Merkley, Wyden, 38 Senators Fight Trump’s Cuts to the Job Corps Program
In Oregon, Tongue Point, PIVOT, and Springdale Centers at Risk
Washington, D.C. – As the Trump Administration attempts to shutter the nation’s largest jobs training program for low-income and at-risk young people, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and 38 Senate colleagues demanded U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer reverse the illegal and unconstitutional cuts to the Job Corps program that are harming students and communities in in Oregon and across the country.
“The Administration’s decision to illegally and abruptly terminate Job Corps center operations has left 25,000 students and thousands of staff across 99 Job Corps centers in the lurch,” wrote the Senators in their letter to Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. “The sudden ‘pause’ of operations at Job Corps centers puts young people’s lives at risk, especially a significant number of students who were experiencing homelessness before arriving to the program. Local communities will pay a steep price, especially the thousands of individuals who work at the centers and will lose their livelihoods.”
For more than 60 years, Job Corps has helped millions of young people in rural communities and cities alike to finish high school, learn technical skills and get good-paying jobs while providing stable housing, medical and mental health care, and other supportive services. Through Job Corps programs, young people receive the training they need to start in good-paying jobs that support their communities after graduation – including as wildland firefighters, nurses, electricians, machinists, pipefitters, and welders. Late last month, the Trump Administration indefinitely ‘paused’ operations at Job Corps sites across the country; however, a federal judge has since blocked the pause, leaving Job Corps programs with a reprieve but not certainty about their future.
Last week, Oregon’s U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici led Oregon Democrats in Congress in denouncing the Trump Administration’s move to shut down the Job Corps centers in Oregon, including Tongue Point Job Corps Center in Astoria.
“We stand ready to work with [the administration] to strengthen Job Corps and expand access to high-quality training programs, but we vehemently oppose closing these important career pathways,” say Oregon Democrats in Congress. “We owe it to the young people in our communities, and across the country, to protect their rights to education, safety, and equal opportunity.”
Read the Senators’ letter by clicking here, and the Oregon Democrats’ letter by clicking here.
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