Washington, D.C., May 20, 2026 – Today, bipartisan leaders in the House and Senate introduced legislation to address the workforce shortages in shipbuilding and defense manufacturing by capitalizing on the thousands of skilled workers produced by Job Corps. Reps. Joe Courtney (D-CT), Mike Ezell (R-MS), Jenniger A. Kiggans (R-VA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Brian K. Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Michael Lawler (R-NY), Blake D. Moore (R-UT), John H. Rutherford (R-FL), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced the Job Corps and Skilled Defense Workforce Act (H.R. 8925) in the House. Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan M. Collins (R-ME) introduced the Job Corps Shipbuilding-Defense Industrial Base Pipeline Act of 2026 (S. 4611) in the Senate.
Both bills promote the creation of additional Job Corps Transition Hubs to facilitate apprenticeships and work-based learning directly at defense manufacturing sites. These would be modeled after the successful Transition Hub at the Gulfport Job Corps campus in Mississippi that has resulted in dozens of Job Corps welders, pipefitters, electricians, and machinists being hired by Huntington Ingalls Industries at the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula.
One of the main challenges these employers face is not only finding and hiring skilled workers but retaining them. Struggles with housing and the transition to remote and physically demanding work environments have led to high attrition among new workers. Job Corps, with its residential and wraparound support services, is the ideal partner in addressing these challenges. The innovative Gulfport Transition Hub model could easily build upon existing employment pipelines serving General Dynamics Electric Boat, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Bath Iron Works, and other shipbuilding and defense manufacturing employers to address skill development, onboarding, and worker retention.
“Job Corps is more than just a training program,” stated NJCA Board Chair George Foreman IV. “My father learned perseverance, to believe in himself, and to be a responsible adult, community member, and father. Job Corps doesn’t just prepare young workers for a job; it prepares them for success.”
Both bills also incorporate language from the 2024 bipartisan, bicameral agreement to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to facilitate the creation of additional Transition Hubs. That language already passed the House as part of the A Stronger Workforce for America Act and was recently reintroduced and passed out of the House Education and Workforce Committee as the A Stronger Workforce for America Act of 2026.
“This is a no-brainer,” observed former Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “We face an incredible workforce challenge in rebuilding our shipbuilding and defense manufacturing capacity. Job Corps is a proven pre-apprenticeship program, and these bills are a bipartisan recognition of that fact.”
