. We need to fund them. And this President has consistently tried to eliminate funding for important vocational educational programs and this Congress passes budgets that also eliminate funding for these programs. And, quite frankly, the funding that we do provide is inadequate.

Finally, let me repeat to all Members of this House, that it is a disgrace that we are about to recess for our August vacation without increasing the Federal minimum wage. It has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for nearly 9 years. During that same period of time, Members of this House have increased their pay eight different times, totaling about $35,000.

If this Republican leadership does not want to allow Members of this House a clean, straight, up-or-down vote on the minimum wage, then they should at least have the decency to bring to the floor a resolution to repeal this pay raise. It is wrong to increase our pay and, at the same time, refuse to do anything about the millions of American workers who are stuck in poverty.

If you work in this country, you should get paid enough so you don't have to live in poverty.

Again, vocational education is important, but we need to fund these programs. That is something that this Republican Congress has failed to do.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 4 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, it obviously gives me great pleasure to be here today and to rise in support of the conference report to the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon) for his leadership in getting us to this end point, and the majority leader who is no longer head of the committee (Mr. Boehner) for his work, the gentleman and gentlewoman from California both present here right now, Mr. Miller and Ms. Woolsey, for their bipartisan spirit, and our colleagues in the other body. I am blessed to be on a couple of committees where there is bipartisan spirit at least some of the time, and we are able to get a few things done and this is one of them.

The Perkins Act aims to prepare youth and adults for the future by building their academic and technical skills in preparation for postsecondary education and/or employment. The bill we are considering today enhances Perkins by ensuring both secondary and post-secondary students participating in the program are acquiring rigorous academic and technical skills, and will have the opportunity to transition into further education and/or successful employment.

The Perkins Act governs widely supported programs of both the secondary and postsecondary level. For example, nearly all high school students complete at least one vocational education course, and approximately 26 percent of students are considered vocational concentrators, those students who focus on a single occupational area. In my home State of Delaware, we have five career and technical high schools that enroll a total of 5,500 of the 29,500 total high school students. At the postsecondary level, the Perkins Act supports a broad

array of options primarily at the community college level, including Delaware Technical & Community College.

In the 1999-2000 school year, over 50 percent of all students enrolled at the less than 4-year postsecondary level reported that they were majoring in vocational areas.

Today's conference report seeks to build upon reforms made in past reauthorizations, and seeks to enhance this popular program to ensure its success in years to come. The legislation before us today makes significant reforms to academic achievement and accountability to ensure students have the skills necessary to enter the workforce or continue to an institution of higher learning.

As I mentioned, there are five career and technical high schools in Delaware. While all these schools met adequately yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act, there is more to be done in academic achievement in these schools and schools across the country. Today, we will improve vocational and technical education by increasing the focus on academics in conjunction with the skill attainment that is incumbent of the program.

One of the unique attributes of vocational and technical education programs is their ability to show students a path that could end in a certificate, credential, employment, military, or postsecondary education. The Tech-Prep program within the Perkins Act is intended to focus on a well-defined link between high school and at least 2 years of postsecondary education. Research has shown, however, that funds are rarely, if ever, used to meet this goal. Rather, funds are often used for purposes within the larger vocational and technical education program. Therefore, the conference agreement revises requirements of the program in order to ensure articulation agreements between secondary and postsecondary institutions are, in fact, being implemented.

Along this same track, we include a new requirement for State development of career and technical programs of study for career and technical program areas. These sequences, of course, will incorporate a nonduplicative progression of both secondary and postsecondary elements which will include both academic and vocational and technical content. Local recipients at both the secondary and postsecondary level would adopt at least one model sequence of courses as developed by the State. I believe this will also help drive program improvements by ensuring that States clarify the progression of academic and vocational technical courses needed for the postsecondary education, training, or employment of a students choice.

It is clear that we are making some significant and positive changes for the schools and students impacted by this program. One of the biggest changes that I think we are making is for Congress to finally make the switch from vocational and technical education to career and technical education. In my opinion, this was an important statement for the Congress to make.

