WANTO's weird comeback.

The Trump II DOL's 'realignment' of a key apprenticeship grant brings back Biden priorities (sort of). Here is why that's concerning.

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On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor published a new funding opportunity for a grant and office that DOGE spent months trying to eliminate. In doing so, it renewed the Biden Administration’s commitment to expanding good jobs for women and its diversity-focused approach to pre-apprenticeship.

Kind of.

I’ll explain, but first, let’s level set.

In May, DOL canceled almost all of its active Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations grants, saving only those subject to an active lawsuit. Efficiency didn’t really make sense as a reason why because WANTO is efficient. It maxes out at $6 million per fiscal year in funding, and it has gotten great results despite that little money.

Accordingly, “gender equity” and “DEIA” took the blame for why DOL was killing a grant that by law had to focus on helping women get jobs they don’t get now. It followed a pattern of DOGE trying to eliminate women-focused programs. In budget requests published later in May, the Administration proposed eliminating the Women’s Bureau, calling it “an ineffective policy office that is a relic of the past.” Many Women’s Bureau staff read the writing on the wall and took a deferred resignation package, meaning the agency is fairly hollowed out.

That’s why plenty folks—including some DOL staff, apparently—were surprised that a new WANTO funding opportunity published on Wednesday, with a press release talking about connecting women to “good-paying jobs” no less. I predicted this precise scenario in THE MONEY several weeks ago based on DOL not pulling down the WANTO forecast on grants.gov, comments by Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer in Hill hearings, and some other signals I discuss below.

But of the many interesting things happening in this relatively small funding opportunity, it’s the “revival” of Biden approaches and a break with the second Trump Administration’s early direction in DOL’s workforce grants. That’s very interesting considering how DOL describes the funding opportunity in the press release published on Wednesday.

This announcement follows a thorough evaluation and realignment of the program, which will ensure WANTO grants help the department achieve President Trump’s goal of reaching one million new active apprentices.

“Under President Trump’s leadership and our shared commitment to transparency, the department has been reviewing all taxpayer-funded grants to ensure they fulfill their intended purpose and help this Administration achieve our workforce goals. That’s why these WANTO grants are specifically tailored to bolstering the number of women in our Registered Apprenticeship programs, which will help fill the thousands of jobs being created under the President’s America First policies,” Secretary Chavez-DeRemer said.

So… about that “realignment” and “thorough evaluation”…