Participants in a welding program for minimum security inmates are pictured Oct. 7, 2024, at Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)
WASHINGTON – Inside President Donald Trump’s modern budget request is a plan that could dramatically change – and, critics say, drastically reduce – how much money and aid states provide to people who need jobs and training.
Trumps current budget proposes a federal “Make America Skilled Again” grant that would combine a dozen current programs and provide $3.4 billion in spending for certain employment and training programs, up from the $4.65 billion expected this fiscal year.
The president’s plan would fund block or general grants to states, which could then adjust spending based on employment and training needs.
The budget proposal does not contain a precise formula for how and where the money will be distributed, other than the requirement that at least 10% be spent on a training program and 3% on innovation. The Secretary of the Department of Labor could also reserve up to 0.75% for “program stewardship” and technical support.
Republicans in Congress are pushing other ways to fund and, in some cases, overhaul federal jobs programs, but have shown little interest in Trump’s MASA proposal, which was also included in his proposal Budget request last year.
The Trump plan
The MASA initiative is another in a series of administrative initiatives aimed at streamlining the administrative costs of vocational training programs and making them more responsive to changes in the workplace.
The Labor Department referred questions about the plan to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not respond to questions.
At the National Skills Coalition, a skills-based education advocacy group, Megan Evans saw the MASA effort as a way to make deep cuts that ultimately hurt workers and employers, she said in an interview.
“The government says it is trying to rationalize,” said Evans, the coalition’s senior government affairs manager. “But in reality it is a combination of deep cuts with risky consolidations and rollbacks.”
The White House released one last year detailed report and a video about its strategy outlining how “workforce programs across agencies are fragmented, choked by bureaucracy, and too often misaligned with the skills employers need.”
These issues, it said, “pose particular risks as the United States advances a bold reindustrialization agenda and manages the transformative impact of AI (artificial intelligence) on the workforce.”
In the household published this monthThe administration called the program, along with several other programs, including tax cuts passed last year, “an important part of the administration’s strategy to meet growing demand for skilled trades and other occupations.”
Changes in obtaining money and aid
While MASA aims to reduce administrative costs, a long-sought goal of administrators across the country, popular programs would be consolidated under the block grant, including several with robust constituencies.
These include adult training and employment programs, youth training and employment, the Department of Labor’s ex-offender rehabilitation program, Native American programs, and others.
The National Skills Coalition saw difficulty in combining these programs into a single grant.
“These programs were not created in a vacuum,” one said Blog post last year. “They each serve different populations.”
Their merger would “make it harder for people to access education that fits their lives and needs,” the group said.
There were also doubts about whether flat-rate grants would actually be more effective.
“Combining multiple workforce programs into a single grant makes it significantly more difficult to track program outcomes, monitor equity, and assess whether specific populations – such as veterans, youth, people with disabilities, or formerly incarcerated people – are being effectively supported,” the coalition said
Some state and local officials share the concern.
“Washington state is already facing significant budget shortfalls, and this proposal would widen that gap,” said Marisol Tapia Hopper, director of strategic partnerships and financing at the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County.
She said that combining the programs into a flat grant “reduces investment in the workforce and applies a one-size-fits-all approach to a system that is already chronically underfunded.”
The National Governors Association, a nonpartisan group that includes all of the country’s governors, has not taken a position on the proposal.
“Workforce training is a bipartisan priority for governors,” said Jack Porter, NGA program director for workforce development and economic policy.
“Federal support is critical to implementing effective workforce programs, but the federally funded workforce system in its current form involves a lot of bureaucracy that diverts time and focus from the goal of providing training to workers,” he said.
Congressional reluctance
Congress showed little enthusiasm for government consolidation.
Earlier this month, the Republican-led Education and Labor Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives proposed a proposal a comprehensive vocational training plan.
His ideas include providing resources for workplace learning and strengthening the system that holds state and local employment agencies accountable for “delivering positive outcomes for workers and job seekers.”
The bill would require adult education programs to be administered by the Department of Labor. The aim would be to “combine adult education with apprenticeships, industry partnerships and employer-led training, particularly as artificial intelligence reshapes skills requirements.”
Included in the legislation, which a committee spokeswoman said is clearly “consistent with the broad goals proposed in the President’s budget,” is a “Make America Skilled Again” pilot program.
It would allow states to apply for the combination of different workforce funding streams and then spend them on programs that best meet their needs.
The bill, committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said in a statement, “modernizes a struggling and underutilized workforce development system and implements reforms that improve participant outcomes and ensure greater accountability for taxpayer dollars.”
In the U.S. Senate, Republicans have begun pushing changes that would make it easier for people to access current programs.
The Republican Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s goal is to “increase Americans’ access to employment opportunities by reducing bureaucracy, increasing flexibility and modernizing the work system.”
The goal The aim is to create central contact points where people can find out about jobs and training. The measure would “help Nebraskans find great jobs more efficiently,” said Sen. Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican who co-sponsored the bill.
Season of spending bills
At the moment, Democrats and Republicans seem deadlocked about how to proceed. The House Budget Committee plans to write June Labor Spending Bill. The Senate has not announced a timetable.
The partisan lines form.
The Trump labor budget “attacks workers and small businesses by undermining the Labor Department’s workforce development programs,” Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the top Democrat on the House labor panel, said in a statement.
Without the specific programs, he said, “many workers will struggle to provide for their families.”
Walberg sees the need for a major change.
“The world of work is evolving rapidly and legislation passed over a decade ago no longer meets today’s needs,” he said.
