Ivanka Trump to press Senate on vocational training bill

Ivanka Trump is pushing the Senate to reauthorize a federal law that gives states funding to train students for different trades and technical careers.

The White House said Trump is meeting with Senate Democrats and Republicans this week to reauthorize and update the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.

“The important legislation benefits more than 11 million Americans across the country and is integral to the Administration’s working families and workforce development agenda,” deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement to The Hill.

{mosads}“Thanks to the robust economic environment and historically low unemployment rates, there is a record number of unfilled jobs and we are committed to ensuring current and future American workers have access to the high-quality vocational education needed to secure family sustaining careers and thrive in the modern economy.”

The law, which first passed in 2006, provides states with federal grants for career and technical education programs. 

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, is in negotiations with panel ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on an updated bill. Sens. Michael Enzi (D-Wyo.) and Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) are also part of the talks.

At a hearing last month, Alexander said he’s hoping to hold a markup on reauthorization bill on June 20.

“There are many bills we could vote on, on June the 20, if we reach agreement on the language which will take some cooperation and compromise,” he said. “Hopefully we can apply Sen. Enzi’s 80-20 rule — if we can agree on 80 percent of it we can get the other 20 sometime later.”

Bloomberg reported last month that past negotiations hit a stalemate over how much authority the Education secretary should have in overseeing the programs.

The House passed a reauthorization bill, introduced by Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), in June 2017 by a voice vote.

In a statement to The Hill, Murray said she hopes Senate negotiations continue to move forward in a bipartisan way.

“At a time when many families are struggling to find good paying jobs and many companies are struggling to find skilled workers, there is broad, bipartisan support for the Perkins Career and Technical Education Program—so I certainly hope that a small number of Republicans don’t try to turn this into just another partisan fight,” she said.

“I am ready to get this done, and I know there are a whole lot of Democrats, Republicans and business groups who join me in hoping that we can do this in a bipartisan way.”

–Updated at 7:07 p.m.