Remarks by the Vice President on Expanding Registered Apprenticeship Programs, Creating Good-Paying Union Jobs, and Advancing Economic Opportunity in Madison, Wisconsin

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. And to our Labor Secretary, thank you so very much for your work.

So, it's great to be back in Madison.

Mayor, I want to thank you for your leadership. And thanks for greeting me on the tarmac and riding over with me.

The work that is happening here really is a wonderful example of so many of our administration's priorities, including the important collaboration between us at the federal level and leaders at the local level, like the mayor of Madison, because this work that we see behind us is a function of that partnership around how we can get federal dollars out to local governments and local communities in a way that they, then, invest in the talent of the community. And so, it is an example, then, of partnership.

It is also an example of the fact that when we invest in the American people, including the American worker, everyone benefits.

So, the apprentices that we have been talking with today, they are highly skilled. They're involved in -- in very hardcore education that is about understanding technology, understanding math, understanding what we need to do to integrate technology with traditional work that is about building infrastructure. They are doing these programs around the clock.

Apprenticeship programs for labor and -- and union apprenticeship programs also pay their apprentices while they're in the program, which means that people don't have to worry about whether they have to borrow money in order to receive an education that is for the benefit of the community and its productivity.

These apprentices are -- some of them -- right out of high school. One young gentleman that I spoke with, he decided to join the apprentice because he had a new baby -- a son -- and wanted to make sure that he was on a path that was about not only a job but a career.

So, I say all that to say that this is another example of also the partnership between our administration and unions, around the apprenticeship programs that they create for young people to enter a profession, enter a career that means a very high quality of life for themselves and their families.

All of that to say, today, one of the announcements that we are making and the President has made in Washington is that we have now issued -- and the President has issued -- an executive order, an EO, that will direct federal agencies to explore what federal jobs we have that can be filled by the highly skilled folks who work -- who have been trained in apprenticeship programs and not just giving these jobs only to people with a four-year college degree.

This is very important because what we have demonstrated with so much of the apprenticeship work that is happening as we invest in America and rebuild America's infrastructure -- again, I will repeat -- is that they are learning skills that are about engineering and technology. They are learning skills that is about complex math and science.

And these are the kinds of skills that we need in a variety of jobs that are not only in -- and are in addition to the work that we're doing to rebuild America's infrastructure.

So, I am very proud to be here with these leaders and with these incredible, skilled -- highly skilled people who are part of a profession that is about building up our communities.

And, Mayor, I'm going to let you talk a little bit more about what's happening at this facility. But I want to applaud your work, because she has made it as part of her agenda of leadership to invest in public transit.

And she -- the work she is doing here in Madison is really an example of what can happen in local communities around the country, which is to invest in the infrastructure, do the public-private partnership, do the partnership with the federal government, and expand public transit in a way that will be to the benefit of all working people in her city but everywhere in terms of the model that you are providing.

So, with that, I would like to introduce the mayor of Madison.

Thank you.