mr. chairman , i appreciate the opportunity to speak again on this , and i am astounded , frankly , at the level of misinformation that is coming from the other side . 
i think it is important to look at the bill specifically as it defines youth . 
the definition of youth has changed . 
the age for when an individual is considered a youth has changed . 
currently it is 14 to 21 years . 
in the bill , it would change it from 16 to 24 years . 
what that means is that we have more individuals out of school , out of school , who require assistance . 
and that is one of the reasons the provision is in the bill to change it , so that more individuals out of school will have greater opportunity to access those monies . 
it is also important to appreciate this is a department of labor program . 
the department of education has a phenomenal number of programs eligible for in-school youth that really dwarfs the amount of money for the out-of-school individuals , 15 to 1 by my count . 
some of those programs are title i grants to improve education for the disadvantaged , neglected and delinquent grants to local educational agencies , 21st century learning centers , safe and drug-free schools and community state grants , bilingual education instructional services , dropout prevention grants , and on and on and on , striving readers grant and vocational technical education . 
in summary , no one , no one is decreasing the amount of money to in-school youth for the concerns and the issues that they have . 
what we are doing is making it so that this bill addresses those individuals that are most in need . 
