Donald and Ivanka Trump head to Wisconsin for jobs push

— -- President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump are set to travel to Wisconsin Tuesday to join Gov. Scott Walker to tour a technical college, as the administration puts a renewed focus on its goal of job creation.

The trip is just one event in a week full of activities built around promoting technical skills training and apprenticeships.

Dubbing it “workforce development week,” first daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is taking a leading role in the administration’s initiative.

“We're very excited about where we are,” she said. “We’ll be launching a series of initiatives, call on Congress to pass various reforms expanding apprenticeships, and raise awareness about the fact that there are important and very viable and respectable career paths outside of a tradition four-year college experience that should be considered and should be invested in.”

Among the other events of the week, the president is expected to make what the administration is billing as a “major policy speech” at the Department of Labor on Wednesday, in which he’ll lay out steps the administration will take to encourage workforce development and also call for Congressional action. Ivanka Trump will also lead a roundtable with some 15 CEOs.

On Thursday, the president will also host a roundtable discussion, where he will welcome eight governors from states with successful workforce development programs to the White House.

Asked what specific steps the White House will take to create or modify existing federal workforce training programs, a senior administration official said that initiative is still “an ongoing process,” but that the administration is looking to eliminate inefficiencies and make sure federal dollars are effectively spent.

“The problem is not money,” a senior administration official said, noting there are 31 workforce programs spread across 14 different agencies, which total almost $8 billion a year. “The problem is that they haven't been set up in an effective, accountable way. And that's what we'll be addressing -- one of the things we'll be addressing through this initiative.”

A senior administration official said that the administration is looking to learn from successful apprenticeship and skills training programs that already exist in the private sector, and create the conditions for the federal government to encourage those efforts.

“There’s tremendous opportunity to learn from the private sector, but there is a very important government role as well to amplify their effort and make sure that all American businesses and workers can benefit from those learning.”