Apprenticeship's big weird week, shutdown angst, and $7.3 billion in grants listings.
Plus, a little detail that could have a big impact in DOL's manufacturing apprenticeship fund, a Senate race to watch, and the workforce money to keep an eye out for this spring.
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Behind today’s paywall.
More questions about whether Trump II pay-to-train dollars will fix the problems they’re meant to solve.
A Senate race that could impact apprenticeship and workforce spending—for better or worse.
The return of workforce grants watch.
Toplines.
News you should know about money and things getting people to work.
Crap, another shutdown?
As of this writing, we’re going to get at least some shutdown starting Saturday for the federal agencies awfully key to workforce funding, the Departments of Education and Labor.
The Senate bill funding those agencies is tied to the Department of Homeland Security, which is tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, meaning the bill as written probably isn’t going to draw seven Senate Democrats coming off last weekend’s ICE killing of an ICU nurse in Minneapolis. (“Probably” because we’re only a couple months past seven Democrats giving up on healthcare subsidies to end the last shutdown.) Even if some Senate hoodoo happens that splits the DHS bill from the other agencies, the House is on recess and won’t vote on any changes until early next week.
There are some pretty key deals for the broader workforce world in the current bill. Two of the four main sources of workforce funding in the United States continue to exist. Workforce programs halved by last fall’s House appropriations bill remain mostly whole. Job Corps gets landlocked against closure due to a new rider that has cleared the House. For what it’s worth, I think it’s unlikely those details shift.
Similarly, I also don’t think that there will be more meaningful protections for making sure the money gets spent. Most of the new language added by lawmakers amounts to, “We won’t stop you if you tell us about it.”
But all this could still get very complicated, to say the least.
Apprenticeship’s big, weird week.
Every week, I keep a pretty close eye on DOL’s Registered Apprenticeship numbers. They aren’t perfect, but they’re rather key to whether Trump Administration is going to meet its goal of reaching one million active apprentices, something I have heard increasing bipartisan pessimism about in recent weeks.
So after last week’s newsletter, I was surprised to find the numbers… weren’t there. For most of the past week, they remained not there. Instead, there was an error message that said they might have been removed.
Then, on Wednesday, the numbers reappeared—but they weren’t the most recent numbers. They were the apprenticeship stats as they stood in late September 2025—the precise same figures I wrote about in this piece, actually. Those pre-One Battle After Another stats continue to be there as of my last check this morning.
So, that’s weird. It’s also inopportune timing for a glitch as DOL launches key initiatives to meet apprenticeship goals that folks on both sides of the aisle—especially Republicans—think it’s unlikely to hit because Trump II can’t execute.
The Administration just built excitement among workforce providers and employers with the $145 million in pay-for-train incentives, firm details of which are forecast to publish today. The Administration has been incredibly straightforward that it sees it that big investment as a way to get to the one million goal.
We don’t know the details of the $145 million, but a lot is riding on these funds for Trump II, maybe more than they realize. I have heard a lot of employer skepticism about apprenticeship after four administrations of being hard sold to start apprenticeship programs. Not messing up the small stuff matters in rolling back that skepticism since Trump I couldn’t execute on its big promises on apprenticeship.
I have heard bipartisan worries about whether DOL has the staff to meaningfully expand apprenticeship after losing key apprenticeship staff during last year’s staff buyouts—and a little annoyance at Trump II for not being strategic in approving those buyouts. (For what it’s worth, I think apprenticeship had too few staff anyway, which is due to limited investment from Congress.)
Additionally, as I wrote Tuesday, the circumstances of DOL’s award of Arkansas’ nationwide pay-to-train program—which opened for applications on Wednesday—could draw the eye of investigators looking into allegations that Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s aides tried to improperly route grant dollars to “favored entities.” (More on the details of the Arkansas rollout behind the paywall.)
I don’t expect it to, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if $145 million slipped due to the prospect of a shutdown. The latter possibility wouldn’t be the most unwise thing in the world. It’s not ideal to not have anybody around to answer questions after opening up a big new pot of money that is different from previous DOL competitions for apprenticeship.
Late Wednesday, DOL announced that April 26 to May 2 will be this year’s National Apprenticeship Week—a policy awareness initiative I might be known to call “Apprenticeship Christmas.” DOL said the theme of this year’s event will be “America at Work: Making America Skilled Again Through Registered Apprenticeship.”
“America at Work” is the name of the nationwide tour that appears to be a key part of the misspending allegations against Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a source of rightward concern about DOL’s ability to execute on key workforce goals. “Make America Skilled Again” is the name of the White House budget office’s unpopular plan to end most American workforce funding and replace it with a much smaller block grant, an idea that seems to have been wholly rejected by the Trump Administration’s congressional allies.
This week’s grant listings number: $7.3 billion.
Added the Arkansas money and a private opportunity closing in March.