“We want America to be the worst place in the world to commit a serious crime, but we also want America to be the best place in the world, once you’ve done your time, to get a second chance,” Vice President Mike Pence said in Jacksonville, Florida, last Friday.
The Vice President joined Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump for a roundtable with Operation New Hope, which for 20 years has been bringing opportunities for a fresh start to people who made the wrong choices early in their lives.
“The reality is that more than 50 percent of the people who leave prison are re-incarcerated within five years,” Vice President Pence said. But President Donald J. Trump’s historic criminal justice reform “now is creating new pathways for educational coursework, vocational training, faith-based programs in our federal prison system. And it’s been supported broadly by law enforcement across this country,” he added.
In Florida and across America, the U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders. That means more jobs are available to help former inmates adjust to life on the outside and become productive members of their communities. It also means more opportunities exist to help all working- and middle-class Americans thrive, regardless of background.
“Worker wages are growing much faster than previously reported,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote this week. Compensation rose 4.5 percent in 2017 and 5 percent last year. In June, wages and salaries grew at an annual rate of 5.5 percent—still an incredible 4.1 percent after accounting for inflation.
“In sum, Americans are earning more and relying less on government,” the editors wrote.
In Jacksonville, Vice President Pence and Ms. Trump toured Miller Electric, a company that embodies what this Trump Economy is all about. In total, Miller Electric has added more than 300 new jobs since early last year. It has also grown its apprenticeship program, which now totals more than 500 people across the country.
American workers and students “of every age, income, and background should have the chance to pursue their dreams and succeed and thrive according to their abilities and their ambitions,” Vice President Pence told the company’s employees. When you look at those growing wages, “they’re actually rising at the fastest rate for hardworking, blue-collar Americans. The forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more.”
The White House’s Pledge to America’s Workers is doubling down on that promise. The initiative launched last summer, aiming to expand workforce training and reskilling opportunities in the United States. Last week, as the Pledge celebrated its one-year anniversary, Ivanka Trump announced the tally: more than 12 million job training opportunities pledged thus far.
The Wall Street Journal: “The 99% Get a Bigger Raise”
Matthew Charles: Thanks to President Trump, “I got my second chance.”
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