While the President has proposed another avenue for high school reform in the Perkins Act, I believe strongly that the reforms we consider today go a long way in driving program improvement and ultimate success for students across the country. The dialogue surrounding high school reform is important and is happening in earnest. I trust that the conference agreement will complement these efforts as a result of the changes in the bill. I believe it will help States, community colleges, and other postsecondary education institutions and local educational agencies to better meet the needs of students participating in career and technical education. I urge my colleagues to support this report so we may send this bill to the President for his signature.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), who is the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that handles education funding and is probably as interested in education as anyone in this building.

(Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder), another member of the committee who is always fighting for children in a whole variety of ways, be it dealing with drugs and those things, or education itself.

(Mr. SOUDER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), another individual who has probably done as much for young people as anybody in this country and in his lifetime in a variety of capacities.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume in closing.

Mr. Speaker, the conference report before us is a good one and one worthy of very strong support here. Passage of it will demonstrate our commitment to the millions of students who count on the career and technical education programs we are aiming to strengthen.

Career and technical education is a fundamental part of our efforts to improve academic achievement at all levels so our Nation remains competitive in the 21st century global economy. And this conference report sharpens the Perkins program's focus on both rigorous academics and technical achievement. It protects and enhances local control at a State and community level. And it seeks more opportunities for coordination between secondary and postsecondary career and technical education.

This conference report would not be possible if not for some key staff members at the Education and the Workforce Committee: Whitney Rhoades, Stephanie Milburn, Lucy House, Rich Stombres, and Susan Ross on the committee staff, and Denise Forte and Lloyd Horwich from the minority staff have worked tirelessly to get to this point where we are today. I would like to thank Sara Rittling of my staff who has worked on this as well.

For those not familiar with the process around here, without that staff, I am sure Ms. Woolsey and I would probably agree, we would probably never get a bill like this written. Their work is exemplary in this particular case. And I would just like to thank them for their determination and expertise.

Again, I thank my colleagues on the committee on both sides of the aisle for their efforts on this conference report, and I do urge its final passage.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman McKeon for his leadership and Mr. Miller for his leadership in working in a bipartisan effort with this.

But I want to say, first off, that it affirms what career and technical educational programs in my district are already doing. They are ensuring that all current technical education programs include rigorous and challenging academic courses; offer career and technical programs of study known as career majors; offer dual enrollment in secondary and postsecondary courses; and permit private and home school students to participate in career and technical education programs. Additionally, I am pleased that the bill allows for increased funding flexibility at the State level, as well as the promotion of State incentive grants to programs with exemplary performance.

It is a little unusual in the sense I represent a district that still makes things. In my congressional district, we have the highest percent manufacturing left in America as far as what people do. Other people can go on vacation in other places. They can get a service job in other places, run credit card companies in other places; but we still make things.

Vocational education, if it is going to compete, I remember years ago, because I am old now, in the 1960s, my father at our small retail store always took students who they were afraid were going to drop out and started trying to teach them different crafts and trades and get them into the workforce.

I know that when I was a student reporter in college and did some stories on local high schools even out in the ag communities, Woodland High School had a big area where they had a combine and other things so kids could get experience working in farming.

But we are at a whole other technical level. Even at my rural high schools in Angola, Indiana, a small high school, they have worked with TriState College to hook up an ethernet-type of Internet connection so they can take courses after school, to get courses after school to work with the plastics industry, the largest employer in my district, so kids can go out and learn technical skills.

If they are going to compete with China, if they are going to compete with India, if they are going to compete worldwide, they are not going to have the old things where my grandpa did it this way and my great- grandpa did it this way, and I am going to have pensions and health care forever. It is going to be a lot more competitive. It is going to take constant cross-training for advanced skills, for basic entry skills, and basic entry things in these manufacturing companies in my district.

If they cannot figure out how to work a computer, if they cannot figure out how to multitask, if they cannot figure out how to be flexible when a contract changes just like that, that company is gone. It is not anymore just to Mexico. It is to China.

So vocational education plays such a critical role at the college level, just like continuing education does, and this bill gives us more flexibility to work in this program, to adjust to the new technologies we are seeing, the online, the constant education, the interrelationship between industry and our universities and high schools.

