Cindy Hyde-Smith

06/03/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/03/2025 15:59

HYDE-SMITH, EDUCATION SEC. AGREE PELL GRANTS SHOULD SUPPORT SHORT-TERM JOB TRAINING PROGRAMS

HYDE-SMITH, EDUCATION SEC. AGREE PELL GRANTS SHOULD SUPPORT SHORT-TERM JOB TRAINING PROGRAMS

Hyde-Smith Focuses on Workforce Development during Dept. of Education Budget Review Hearing


VIDEO: Senator Hyde-Smith and Education Secretary Linda McMahon Discuss Expanding Scope of Pell Grants, Other Funds.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Education Secretary Linda McMahon today agreed to work together to reach a long-sought goal of allowing students to use Pell Grants funding to finance short-term job training programs.

Hyde-Smith asked McMahon about Pell Grants, an important federal financial aid program for low- to moderate-income students, during a Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to review the FY2026 budget request for the U.S. Department of Education.

"You know we've talked a lot about Pell Grants for short-term courses," Hyde-Smith told McMahon. "I got here in 2018. We were talking about it then and we continue to talk about it today. Can you just kind of expand a timeline of what you're looking at for getting us to the position that Pell Grants can cover short-term courses?"

McMahon, who said she has long supported a policy that would allow the use of Pell Grants to help create a stronger skilled workforce, testified that the Trump administration would work with Congress to implement the change.

"We'd like to do that, you know, right away," McMahon said. "I think as we are looking, you know, in the new budget, we'd to see those short-term pale grants be part of that budget because I do think that that is one of the best ways that we can get students into the economy and working right away."

Expanding Pell Grant eligibility for students seeking job training and credentials for careers in high-demand fields is the goal of legislation again cosponsored by Hyde-Smith in February. The bipartisan Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act (S.383) would expand Pell Grant eligibility to help close the nation's skills gap by alleviating shortages in in-demand sectors such as health care, manufacturing, and construction.

Hyde-Smith also stressed the importance of Career and Technical Education (CTE) grants to Mississippi and asked how the administration's budget proposal might affect these programs. McMahon responded that the administration is working to make workforce training programs throughout the federal government more efficient.

"The President has charged us to work with Commerce and Labor and all the different departments. We have about 43 different workforce development programs across the government, and it's incredibly inefficient. So, we would like to narrow that scope and work with different departments and find out exactly what we can do," McMahon told Hyde-Smith, who last month asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer what would replace terminated workforce development programs like Job Corps.

McMahon also pledged to determine why Mississippi has not been awarded Education, Innovation, and Research (EIR) grants from 2021 to 2024, while states like California, New York, and Massachusetts have collected more than $300 million.

"EIR grants, the Education, Innovation, and Research grants are critical for boosting achievements in high-needs students," Hyde-Smith said. "But Mississippi has received no grants from 2021 to 2024, despite the state facing challenges of low median incomes, high rural student enrollment, and teacher shortages. In fact, no EIR grants were awarded to nearly two-thirds of the states represented by Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee."

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