Recently, Department of Labor Acting Secretary Keith Sonderling testified before the Senate Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations Subcommittee on the Administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget request.
Importantly, he received bipartisan pushback from members of the Subcommittee around several proposals, including the Make America Skilled Again block grant request. Given the extensive cuts proposed in the budget request, Senators are extremely skeptical how more people could be placed into training with proposed program elimination and funding cuts.
In previous years, with House Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations bill containing similar program eliminations and funding cuts, it is critical that the Senate continues to fully fund workforce development programs. The block grant proposal continues to stagnate on Capitol Hill.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education finalized its Workforce Pell regulations this week. Importantly, this Final Rule sets the federal role in Workforce Pell investments and program administration, but the bulk of the program administration and course approvals will occur at the State level. It remains important for local workforce development stakeholders to engage with your state counterparts on this new implementation. There are opportunities to connect WIOA participants and employers to a potential Workforce Pell program pathway. However, that coordination will require an ongoing dialogue.
US Department of Labor also updated its WIOA program outreach guidance in TEGL 11-25. This has been a persistent issue within local workforce development boards and US DOL has issued similar guidance previously. Part of the motivation around this could be in connection to the expanded work requirements for SNAP beneficiaries and/or the new federal work requirements for Medicaid (taking effect in 2027).