The one thing I would strongly urge, and I continue to urge, the NFIB; the NAM, the National Association of Manufacturing; the U.S. Chamber, that the retailers engage in their local schools. They always come to me and everybody comes and says we are worried about our workforce, we are worried that we cannot get the quality. Well, engage the schools, hire these kids, train these kids, take advantage of these programs, because that is the only way we are going to keep jobs in America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 250, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. I'd also like to thank the Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Mr. McKeon, for his hard work on this legislation. S. 250 will help strengthen and improve career and technical education programs across the country by helping states better utilize federal funding, increasing accountability, emphasizing student academic and technical achievement, and improving coordination between secondary and postsecondary career and technical education.

In today's world, career and technical education is an important component of most any student's education as it helps prepare high school students for either a transition to the workforce or a postsecondary degree. The programs help students begin thinking about different careers of interest, provide opportunities for exploring those career options, and start students down a path toward accomplishing their career goals. Moreover, the program helps students see a connection between the academic subjects in the classroom and the application of that knowledge in the

working world. For many students, this connection is critical to their decision to stay in high school and graduate with a diploma.

I am pleased today to support the conference report on S. 250 and urge my colleagues to vote in favor of its passage. While I would have liked to have seen additional reforms--particularly in the areas of private school and home school participation--this bill represents significant bipartisan agreement in how to strengthen the Perkins program.

It affirms in many ways what career and technical education programs in my district are already doing: ensuring that all career and technical education programs include rigorous and challenging academic courses; offering career and technical programs of study--known as career majors; offering dual enrollment in secondary and postsecondary courses; and permitting private and home school students to participate in career and technical education programs. Additionally, I am pleased that the bill allows for increased funding flexibility at the state level as well as the promotion of state incentive grants to programs with exemplary performance,

Career and technical education is an important part of America's K-12 education system, and I would urge my colleagues to vote in favor of S. 250 today. This legislation will help improve both our education system and our nation's ever-changing economy as students are more prepared to enter either the workforce or some form of post-secondary education following their graduation from a local career and technical education program.

My congressional district has the highest percent manufacturing in America. But even manufacturing is changing. In order to compete with China, India and other worldwide nations the same old approach will not work. We need flexible and creative education programs to complete the needs.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and also thank her for all of her work on this legislation, along with Chairman Boehner and Chairman McKeon and Chairman Castle. And, of course, with the diligent work of our staffs on both sides of the aisle, I think we have crafted a measure that maintains the integrity of the program while responding to the changes in the career and the technical education programs across the country.

While the President has chosen to put forward a proposal to dismantle this critical program, we saw an opportunity to make high school matter for many young people, offer college students pathways into productive employment, and new hope for displaced homemakers and workers reentering the workforce.

The conference report before us signals that we will not retreat on our investment in career education and training. The global economy demands a high skilled workforce, and the Perkins Act, has been instrumental in building today's workforce and the workforce of the future.

Today, these programs are changing in the face of secondary and postsecondary education, and they equip America's workforce with the skills they need to compete in a global economy. More important, career tech programs acknowledge that we must be preparing students and adults for high wage, high skill jobs that exist in this new economy. To do this, however, we need a system that is challenging and academically sound and a system expands the secondary and postsecondary programs, offering students a pathway toward those kinds of careers.

I am pleased that the conference agreement mirrors the recommendations we have heard, that we must pay more attention to math and science and technology to increase our competitiveness. We also know that this is what the high paying jobs require, with these advanced skills.

The conference agreement continues the Tech-Prep program. Tech-Prep has been a model of career and technical education with demonstrated outcomes. In California, students, teachers, and administrators benefit from the connections made between secondary and postsecondary programs, and career and technical programs. Successful Tech-Prep programs offer a challenging and rigorous coursework at the high school level that is coordinated with postsecondary career technical programs. And Tech-Prep students obtain better paying jobs because they have the academic and technical credentials that businesses want for their workforce.

We made important strides in the area of professional development. This conference agreement strengthens the instructional connection between academic and career technical programs. We heard from numerous teachers that successful career tech programs allow academic and vocational teachers to develop curriculums together to teach together so that students can apply the academic content to the real world context.

