WIOA Reauthorization/Trump Announces DOL Secretary Nominee
Washington Update
WIOA Reauthorization
On Thursday, November 21, House and Senate authorizing committee staff announced that they had reached agreement on Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reauthorization legislation and provided stakeholders with a high-level overview of the compromise bill. A bill summary and text were released on Monday, November 25.
Staffers will begin “hotlining” the bill in the Senate on Monday, November 30. This process involves polling senators for any objections to the bill. While the bill is bipartisan, it remains close to the House-passed A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA) and maintains many provisions that mayors and the local workforce system oppose including the training mandate for adult and dislocated worker formula funds, Local Workforce Development Area (LWDA) redesignation and single state designations, and increased state set-aside funding.
The path forward for the bill is not clear, although even without substantial objections during the hotlining process, the time to pass a bill in both chambers before the end of the year is short. USCM continues to work with House and Senate staff and leadership to address local concerns in reauthorization.
Click here to access the bill summary.
Click here to access the bill text.
President-Elect Trump Cabinet: DOL and Department of Education
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated outgoing Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR) for U.S. Department of Labor Secretary, a nomination that has already seen both praise and criticism. Chavez-DeRemer, who narrowly lost her reelection bid earlier this month, is a notable departure from traditional GOP labor picks due to her pro-union stances. She is one of only three House Republicans to support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a labor reform bill that would strengthen collective bargaining rights, and she co-sponsored legislation expanding bargaining rights for public safety workers. Her record has earned endorsements from several Oregon unions, including strong backing from Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who advocated for her nomination.
Despite this union support, Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination has sparked pushback from conservative groups like the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which represents employers opposing the PRO Act. They argue the legislation threatens secret ballot protections and restricts independent contracting, key tenets of the GOP’s pro-business platform. Business-friendly Republicans, including Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (LA), have raised concerns about her labor positions, signaling a contentious confirmation process.
Meanwhile, Trump’s pick for U.S. Department of Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, reflects a focus on workforce development over traditional education policy. Known for championing alternatives to four-year college degrees, McMahon has prioritized expanding apprenticeships and extending Pell Grant eligibility to short-term training programs. As chair of the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute, she has also opposed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education, advocated for reducing foreign influence at universities, and criticized K-12 schools for allegedly promoting “gender confusion.”
These nominations reflect a shift in Trump’s cabinet picks aimed at appealing to his working-class voters, emphasizing labor and education policies that resonate more with his base. Chavez-DeRemer’s union-friendly record and McMahon’s workforce-focused agenda align with Trump’s effort to solidify support among blue-collar Americans.
Appropriations
When Congress reconvenes after Thanksgiving, lawmakers will have less than three weeks before the government funding deadline on Friday, December 20. With such little time, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (LA) is looking towards a short-term spending measure that would likely go into January 2025. President-elect Trump consistently stated during his campaign he intends to cut education spending in half. Republican appropriators have indicated that their approach to FY25 funding — whether through a short-term continuing resolution or a fully enacted budget — will align with the president's priorities. The House has yet to consider the bill to fund the Department of Education on the full House floor. The GOP-led Labor-HHS-Education proposal allocates approximately $72 billion for the Department of Education — $11 billion less than the FY24 budget. The plan would eliminate 17 programs, including funding for English language learners and teacher training under Title II-A. It also proposes significant cuts to other areas, such as a $4.7 billion reduction in Title I grants for schools serving low-income students and a $10 million cut to the Office for Civil Rights.
In the White House’s nearly $100 billion emergency funding request, the administration requested $1 billion for two Department of Education grant programs — Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations and the Emergency Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education. In the coming weeks, top lawmakers anticipate finalizing a bipartisan bill that would address several of the White House's priorities. Disaster aid could potentially be included in either a short-term funding measure or a comprehensive spending package ahead of the December 20 government shutdown deadline.
Pell Grants
The push to expand Pell Grants for short-term education programs remains a key priority and could still advance in the lame duck. House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (NC) continues to advocate for the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, which would allow students to use Pell Grants for workforce education programs as short as eight weeks. Currently, Pell Grants are restricted to programs lasting at least 15 weeks.
Despite an earlier attempt to attach the measure to the stalled National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA), Foxx has expressed optimism about moving the bill forward, stating her commitment to pursuing "any available path" for passage. The bill received bipartisan support in committee last December but has faced opposition from higher education groups and the nation’s largest teachers union. If the legislation does not pass this Congress, it is expected to resurface in the next. Both Congressmen Burgess Owens (UT) and Tim Walberg (MI), current contenders to chair the committee in the 119th Congress, support the initiative, emphasizing the importance of providing students with diverse educational pathways, including certification and apprenticeship programs that address workforce needs.
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, has also championed the expansion of Pell Grants for short-term workforce programs. In an opinion piece earlier this year, McMahon criticized traditional degree programs for being outdated and called for educational systems to offer flexible pathways to economic opportunity beyond four-year degrees.
Returning Education to Our States Act
On Thursday, November 21, Senator Mike Rounds (SD) introduced the Returning Education to Our States Act (S. 5384), which aims to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and redistribute its functions across multiple federal agencies. Citing the department's ineffectiveness, Rounds expressed readiness to collaborate with President-elect Trump and Republican majorities in Congress to advance the proposal.
The bill outlines a plan to eliminate the department by transferring its programs to agencies better aligned with their missions. Under the proposal, Pell Grants and federal student aid would fall under the Treasury Department, tribal and Native American education programs would move to the Interior Department, and special education programs would be overseen by Health and Human Services. Career and technical education programs would shift to the Department of Labor, while the State Department would assume responsibility for the Fulbright-Hays Program.
Rounds, who has been pursuing the goal of eliminating the Department of Education “for years,” emphasized the importance of realigning these programs to ensure they are managed more effectively, stating that it is "long past time to end this bureaucratic department that causes more harm than good."
Click here to read the full press release.
Click here to access the legislation.
Farm Bill
Lawmakers are shifting their focus from passing a new Farm Bill to negotiating a one-year extension of the current 2018 authorization. This move comes as key farm bill commodity programs face a policy lapse on January 1. Agriculture lawmakers are considering attaching the extension to year-end government funding legislation or another must-pass bill to ensure continuity.
Senate HELP Committee
On Friday, November 22, current Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (VT) said he intends to stay on as ranking member of the committee next congress. He also stated 12he would serve on the Senate Finance Committee, eliciting a response from Senator Chuck Schumer’s (NY) office saying that such assignments are not yet finalized.
Initial Jobless Claims
In the week ending November 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 213,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 217,000 to 219,000. The 4-week moving average was 217,750, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 221,000 to 221,500. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3 percent for the week ending November 9, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate.
Click here to access the report.
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