June 10, 2025 2:50 a.m.

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 have joined 38 Senate colleagues in demanding that U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer reverse what they believe are the illegal and unconstitutional cuts to the Job Corps program.

A joint release said the cuts will harm students and communities in Oregon and across the country.

The letter said, “The Administration’s decision to illegally and abruptly terminate Jobs Corps center operations has left 25,000 students and thousands of staff across 99 Job Corps centers in the lurch”. The letter continued, “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”.

The release said that for more than 60 years, Jobs 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. Late last month, the Trump administration indefinitely ‘paused’ operations at Job Corps cites across the country. However, a federal judge has since blocked the pause, leaving the Job Corps programs with a reprieve, but not certainty about their future.

Read the Senators letter at: Job-Corps-Pause-of-Operations-Letter.pdf