Senator Tammy Baldwin's office issued the following yesterday:
06.06.19
After Trump Administration Moves to Close Blackwell Job Corps Center, Senator Baldwin Takes Action to Protect Northwoods Job Training Program
Bipartisan legislation will block Administration from removing funds from successful job training program serving Forest County since 1964
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following the announcement
that the Trump administration plans to close the Blackwell Job Corps
Center in Forest County, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joined her
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to demand answers and prevent the
removal of funds from the Civilian Conservation Centers program.
“The Blackwell Job Corps Center is so important
to our Northwoods community by providing good paying jobs for 54 workers
and job training to young adults. For 55 years, this civilian
conservation center helped expand economic opportunities in rural
Wisconsin and supported the U.S. Forest Service’s mission of maintaining
the long-term health of Wisconsin’s forests,” said Senator Baldwin, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“I’m calling on the Trump administration to immediately halt their
decision to close this facility and others, and I’m joining my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to introduce new legislation that
will prevent further changes to the program.”
The Trump administration recently announced it
was closing down Blackwell, near Laona, and eight other Job Corps
Civilian Conservation Centers across the country.
This week, Democrats and Republicans in both the
Senate and House of Representatives sent a letter to U.S. Department of
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and U.S. Department of Agriculture
Secretary Sonny Perdue calling on them to reconsider the decision to
permanently close over a third of Civilian Conservation Centers
nationwide and end the program in its current form. The full letter is
available here.
Senator Baldwin also teamed up with a bipartisan group of Senators, led by Jon Tester (D-MT), to introduce the Job Corps Protection Act
that blocks the administration from using federal government funds in
2019 or 2020 to close any Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers in the
United States. The bill will prohibit any federal government agency
from making changes to agreements that operate Job Corps
facilities—preventing them from privatization. The legislation is also
cosponsored by Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA),
Steve Daines (R-MT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mark Warner
(D-VA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
In announcing the closure of the nine Job Corps
Civilian Conservation Centers across the country, the Trump
administration unveiled a plan to effectively privatize the program by
transferring 16 Job Corps from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the
U.S. Department of Labor. Job Corps are located in numerous states
across the country. People ages 16-24 are eligible to voluntarily enroll
in Job Corps for hands-on job training. Many businesses partner with
local Job Corps to meet the need of high-skilled labor.
Last year, the Senate Appropriations Committee
passed legislation that invested $1.7 billion in Job Corps programs
across the country.
