During a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) ) questioned Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about apprenticeship programs.
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00:00I thank the gentleman. I recognize the gentleman from New York. Mr. Manion for
00:06your five minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary,
00:09Madam Secretary, for joining us today and appreciate the opportunity to hear
00:14from you about the changes occurring at the Department of Labor as well as your
00:19budget request of fiscal year 26. Under this administration, the country, meaning
00:25many of our small business owners and our workers, have faced significant
00:28economic uncertainty and, as a result, labor market fluctuations. Chaotic trade
00:34policy, mass layoffs, anti-union efforts, and abrupt terminations of important
00:40federal-funded programs have negatively impacted nearly all communities and
00:47industries. In your budget request, if enacted by Congress, could add to this
00:53economic distress. What is troubling is the proposal to
00:57consolidate 11 separate workforce programs into a single block grant.
01:03These long-standing bipartisan programs are critical for uplifting many groups.
01:07Within my district, we have the highest concentration of childhood poverty
01:11in the city of Syracuse and the highest concentration of African-American poverty as
01:16well. Lumping the programs together and handing the funding over with seemingly
01:21minimal targeting or accountability mechanisms puts all of these populations at risk of being
01:27overlooked and underserved. That said, I do want to acknowledge one component
01:33of the budget that I do support and believe we can work together on, and that's registered
01:37apprenticeship programs. In my work in the New York State Legislature, I more than doubled
01:43funding for a program under the Manufacturers Alliance of Central New York, and what we've seen is the
01:49transformations of people's lives as a result of that program. These programs do offer pathways into
01:57high-quality jobs, particularly for individuals without a four-year degree. Madam Secretary,
02:02your budget would require that 10% of the new block grant that you're proposing would go towards
02:07apprenticeships. That would amount to a 4% increase over the existing funding. As you've mentioned,
02:14this administration has stated a goal of one million active apprentices, which would be an increase of
02:2250% over that number. So I appreciate with and agree with you regarding this bold goal, but if we're going
02:31to increase funding by 4%, how are we going to increase the apprenticeship programs by 50%? Well, thank you,
02:38Congressman, and I know we don't know each other well, and I'm sorry we didn't get to work together, but I look forward to
02:43working with you through this process on the apprenticeship program. It is going to take hard
02:47work and investment into our private sector and public sector to grow the apprenticeship program.
02:54It is my responsibility, again, to address that workforce development so that everybody can live the
02:59American dream. We know that the skilled workforce of today is different than it was from, let's just
03:05say, even five to ten years ago. The trajectory is changing rapidly. The modernization of the skilled workforce
03:12workforce is changing and is inclusive of many things such as AI as well. So it is my responsibility to
03:19assist our market demands in addressing that. I've seen that in the private sector with car companies.
03:25I've seen it with our community colleges wanting to answer the call of what is on the ground they're
03:30asking for. With your assistance, I look forward to prioritizing the budget to address that.
03:37On the other question that you asked about, the Make America Skilled Again Block Grant.
03:43Through the patchwork of different states, oftentimes the complexity and the mitigation of getting that
03:50funding can be somewhat difficult. This administration, through the budget process goal, is to combine
03:57a lot of those grants without duplication in order to save on the duplication of the processes.
04:03But that shouldn't limit and won't limit the investment that we have in the actual workforce.
04:08It is still up to Congress to determine if that is what they want. This is a preliminary budget.
04:13I think it is a more flexible one that we can lean on and work with our respective state partners
04:19so that they can tell me how they want to spend that funding as if it's not New York or Oregon or Indiana
04:25or anywhere else. That is the goal. But it will be up to Congress to determine if that's where they want
04:31those appropriated dollars to come from. I would work with your office in assisting you as well.
04:36Thank you, Madam Secretary. You mentioned our community colleges. We have a fantastic university
04:41system in New York State. We have the largest private investment in the history of this country
04:49with Micron coming in, semiconductor chip manufacturing. That was the result of the Chips and Science
04:55program as well as a state piece of legislation called green chips. And as I look over your shoulder,
05:00I'm going to hit five seconds right on the dot. Strengthening community colleges program is one
05:06of those proposed eliminations. How are we going to ensure that our community colleges can pivot to the
05:11extent that they've already done to make sure we have these stack credentialing programs and other
05:15advanced manufacturing programs? Well, I'm glad to answer that in more detail. I know that our time is up,
05:20but I will submit that answer for you. And I will work with the community colleges and just do that quarter turn
05:25because I think it's just going to take just enough of that in order to address those issues.
05:29I've worked with community colleges and trade schools for years as a former mayor,
05:32and I will continue to do so as the secretary and answer that question for you. I thank the secretary.