During Thursday’s House Education And The Workforce Committee hearing, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) questioned Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about protecting JobCorps.
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00:00I take great pleasure of recognizing the lady from Oregon, Ms. Bonamici.
00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome back to the committee, Secretary Chavez de Reymour, and thank you for your phone call. I appreciated the conversation.
00:13I want to start by recognizing the anniversary of the Department of Labor's Women's Bureau, which turns 105 years old today.
00:20Unfortunately, under your leadership, the Department is trying to eliminate the Women's Bureau, which would mean the end of WANTO, which is a program for women in apprenticeship and nontraditional occupations.
00:29I just want to say I hope that this administration is not trying to close this successful program in this important bureau because the word women is in the title.
00:38But what I want to talk about is a follow-up on our conversation about Job Corps.
00:42As you know, our home state of Oregon has three Job Corps centers under the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor.
00:48Two of those are in the district I represent, Pivot in Portland and Tongue Point in Astoria, which is residential.
00:54A year and a half ago, you proudly announced on social media that the National Job Corps Association named you a Job Corps champion, and I have a reminder of that here.
01:04I'd also like to submit for the record a bipartisan appropriations letter requesting maintained funding for Job Corps in fiscal year 2025, which you signed.
01:13I'd like to submit that to the record, Mr. Chairman.
01:17Without objection, it will be submitted.
01:19And now, Madam Secretary, you've made a starkly abrupt shift from a champion to a destroyer of this important program.
01:27And at the end of last week, you ordered 99 Job Corps centers across the country to shut down operations by June 30th, sending their students off campus no later than tomorrow, June 6th.
01:38Fortunately, a judge has blocked that effort, at least temporarily.
01:41But I tell you that the students are distraught, and so are the local communities.
01:46On April 25th, the Department of Labor released a report titled Job Corps Transparency Report.
01:53What role did DOGE have in that report?
01:57I want to be clear.
01:59The decision was not to eliminate Job Corps.
02:01Only Congress can eliminate Job Corps.
02:04I appreciate that, and I'm going to follow up on that, but I need to know what role DOGE had in this report, this Job Corps Transparency Report.
02:13The Department of Labor does have the delegation and authority to halt those center contracts, including program operations for Job Corps.
02:20What role did DOGE have?
02:22Sorry, Madam Secretary.
02:23I just want an answer.
02:24What role did DOGE have in that report?
02:26Thank you, Congresswoman.
02:27Based on what you just said in the last statement about the TRO that was given last night, it actually gives me great pause that I cannot discuss the details now because of that TRO.
02:43And as I mentioned it on the outset, I want to give you these answers.
02:47I want to continue to have these conversations.
02:49The transparency report is where I can lead and talk to you about.
02:54Those numbers were from 2023.
02:56But did DOGE write the report, is my question.
03:00The Department of Labor, the Government Efficiency Employees are Department of Labor employees, so if you're asking me about DOGE is in Department of Labor, yes, they're in every agency.
03:10And did they participate in writing that report?
03:12Yeah, we were together and working with that report.
03:14Because I do know that there was an earlier version that was posted, and then a later date, a staffer who's been reported to be a staffer with DOGE replaced that report.
03:24Is that accurate?
03:24I don't know what you're referring to about replacing that report.
03:28There were two different versions apparently posted.
03:31Okay.
03:31So I want to move on.
03:32It's from program year 2023, those numbers.
03:35I know you say the numbers are, but I'm asking about the report specifically.
03:39The report from this year in 2023.
03:40And as you noted, Department of Labor called the contract terminations for Job Corps pauses.
03:46But yesterday, the Oregonian, our hometown newspaper, wrote that a new operator is not expected to be named.
03:54So does the Department of Labor intend to reopen these campuses?
03:57And that's just a yes or no question.
03:59Under the TRO, granted by the Southern District of New York, I cannot discuss this further in detail.
04:05Madam Secretary, the fact that an issue is in litigation is not a sufficient legal basis to allow you to evade congressional oversight.
04:11And Secretary McMahon was here yesterday for hours and didn't once use litigation as an excuse for not answering the question.
04:17Well, had I been here yesterday, I wouldn't have had to use it either.
04:20But because that injunction was late last night, I have to respect that the TRO is in place.
04:24I'll just note there are many injunctions against the Department of Education as well.
04:28So if these are truly pauses, that would mean that the Department of Labor intends to reopen the campuses.
04:33If there's no plan or intent on reopening, there are closures.
04:37So which did you intend, to pause or to close?
04:41We paused.
04:42We made the decision to do so.
04:43The Department of Labor has the delegation of authority to halt center operations and those contracts, including program operations for job core sites.
04:51That being said, we are going to comply with the TRO that was issued yesterday.
04:56I appreciate that.
04:56So if you're saying it was a pause, that means that you intend to reopen those campuses.
05:01Is that correct?
05:03The report on replacing the report online is inaccurate.
05:05The first report posted, thank you.
05:07Thank you for referring this on the wrong file.
05:09And it was reposted that same day.
05:11So that was to your question on the two reports.
05:14Yeah, I appreciate that.
05:15For clarification, thank you for...
05:16And I need to get another question.
05:18I know you're going to comply with the temporary restraining order, and I appreciate that.
05:23But, Secretary DeRamer, you say you're going to send these students back to their home of record.
05:28How many current job core students are there?
05:30The gentlelady's time has expired.
05:33If I could ask the Congresswoman to...
05:35Or the Secretary to submit that.
05:37It's a really critical issue.
05:38These students do not have homes to go to.
05:41If there's any exception to this TRO, I promise you I will answer your questions fully.
05:46I thank the gentlelady.
05:47I yield back.
05:48I write...