Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) visited the Enzweiler Building Institute in Latonia on Tuesday to learn about the institute’s programming, extol the virtues of trades education, and discuss his political platform.
“These are good jobs,” Paul said. “A welder, a plumber, a carpenter, HVAC: All these are great jobs, leaving you solidly in the middle class of our country.”
He said that gaining a skill and starting a business could land students of places like Enzweiler, a handful of whom were in the room observing the senator’s talk, into comfortable lifestyles with high incomes.
“If you excel and you become a business owner, and you have five welders, and you have five carpenters working for you; really, these are significant jobs, and you can really succeed and will do well,” Paul said.
Shortly after beginning his talk, Paul began discussing his political philosophy and platform. He discussed increasing housing prices in the region as well as other forms of inflation, putting the responsibility for these economic phenomena squarely on the back of government spending.
“The price of houses goes up because the value of the dollar goes down,” Paul said. “So your dollar doesn’t buy as much of the grocery store, either. Why? Why is the dollar losing its value? Because people in government–not me, but some in government–are spending money we don’t have. We run a deficit.”
Brian Miller, the executive vice president for the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, also discussed legislative efforts that professional organizations like his had lobbied for that would reduce the amount of required hours necessary for trades credentialing and extend federal financial aid, such as Pell Grants, to shorter-term trades education than is currently allowed.
Other power players from around the region were in the room, including Covington’s Mayor Joe Meyer and representatives from local developers and nonprofits.
Classes at the Covington branch of the institute began last year. The organization, which also has a location in Erlanger, trains students in common trades and crafts programs, including plumbing, welding, carpentry and masonry, among others. It also offers classes in heritage trades, skills needed to preserve and restore old, historic buildings, through coursework offered in partnership with the Covington Academy of Heritage Trades.
Meyer described the history of the institute in Covington and the city’s efforts to invigorate trades education.
“As a city we looked around, and we wanted to provide a variety of programs that give people who live in our community the opportunity for success in life,” Meyer said, “and, to me, the low hanging fruit are the construction trades… What Senator Rand said is absolutely true. The trades are not closed-ended; they’re open-ended.”
He pointed to well-known local home developers, like Fisher and Drees, and discussed how their founders often got their starts in the trades.
“You can wind up owning the largest home building company in this section of the United States,” Meyer said.
Miller gave Paul a tour of the facility and its programs after the talk, describing each program as he went.
“We used to get calls from employers that said, ‘Give me one of your graduating students.'” Miller said. “We always had to ask them, for what? They all happen to have jobs. About the time they walk through here, they’re connected with them, and while we’re not an employment agency, we almost act as one because the employers need folks so much.”