This conference agreement contains new measures of accountability for career and technical education systems. I do not doubt that some programs may have difficulties in meeting this new system. However, there have been too many programs that have chosen the status quo, to the detriment of our workforce competitiveness. Successful career and technical education programs produce students that outperform their counterparts and make higher wages. We must demand that all programs work toward this same goal. The accountability systems move us in that direction.

I want to point out two other areas where the conference agreement improves upon the House passed bill: Graduation and career plans. Under the agreement, local programs may use Perkins funds to create graduation and career plans for students. These plans can be tools for students and parents to help focus the student on the student's future goals, making sure that the actions that we take will lead to the outcome they desire. And, also, the special populations and nontraditional careers.

The conference agreement also strengthens the provisions, and the gentlewoman from California has been a hawk on these issues for her entire career on this committee, and that is to improve the opportunities for women and men to gain access to nontraditional careers, and ensures that displaced homemakers and individuals with disabilities have access to career and technical education. In this global

economy, we can't afford to waste the potential of any of our people, and these provisions will help ensure that that doesn't happen.

Mr. Chairman, the Perkins Act is a critical workforce development tool, and the bill before us represents a sound career and technical education policy.

I want to thank our staff again for their efforts in bringing this conference agreement together, and I look forward to a quick passage of this conference report. And I also want to comment that this continues a long tradition in this committee where we have been able to work on a bipartisan basis on the most critical education issues confronting this country, both in the development of high performing students and professional individuals and high performing career opportunities for those individuals, and I want to thank all of my colleagues for their efforts on this legislation and urge a passage of this conference report.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 946, I call up the conference report to accompany the Senate bill (S. 250) to amend the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 to improve the Act.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the conference report to accompany S. 250.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this conference report and ask my colleagues to join me in doing the same.

The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act will strengthen and improve career and technical education to help ensure academic success for students, whether they are pursuing postsecondary education or other venues.

Let me begin by recognizing Education Reform Subcommittee Chairman Castle and thanking him for his hard work and commitment to improving educational opportunities for students participating in career and technical education.

In January of 2005, he and our committee's former chairman, Majority Leader Boehner, introduced a bipartisan bill that was overwhelmingly backed by the House. I commend him for his leadership in crafting that reform legislation and for reaching across the aisle in the process. It is because of his work then that we are presenting such a strong conference report to the House today.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank my committee's senior Democrat, Mr. George Miller, for his work and to recognize and thank our additional House conferees, Mr. Souder, Mr. Osborne, Mrs. Musgrave, Ms. Woolsey, and Mr. Kind. Their efforts over the past year have made this conference report a reality.

Career and technical education is fundamental to our efforts to improve academic achievement at all levels so our Nation remains competitive in the face of a rapidly changing global economy. Each year, millions of students enrich their secondary and postsecondary educational opportunities through participation in career and technical education.

Nearly all students, about 97 percent in fact, leave public high school having taken some career and technical education. Furthermore, nearly half of all high school students and one-third of college students are involved in career and technical programs as a major part of their studies.

In short, it is a priority for millions and this conference report honors our commitment to them. The conference report before us will help States better utilize Federal funds for secondary and postsecondary career education programs, increase accountability, and emphasize student achievement and strengthen opportunities for coordination between secondary and postsecondary career and technical education.

In 1998, reforms made to the Perkins Act were aimed at increasing the focus on both technical skills and rigorous academic knowledge and helped us move further away from the school-to-work model. Our goal in this Congress was to build on that success.

Our principles at the outset of this reauthorization effort were straightforward, and I am proud to say that more than a year later, they are unchanged. The pillars of this conference report are: we're maintaining a focus on rigorous student academic and technical achievement; we're protecting the role of States and local communities and asking for results in exchange for the money we are already spending at the Federal level; and we are seeking more opportunities for coordination between secondary and postsecondary career and technical education.

There are growing concerns across the country about the performance level of our high schools. The fundamental question remains, Are we preparing our young people to succeed in a globally competitive world? The legislation before us today helps us address that question, and speaks to the new realities of a changing economy and workplace.

Mr. Speaker, this conference report is a solid piece of reform legislation that is worthy of our support. I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.