Codifying Job Corps' purgatory, and other good-but-bad news in Congress' new workforce funding plan.

For better and worse, it would be the status quo.

Well, here’s the best news about the new unified bill setting out spending on federal workforce programs: most of them still exist in it.

The White House called for eliminating almost all of these programs in a budget proposal published last May, aiming to replace them with a block grant idea that lawmakers seem cool to. In September, House Republicans tried to meet the White House halfway—fairly literally—by halving spending for many workforce programs. Both plans were out of tune with a Senate funding bill, which cleared committee in July and maintained 2024 funding levels, even restoring some cuts made by Republicans last spring.

On Tuesday morning, Republican appropriators in the House and Senate published their compromise. It looks a lot like the Senate bill, and with nine days before at least a part of the government shuts down, it probably has a good chance of passing. “A good chance” isn’t a guarantee, though, and there are plenty of questions to ask about this bill and the thinking underlying it.

Behind the paywall, I break down a massive development in congressional efforts to keep around the Trump-threatened Job Corps program, as well as what would stay, what cuts there are in the bill, and what’s worth asking Congress hard questions about. There’s also a lot in here—and a lot claimed to be in here—so I’ll have more as I find it in the next few days.