HYDE-SMITH, COLLEAGUES SEEK LABOR DEPT. DETAILS ON PLANS TO REPLACE JOB CORPS & WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and several of her Senate Appropriations Committee colleagues today sought details about a Trump budget proposal to terminate workforce training programs, like Job Corps, in favor of a new Make America Skilled Again (MASA) block grant program.
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee that today received testimony from Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer on the FY2026 “skinny” budget request for the U.S. Department of Labor.
Hyde-Smith associated herself with concerns expressed by Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) regarding ramifications for trainees enrolled at Job Corps centers. The “skinny” budget lacks details on how the new MASA program would effectively replace Job Corps and other federal job training programs.
“As with Senator Collins, I’m concerned about the Job Corps center locations in Mississippi closing,” Hyde-Smith said. “Hopefully we will have something to replace those job training programs because it is a great concern. They’re all over the state in Gulfport, Batesville, and Crystal Springs, which is close to where I live. They’re valuable to Mississippi.”
Hyde-Smith has supported the Job Corps programs in Mississippi, including the program in Gulfport that has a partnership with Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding to prepare welders for jobs at the Pascagoula shipyard.
Chavez-DeRemer testified that the Labor Department is reviewing all Job Corps facilities and that the budget request sends a signal that the program is not sustainable over time.
“It’s a 1.7-billion-dollar program with a 38 percent graduation rate when, oftentimes, the cost of almost $50,000 per student,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “So, here’s what I would say: can we imagine together what it’s like to continue to focus on this population throughout the country, and do it better, more responsibly, and protect the American taxpayer because on the outcome we want those tax dollars to be spent in a responsible way.”
In written testimony, the Labor Secretary said the budget proposes giving states and localities “flexibility to spend workforce dollars in the way that makes the most sense for their areas. By consolidating siloed federal job training programs into a single Make America Skilled Again Grant, states and localities will be able to spend more time and money delivering high-quality training for their workers and less time complying with burdensome federal program requirements.”
The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this week received testimony from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy as part of the process to begin crafting the FY2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill.
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