House subcommittee presses Labor secretary on proposed $4.7 billion cut and program cancellations

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education members questioned Secretary of Labor Chavez de Remer on the department's fiscal year 2026 budget request and a set of administration actions that lawmakers say would shrink core worker protections and training programs.

The budget proposal submitted by the White House would cut about $4,700,000,000 from the Department of Labor — roughly 35% compared with current funding levels for some accounts — and would, according to committee members, eliminate or sharply reduce funding for workforce training and enforcement programs. "I strongly oppose your proposal to cut the funding for the Department of Labor by $4,700,000,000," Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro said, calling the package an "anti-worker" request that would harm job training and safety enforcement.

Why it matters: Committee members said the proposed cuts would affect WIOA-funded workforce programs, Job Corps, the senior community service employment program, and enforcement offices such as OSHA and the Wage and Hour Division. DeLauro and others warned those reductions would reduce available training slots and enforcement capacity at a time when many employers say they need skilled workers.

Lawmakers pressed specific program changes. DeLauro cited a White House proposal to replace Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) adult and youth programs with a state block grant she said would reduce training funding by about $1.6 billion and "deny job training and employment services to more than 300,000 adults" and tens of thousands of youth. She also cited administration actions that committee members said have cancelled more than two dozen grants for women in apprenticeships and several international labor grants administered by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs.

Secretary Chavez de Remer said the department is undertaking a broad "reevaluation" of how taxpayer dollars are used and defended a focus on apprenticeship expansion and fraud reduction. "From the moment I was sworn in on March 11, I promised to put American workers first," she told the subcommittee. She said the department will pursue "common sense reforms" while still enforcing statutory protections, and repeatedly cautioned that some grant and personnel matters are the subject of litigation and therefore she could not discuss details.

Committee members raised enforcement concerns. Several representatives asked whether worker-protection agencies — including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Wage and Hour Division — would be able to maintain inspection and enforcement capacity under the proposed cuts. "Will those cuts be to OSHA, jeopardizing the lives and safety of workers... or will you be cutting the Wage and Hour Division?" DeLauro asked. The secretary said protecting worker safety is a departmental priority and pledged not to let inspectors' on-site work lapse, but she did not provide granular line-item commitments in the hearing.

Lawmakers asked for data and documentation. Subcommittee members demanded the department provide details on which programs have been cut or frozen, the criteria used, and projections of how many participants would be displaced. DeLauro said the committee will press for a breakdown of program-level impacts and asked the secretary to supply that information promptly. Chavez de Remer said she will provide whatever briefings and technical assistance the committee requests and repeatedly offered to work with members on legislative solutions.

The hearing produced no formal votes or committee actions. Instead, members used the hearing to confront the administration's budget priorities, request data from the department, and signal that several appropriators will resist the proposed cuts in the annual funding process.