Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Labor.
Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies
2025-05-22
Source: Congress.gov
Summary
The Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the Trump administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Department of Labor, examining proposed cuts to workforce development programs, including funding reductions for Job Corps and apprenticeships. Key issues discussed include the administration's plan to consolidate workforce training under a 'Make America Skilled Again' block grant, concerns over eliminating programs that support vulnerable populations like at-risk youth, and the elimination of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Witnesses, including Secretary Lori Trahan, defended the administration's worker-first approach, citing efforts to modernize apprenticeships and strengthen labor enforcement. However, lawmakers raised alarms over reduced staff, cuts to critical worker protections, and unexplained program closures, including at Job Corps centers in Maine and Mississippi. The hearing also highlighted bipartisan support for apprenticeships and concerns about childcare affordability as barriers to workforce participation, with calls for greater collaboration between federal agencies and states to address labor market needs.
Participants
Transcript
Good morning, Madam Secretary, and thank you for being here today to testify for the President's fiscal budget, 2026 budget request for the Department of Labor. Thank you for being here. I'm pleased, as always, to be joined by Senator Baldwin, the ranking member of the subcommittee. We've worked together for several years now, and I'm happy to have Susan Collins, our chair of our full committee. will be joining us later today. So, following four years of spending under the Biden administration, President Trump is taking steps to rein in our bloated bureaucracy and ensure that taxpayers' dollars are well spent. The department's request proposes to reduce funding for the agency by $4.6 billion, a decrease of nearly 35%. We look forward to hearing your testimony and discussing in greater detail your priorities, new proposals, and programs you think we should consider scaling back. This month, we continue to receive good news about the strength of the American economy. Our economy has added jobs every month since President Trump took office, and the unemployment rate has remained steady this past month at 4.2 percent. However, millions of Americans are still underemployed or have stopped looking for work altogether. We need to make sure that Americans have access to training programs, especially those that provide on-the-job training and those focused in high-demand jobs, which in West Virginia includes important industries like coal mining and healthcare. I'd like to see the department take innovative approaches to expanding, and you and I have talked about this, apprenticeship opportunities to new programs and fields, as a lot of worthy apprenticeship opportunities don't fit the current registered apprenticeship mold. I'm interested in hearing more about how the Make America Skilled Again grant program will increase flexibility and improve outcomes for workers looking to upscale and advance their careers. I've also been a longtime champion of expanding and strengthening the early childhood education workforce through apprenticeships. Giving our educators a clear pathway to successful careers opens the door to higher quality and better coverage of care, but also helping both our families and childcare workers throughout the states.
Having a highly skilled workforce is critical, but it's only half the equation. We must also continue to have common sense solutions to create an economic environment where businesses can thrive and create those good, well-paying jobs. I've been pleased to see this administration take steps to rein in unnecessary regulatory burdens that make it harder for businesses to create jobs. Earlier this month, the Department of Labor announced it will no longer enforce the Biden administration's independent contract rule. which jeopardized the ability of as many as 70 million freelancers, rideshare drivers, and other independent workers to earn a living in a way that best fits their needs and schedules. This rule would take away the freedom for West Virginia real estate agents, truck drivers, freelance writers, and other self-employed workers to choose their own hours and work around other life priorities like going back to school or raising their children. I hope to see this administration continue to remove bureaucratic red tape to allow companies to expand their workforce, grow their businesses, and show their employees how much they're valued in a growing economy. However, to be clear, not all regulations are bad. It is important to have appropriate protections to place to keep hardworking Americans, including our miners, safe. West Virginia is the second largest producer of coal in this country. For generations, coal miners in West Virginia have helped keep the lights on across the country. We built the country. But doing so has sometimes come at a great price. In the last couple decades, West Virginia has experienced major mining tragedies at the Upper Big Branch Mine and Sago Mine, which claimed 29 and 12-9 lives, respectively. I hope to hear more about the administration's plan to ensure that their workplaces are safe and that our workers are able to return home to their loved ones at the end of the day. Secretary Chavez de Riemer, as the fiscal year 26 appropriations process moves forward, I know we'll continue to work together to address priorities and find common ground on how to best responsibly allocate our taxpayers' resources.
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Unknown (SPEAKER_06)
Yet we have barely a page of information on the budget proposal less than five months before the start of the new fiscal year. What the administration has chosen to highlight in that one page is the establishment of a Make America Skilled Again block grant. A central element of that block grant is cutting funding for the department's workforce development programs by roughly half. This is a theme of this administration, slash programs that Congress created on a bipartisan basis for Americans, put a slogan on it, and say without any evidence great things will happen. This administration talks loudly about supporting and protecting American workers, but its actions are telling a very different story. Its chaotic tariff policies will mean fewer high-skilled jobs while increasing costs for workers. These cuts in this budget request would mean fewer opportunities for workers to gain the skills they need for good and high-paying jobs. The budget request for a new Make America Skilled Again program argues that it will promote the full range of post-secondary education and training options. Secretary Chavez de Reimer, if that were really the goal, I would be right there with you. I have long fought to boost trade schools, career and technical education, apprenticeships, and any proven pathway that gives people opportunities and a chance to succeed.
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