West Wing Update 06/25/19 Trump Administration’s Industry-Recognized Apprenticeships Will Keep America Working “Through the White House’s Pledge to America’s Workers, job creators around the nation have committed to nearly 10 million training, up-skilling or re-skilling opportunities for American students and workers. Our thriving job market brings with it new challenges, however,” Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta write in the Miami Herald. “Our economy has 7.4 million open jobs, and for 14 months in a row it has had more job openings than job seekers. As businesses look to fill these jobs, we have an obligation to look for new ways to empower America’s workforce with the in-demand skills that employers need,” they write.   “That is why the Trump administration is proposing a second apprenticeship model: the Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship . . . This program would enable industries to come together through associations, consortia, nonprofits and other mechanisms to offer skills education to American students and workers.” Click here to read more.  “This month, the Trump administration served as a catalyst for perhaps the largest criminal justice public-private-partnership ever assembled, jobs for formerly incarcerated people as they reenter society,” John Koufos writes in Fox News. “As a former prisoner myself, this initiative is personal to me . . . Virtually all of my cellmates wanted the dignity of work, so they could support themselves and their families, reunify with their families, and restore their self-worth.” President Trump “understands this challenge and is working to promote second chance hiring to ensure inmates have opportunities to succeed after they have paid their debt to society,” Koufos says.  “Mexico has deployed almost 15,000 troops to the US-Mexico border, according to the country's Secretary of Defense Luis Sandoval,” Tatiana Arias reports for CNN. “Many migrants begin their journey in Central America and even further south, passing through Mexico on their way toward the United States. The deployments come after renewed pressure from the Trump administration on Mexico to help slow migration flows northward.”  “President Trump on Monday signed an executive order demanding the upfront disclosure by hospitals of the actual prices for common tests and procedures,” Andrew O’Reilly reports for Fox News. “Lack of information on health care prices is a widespread problem. It's confusing for patients, and experts say it's also one of the major factors that push up U.S. costs.” Yesterday’s move is part of the President’s agenda to put American patients first.