mr. speaker , the gentlewoman from tennessee ( mrs. blackburn ) xz4000320 is so eloquent in her words about freedom and the economy and what makes this country great . 
we have the healthiest economy in the world , and i want to build on the things that my colleagues have said . 
the reason we have the healthiest economy in the world is because we are the freest people in the world . 
i agree with what the president has been saying . 
if we want to see a good world , we want to see people have all of the rights and privileges , we are going to see freedom throughout the world and we are going to see growing economies . 
as again the gentlewoman from tennessee ( mrs. blackburn ) xz4000320 said , job creation was up in 48 of the 50 states last year , and unemployment was down in all regions . 
i want to talk a little bit about the job training improvement act which is going to be voted on here tomorrow . 
the committee on education and the workforce has passed it out of our committee after a great deal of debate . 
h.r. 27 is called strengthening america 's job training system . 
it builds on the significant reforms made in the bipartisan workforce investment act improvements that were enacted in 1998 . 
while those reforms have provided workers with resources and tools necessary to rejoin the workforce or retrain for better jobs , there were still areas of inefficiency and duplication that were remaining . 
what h.r. 27 is going to do , among other things , is eliminate duplication and waste . 
it consolidates three adult job training programs into one consolidated adult funding stream to streamline program administration and reduce inefficiency at the state and local level . 
this change will enable more job seekers to be served with no reduction in services . 
last week we talked a lot about inefficiency and waste , and this is another one of the ways that we are going to do that . 
we are going to ensure our one-stop delivery system is demand driven . 
we are going to remove barriers to job training . 
the bill eliminates arbitrary provisions of current law that prevent someone from accessing training immediately if appropriate to meet his or her employment goals . 
state and local areas will have the flexibility to tailor services to meet individual needs , and that is so important to us as we drive down the decisionmaking to the local level . 
the bill is also going to protect the rights of faith-based groups to help train and retrain workers . 
the bill protects the rights of faith-based groups willing to participate in the nation 's job training system . 
the landmark 1964 civil rights act makes clear that faith-based groups have the right to hire workers on a religious basis , and that such hiring practices do not constitute discrimination . 
former president clinton signed a number of major laws upholding this right . 
we are going to strengthen partnerships between businesses and job-training service providers . 
we are going to improve adult education and enhance vocational rehabilitation . 
the bill includes a number of provisions designed to strengthen the 1973 rehabilitation act in a continuing effort to help individuals with disabilities become employable and achieve full integration . 
i want to make a comment about a wonderfully significant thing that happened in the fifth congressional district last week related to increasing jobs , and that was that dell manufacturing broke ground for a $ 100 million plant in forsythe county . 
that plant is dell 's largest anywhere , 527 , 000 square feet . 
they are going to hire 700 people in the first year . 
workers are going to assemble two of dell 's desktop models , the dimension and the optiplex , in the new plant . 
the jobs there are going to pay an average of $ 27 , 000 . 
we are about 2 weeks away from the start of a process where people can express interest in being hired for the first 200-250 jobs , then dell will hire another 500 people . 
most of these will be people from the fifth congressional district . 
we are so excited to have dell manufacturing in forsythe county . 
again , i think this is an indication that the policies of this president and the policies of this congress are working in terms of reducing taxes and making our south a very good place to bring new jobs . 
