Rep. Summer Lee Condemns Trump Admin’s Pause on Job Corps in Pittsburgh, Nationwide
**For Immediate Release**
Rep. Summer Lee Condemns Trump Admin’s Pause on Job Corps in Pittsburgh, Nationwide
PITTSBURGH, PA – MAY 29, 2025 — Today, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12) issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s decision to “pause” operations for Job Corps centers nationwide, including in Pittsburgh. These centers provide free educational support, career and technical training programs, and housing for young people in Western Pennsylvania and across the country. They serve an important role in developing a highly-skilled workforce in Pennsylvania, benefiting workers, jobs, and the economy.
“Time and again, this White House has made egregious cuts to vital programs at the expense of the American people. Its latest decision to pause Job Corps centers’ operations is another deliberate move to abandon the working-class and young people in Pittsburgh and across the country—all in the name of inefficient and performative budget cuts.
“The Pittsburgh Job Corps has long been a beacon of opportunity for young people who are too often left behind by traditional education and workforce pipelines—including disenfranchised Black, brown, and low-income youth. This decision will displace hundreds of vulnerable students—many aging out of foster care or experiencing homelessness—and shutter campuses that serve as both schools and homes. PA-12 already faces economic uncertainty becauseof the looming reconciliation package and chaotic tariffs that will put a strain on everyday folks working to make ends meet.
“Let’s be clear: Congress has already authorized funding for Job Corps centers to operate through the end of the 2025 Fiscal Year. The Trump administration must reverse this baseless decision, and the Department of Labor must distribute these funds immediately.”
Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.4 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs. Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 3,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.