Politicians from both parties frequently lament the problem of duplicative, wasteful, ineffective government programs. Yet too often, that’s just campaign talk and the time to actually eliminate that waste and streamline redundant programs never comes.
That’s why it’s worth noting when someone in Congress actual does try to advance the ball in terms of getting rid of duplicative programs and making government actual work better.
Today, the House is expected to consider the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act, which is legislation that would do just that by reforming federal workforce training programs to eliminate waste and redundancy and ensure that the ongoing training programs truly serve their intended beneficiaries.
It would give states and localities more flexibility to tailor their programs to the needs of their area so that people are trained for jobs that actually exist. It would also make sure that private sector job creators and business leaders are involved in crafting and overseeing these initiatives. Again, that’s important because sadly, like too much of our high education system, too many of our current job training programs aren’t geared to the industries that actually need more trained workers.
Americans know that there is a lot of waste in government. The handwringing about cutting the growth of spending—which would mean the government has to—gasp—spend around what was spent last year—through the sequester is frankly embarrassing. We know there is plenty to cut. Redundant, ineffective jobs programs would be a good place to start.