Senate Hearing Questions Proposed DOL Budget Cuts

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget request for the Department of Labor came under scrutiny Tuesday, as senators pressed Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling over proposed cuts to workforce training, workplace safety and Job Corps, even as the administration argued the plan would better prepare workers for in-demand jobs.

The hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies underscored the political challenge facing the administration’s DOL budget. Though Republicans praised the department’s push to expand apprenticeships and reduce regulatory burdens, Democrats warned the proposal would weaken worker protections and reduce federal investments in training.

The budget would set DOL’s discretionary funding at $10.7 billion, about 25% less than the fiscal 2026 level; reduce the department’s number of full-time employees by 17.3%; eliminate Job Corps; and consolidate 12 workforce development programs into a $3.4 billion “Make America Skilled Again” program.

The proposal would also cut the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s budget by $10 million, bringing EBSA’s budget down to $181 million from $191 million.

The Trump administration previously attempted to reduce the DOL’s budget for fiscal 2026, the current fiscal year. That attempt was mostly stymied after Democrats and Republicans could not agree on a budget. After a government shutdown, the parties finally came to an agreement in which the DOL’s budget did not receive the cuts originally intended. The complete fiscal 2026 budget was not passed until the government reopened after its longest shutdown in history: 76 days.

Partisan Divide

Subcommittee Chair Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, opened the hearing by pointing to data about U.S. wage growth, small business optimism and continued demand for skilled workers, especially in states with low workforce participation rates. She said apprenticeship programs and on-the-job training will be critical to meeting labor shortages, while also urging the department to maintain strong workplace safety protections for miners after six West Virginia miners died last year.

According to the latest Consumer Price Index report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual wage growth trailed the rate of inflation in April for the first time in three years. Wages increased 3.6% year-over-year from March to April, while inflation rose 3.8% over the period.

Meanwhile, Senator Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, sharply criticized the administration’s budget request, saying it would cut the DOL by more than $4 billion and slash workforce training “in half.” She said inflation was erasing wage gains and argued that fewer inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and proposed cuts to safety and health enforcement would leave workers less safe.

Sonderling defended the budget as a way to ensure the DOL’s focus on its “highest-priority functions” while eliminating programs the administration views as duplicative or ineffective. He said, without specifying a timeframe, that the DOL registered more than 3,600 new apprenticeship programs and added nearly 413,000 apprentices. He also said the administration remains committed to Trump’s goal of reaching 1 million active apprentices.

The Chopping Block

Job Corps emerged as a major flashpoint. Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the program helped students in her state move into cybersecurity, shipbuilding and other careers. Senators Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, also warned that eliminating Job Corps could hurt workforce pipelines tied to shipbuilding and the defense industrial base.

Sonderling said the administration wants to move funding to more flexible, state-led training programs, but Murphy challenged that argument, saying a roughly 25% cut to Job Corps would mean fewer federally funded training opportunities.

During the hearing, Sonderling also briefly mentioned the topic of visas for temporary or seasonal agricultural workers and non-agricultural seasonal workers, specifically delays in processing H-2A and H-2B visas. He also spoke about the department’s approach to unemployment insurance fraud, mine safety, independent contractor rules, fertility benefits and a proposal to move the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the Commerce Department. EBSA’s funding was not discussed in detail.

Further questions and statements are eligible to be filed through May 26, Capito said as she closed the hearing.