During Thursday's House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing, Del. James Moylan (R-Guam) questioned Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about apprenticeship programs.
00:00Gentleman from Guam. Mr. Moylan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary.
00:09I appreciate your presence. I'd like to see my classmate there at 180th in Congress and
00:14congratulations. You're doing wonderful. Thank you, Congressman. Let's talk about the Defense
00:19Based Act, DBA. It creates undue financial burdens on American citizens doing business
00:27with the Department of Defense on Guam. There are high costs of doing business on Guam,
00:32the shipping costs, labor costs and all, and this is one other thing that adds to this cost.
00:39DBA requirements add about 25% to operational costs and unnecessary red tape, effectively
00:47blocking out small businesses from defense contracts. We have a lot of small businesses
00:52in Guam, too, and it makes it quite difficult. Historically, DOL exempt Guam from the DBA
00:58requirements up until 2020, when only non-citizens were exempt. Madam Secretary, do you believe
01:06Guam should be exempt from DBA just like the 50 states and D.C.?
01:11Yeah, thank you, Congressman. I'm honored to be here, and I miss you guys. Thank you so much,
01:17again, for the question. Thank you for the call. I know we discussed this in detail, and this is a big concern
01:21for Guam, and I know that my staff has connected with your team on this issue, on this legislation,
01:27on the Defense Base Act, and I do appreciate that you raised it with me. I promise you that I will
01:32commit to looking into this in order to assist Guam in having the most robust economic development
01:37that they can. I appreciate that, and that would certainly help our military build up on Guam.
01:42Absolutely. Thank you. Next question is, Guam is trying to expand its apprenticeship programs into
01:47new sectors, namely those related to emergency technology and telecommunications. Without
01:53additional public financing, what strategies does DOL plan to pursue to ensure the remote and
02:01underserved communities like Guam are equipped with the skills necessary to participate in America's
02:07growing tech economy? Well, as you very well know and have heard most recently, the executive
02:14order by the President is one million apprentices throughout this country. We sit at around 700,000,
02:21give or take 20,000. We've added about 83,000 since January 20th, since the President taking office. So it is my goal to be focused on respective states in order to enhance their apprenticeship program, especially in the tech
02:36tech sector. We have seen that pathways to the middle class careers as apprenticeships can have an average annual salary of about $80,000 if we invest. It has been my focus, through this executive order, high paid, skilled trade jobs. That is going to be key, I believe, for Guam and many other states. And so through the Make America Skilled Again grant funding, 10% of those expenditures have to be
03:05toward apprenticeship activities. So I think if we address all of those in a very succinct order and work hard, because it's going to take hard work, we will get more business investments in the apprenticeship programs within their local communities so we can get those young people into the pipeline and address the economic market demands like you have in Guam.
03:28I appreciate that and that will keep a lot of our workers on Guam. And we need our skilled workers to remain on Guam.
03:35That's right.
03:36And finally, how does DOL aligning its apprenticeship investment programs to meet the goals outlined in the President's Executive Order on restoring America's maritime dominance?
03:47Yes.
03:48And how can the federal government partner with Guam to rebuild America's maritime industries, including ship repair?
03:55Well, you have seen that in the executive order with shipmaking, again, with apprentices. What the President is doing with the on-shoring and reinvestments of tens of trillions of dollars is to address this sector, the manufacturing sector that we have seen decimated really over the last 20 years, where we've seen millions of manufacturing jobs lost.
04:14So it is a dedication from the Department of Labor that we assist the President in doing so in building that apprenticeship program, as well as addressing not only shipbuilding, but many other maritime and other sectors for national security as well.
04:31So, again, we will be working with every state, every congressman in order to address those, and you'll see me in Guam.
04:40I'm glad to hear that. And then, of course, our strategic location, Guam, the maritime and ship repair will be very important for our nation to have that so forward in the Indo-PACOM region.
04:55So, again, I'm looking forward to your visit to Guam. We'll be sure to take you around and you can understand our territory.
05:03Thank you so much, Madam Secretary.
05:05Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
05:07I thank the gentleman for his excellent example of efficient questioning and timekeeping.
