House Proposes Deep Cuts to Workforce in Funding Bill

by Mitch Coppes, Federal Government Affairs Manager, Goodwill Industries International

Recently, the House Appropriations Committee voted to advance its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. The annual spending measure proposes funding levels for many of the federal workforce development programs that help support the training and employment services offered by local Goodwill organizations. The bill would fund the U.S. Department of Labor at $10.5 billion in FY25, a 23 percent reduction below the current FY24 enacted level, and from that amount would allocate funding to key workforce programs:

• $1.3 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) State Grants, a decrease of $1.7 billion below the FY24 level. This includes the elimination of funding for WIOA Youth Activities, a cut of $948 million below the current level.
• Eliminates funding for the Senior Community Service Employment Program, a cut of $405 million below FY24.
• $60 million for the Reentry Employment Opportunities grant program, a cut of $55 million below the current level.
• $150 million for Registered Apprenticeships, a decrease of $135 million below FY24.
• $110 million for YouthBuild, a $5 million increase over the FY24 level.
• $65 million for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, equal to the FY24 level.

House Democrats have rejected the Republican majority’s plan to cut funding for non-defense programs as it departs from the agreement reached in the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act. “The law provides for, and Democrats will accept nothing less than, a one percent increase for Labor-HHS-Education and each of the other bills – and dollar for dollar parity for any further increases on the defense side of the ledger,” said Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). “Instead of writing the bill to what is, in my opinion, a stringent and limiting amount, which is set in law, the majority has cut the Labor-HHS-Education bill by eleven percent.” Despite opposition from Democrats, House leadership expects to hold votes on the remaining FY25 funding bills on the House floor before the August recess.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is also planning to mark up its FY25 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill before the end of the month. The Senate bill will have more funding available for workforce, education, and other domestic spending priorities than the House version. However, Congress will most likely need to pass a stop-gap Continuing Resolution this fall to extend government funding through the November election.