WASHINGTON (AP) — A House Republican plan to make it easier for job seekers to learn skills by consolidating dozens of sometimes redundant job training programs is meeting resistance from Democrats who say it could leave some without critical assistance.

The House on Friday was expected to pass what Republicans call the SKILLS Act on a mainly party-line vote. It would then head for the Senate, where the Democratic majority would likely take a different approach to the issue.

There's widespread agreement that the current federal job training system is inefficient, with too many agencies involved and too many overlapping programs. President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address last year, said he wanted to "cut through the maze of confusing training programs" so people have a direct path to the help they require.