mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding me this time , and i rise to oppose this rule to h.r. 27 , the workforce investment act . 
the gentleman from ohio , the chairman of the committee on which i serve , is correct . 
the workforce investment act has been successful . 
the renewal that is proposed to us today , however , is a step backwards ; and we will hear a great deal about that . 
there were amendments that were proposed that have not been made in order . 
these amendments would have created a separate authorization for infrastructure funding for one-stop centers , would have struck the provisions regarding personal reemployment accounts . 
there was an amendment that would have struck the provisions to consolidate the funding of adult , dislocated worker and employment service ; and an amendment that i would like to address at this moment that i offered that would have increased the authorization by $ 750 million for job training programs under the workforce investment act . 
between fiscal year 2002 and fiscal year 2006 , mr. speaker , funding for the workforce investment act has been reduced by three-quarters of a billion dollars . 
this is for a program that works . 
but the funding has been reduced . 
my amendment would have restored this funding . 
however , the committee on rules did not see fit to accept the amendment . 
at a time when there are 7.7 million people unemployed , not counting those who have fallen off the rolls , 4.5 million working part-time because they can not find a full-time job that they need , we should be doing more . 
through the one-stop delivery system , job seekers have access to labor market information , job counseling , and job training to help them get back on their feet . 
back in 1998 when this bill , this program , was first passed , david broder wrote an article . 
he said : when senator paul wellstone walked off the floor arm in arm with senator mike dewine of ohio , bipartisan i should point out , paul wellstone said , `` mike , this may not be the lead story on the network news , but it 's a good piece of work. '' well , indeed it was not the lead story on the network news . 
david broder reports , it was hard to find a trace of their bill . 
the news at that time was overwhelmed , overtaken by scandals . 
but as says broder , in communities less consumed by scandal than washington , the impact of the measure that dewine and wellstone and others had fashioned may be felt in real lives long after the memories of the scandals have faded . 
in a dynamic economy where technological changes and market shifts are forcing layoffs of some people even as other jobs are being created , the key is to equip workers with needed skills and then link them efficiently to the vacancies . 
that is what this legislation is intended to do . 
it should be authorized at a greater amount . 
said broder back then , the workers will never know the names of the legislators , but they are in their debt . 
unfortunately , the workers who do not get to take advantage of this program because it is underfunded will never know what they have missed , and we have let them down . 
we should oppose this rule , mr. speaker . 
