The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.21st Century SKILLS Act (S. 4470)
Last action · June 5, 2024: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.Sponsor: Timothy Kaine
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What This Bill Would Do
This bill proposes changes to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to prioritize job training and supportive services for workers. It introduces new grant structures and funding mechanisms to help individuals access training, including child care and transportation assistance, while emphasizing skills needed for the modern economy.
The bill changes how federal job training funds are distributed and mandates that local boards prioritize low-income individuals and those with basic skills deficiencies for career services.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Local workforce boards
They are responsible for managing the new grant funds, prioritizing specific groups for services, and providing information on apprenticeship programs.
Low-income individuals and public assistance recipients
They receive priority access to career services under the new provisions.
Community colleges and apprenticeship programs
They are identified as eligible providers of training services that workers can access using the new grants.
Key Facts
- Establishes a new system of skills training grants to provide training and supportive services to eligible workers.
- Mandates that local boards prioritize public assistance recipients, low-income individuals, and those with basic skills deficiencies for career services.
- Requires the Secretary of Labor to provide an additional 10% of grant funding to local boards for career services and coordination.
- Mandates that career services be made available to grant recipients outside of traditional working hours.
Show all 8 facts
- Requires local boards to provide information on the costs and availability of pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs compared to other training providers.
- Includes child care and transportation as eligible 'supportive services' funded by the grants.
- Restricts the use of certain existing federal workforce funds to ensure they are specifically directed toward training and supportive services.
- Requires the Secretary of Labor to establish arrangements for local boards to receive advance payments for training and supportive services.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is prioritized for these new training services?
Does this bill provide help with costs like child care?
Will training be available if I work during the day?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
AARP
2026
“P.L. 119-21, One Big Beautiful Bill Act H.R. 8867, Planning for Long-term Aging Needs (PLAN) Act H.R. 5861, Legacy Act of 2025 H.R. 9393, the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act. H.R. 9396, the Prior Authorization Accountability Act. S. 4916, the Aging with Artificial Intelligence Act. H.R. 8100, Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act. S. 3886, Nurses Belong in Nursing Homes Act. H.R. 6766/S. 3492, the Essential Caregivers Act of 2025. H.R. 7966/S. 4118, Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act. S. 2120, the Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2025 H.R. 5575, the Firefighters Assisting Seniors to Emergency Response (FASTER) Act of 2025. H.R. 3954/S. 4641, Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act. H.R.5554/S.2831, Stand Strong for Medicare Act. S. 3439/H.R. 6735, Connecting Caregivers to Medicare Act and efforts related to the bill S. 1227/H.R. 2491, Alleviating Barriers for Caregivers Act S. 668/H.R. 3183, Supporting Access to Falls Education and Prevention and Strengthening Training Efforts and Promoting Safety Initiatives (SAFE STEPS) for Veterans Act of 2025 CMS-1851-P, Hospice Proposed rule. CMS-1843-P, Skilled Nursing Facility Proposed rule. CMS-1844-P, Home Health Proposed rule. No bill number. Health care transparency. No bill number. Discussed use of artificial intelligence and health data technology. No bill number. Discussed health-related policies and activities around the fall respiratory virus season. No bill number. Discussed health insurance affordability proposals. No bill number. Discussed Nursing Home staffing standards, safety, and quality. No bill number. Discussed Nursing home transparency and ownership requirements. No bill number. Discussed home health, hospice, and long-term care. No bill number. Discussed falls prevention. No bill number. Discussed social isolation. No bill number. Discussed HUD Assisted Living Requirements No bill number. Discussed family caregiving. No bill number. Discussed AARP paper on Medicare Caregiver Training Services. No bill number. Discussed Medicaid community engagement interim final rule, including the family caregiver exemption. No bill number. Discussed the paid direct care workforce in long-term care. No bill number. Discussed the unaffordability of long-term care. No bill number. Discussed Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration Program and Medicaid HCBS spousal impoverishment protections. No bill number. Discussed Medicaid fraud and family caregivers, Medicaid self-direction programs. No bill number. Discussed sandwich generation family caregiver hearing and submitted a statement for the record discussing family caregivers and sandwich generation caregivers, programs that support them, AARP caregiving resources, and federal policies to support sandwich generation caregivers and caregivers more broadly. No bill number. Discussed long-term care. No bill number. CMS-2453-NC; Medicaid Program; 2028 Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Quality Measure Set Submitted comments No bill number. Discussed expanding access to home care. No bill number. Discussed the increasing cost of home care No bill number. Discussed HSA use for telehealth chronic care management services/subscriptions. No bill number. Discussed artificial intelligence and technology”
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Shift toward non-traditional hours
The bill mandates that career services be available outside of traditional working hours, a specific policy shift to accommodate working individuals.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.congress.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance65How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy20Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz15Current news / social attention level
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