Opposition to Job Corps Closures

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the Trump administration's abrupt, unjustified attempt to close Job Corps centers nationwide.

I have been to the Job Corps graduation on Maui. I have looked into the eyes of students whose lives were changed. I have walked the grounds of the Waimanalo campus where young people, many of whom had nowhere else to turn, found a path to a good job and a better life.

These are not statistics. These are real people, and they deserve better than to be abandoned by a system that was supposed to lift them up.

A mother in Hilo wrote to me and shared that no amount of mental help was able to save her son, only Job Corps.

She told me: Please save my son. Please help save Job Corps.

Today, I rise not just for policy, but for people. Every young person in Hawaii and across this country just needs a chance. We must not turn our backs on them now.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source