The Division of Labor (DOL) introduced this week it would pause operations at Job Corps facilities nationwide, a transfer that has already gotten pushback from either side of the aisle on Capitol Hill.
The division stated Thursday it would start a “phased pause” initiating “an orderly transition for students, staff, and local communities.” The pause will happen by June 30, the workplace stated.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer stated this system has been discovered to now not obtain “the intended outcomes that students deserve,” citing what she described as “a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis.”
“We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program’s possibilities.”
Job Corps, established as a part of the Financial Alternative Act of 1964, is a free residential training and job coaching program for low-income folks between 16 and 24 years of age.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) defended this system in a press release expressing robust opposition to the DOL’s transfer to pause operations.
“Serving nearly 500 students in Maine, the Loring Job Corps Center and the Penobscot Job Corps Center have become important pillars of support for some of our most disadvantaged young adults,” Collins stated in a press release.
“That’s why at an Appropriations hearing just last week, I urged Secretary Chavez-DeRemer to resume enrollment at Maine’s two Job Corps centers and to reverse the Department’s proposed elimination of the Job Corps program,” she continued, including that, whereas atop the funding committee, she is going to “continue to work to support this valuable program.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), the highest Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees annual DOL funding, additionally known as the step by the Trump administration one “within the improper course, exacerbating our state’s workforce scarcity, locking college students out of good-paying jobs, and hurting our Made in Wisconsin financial system and companies who depend on expert employees to compete and develop.”
“Congress appropriated funding for Job Corps, and the Trump Administration can’t just decide to not spend it because they want to make room for tax cuts for billionaires,” she stated in a press release on Friday.
The division famous its choice to droop operations aligns with President Trump’s fiscal yr 2026 price range proposal and pointed to what it known as “significant financial challenges” confronted by this system.
It’s the newest occasion of the administration drawing criticism from high appropriators in Congress because it continues a sweeping operation geared toward chopping prices and shrinking the scale of presidency.
