{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-introduces-bill-to-overhaul-workforce-education", "Cotton Introduces Bill to Overhaul Workforce Education", "2025-10-08", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nOctober 8, 2025\n\nCotton Introduces Bill to Overhaul Workforce Education\n\nWashington, DC \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the American Workforce Act, legislation that would overhaul workforce education. Funding from the bill would provide training vouchers to pay for education programs designed by employers.\n\n\u201cFor decades, the federal government has spent billions of dollars propping up bloated colleges that serve a minority of our citizens\u2014and recently, have let antisemitic and anti-American ideas flourish. Meanwhile, the majority of Americans who don\u2019t go to college are left behind. My bill will right that wrong by investing heavily in a new workforce education strategy to help working Americans get ahead,\u201d said Senator Cotton.\n\nText of the bill can be found here.\n\nThe American Workforce Act would:\n\nCreate a $9,000 federal voucher available to prospective \u201ctrainees,\u201d defined as any citizen with a high school degree/GED, but without a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.\n\nOffer an additional $1,000 bonus to employers for each trainee that is hired after completion of the workforce training program.\n\nRequire participating employers to provide training for positions paid at least 80% of the local median household income.\n\nAllow the voucher to subsidize employer-led workforce training that offers a full time, paid position combing on-the-job experience and skilled workforce training.\n\nGive employers wide flexibility to build their own training programs or delegate the training to a valid third-party entity, such as a trade association, community college, high school, non-profit, or union.\n\nRequire E-Verify at participating employers.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-introduces-bill-to-overhaul-workforce-education"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7630789186805487, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}