[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 96 (Thursday, June 5, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H2496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ST. LOUIS JOB CORPS CENTER

  (Mr. BELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, if anyone stood outside the St. Louis Job 
Corps Center last week, they saw what happens when cruelty becomes 
policy. They saw students being escorted off campus, bags in hand, 
dreams on hold; grandparents crying because their grandkids had finally 
found something that gave them a shot, and now it is gone. In St. 
Louis, that was over 200 students who were impacted.
  Job Corps is exactly the kind of program everyone should all agree 
on. It gives young people the tools to succeed, real skills, real 
credentials, real jobs. It reduces crime, increases employment, and 
pays off for taxpayers in the long run.
  This wasn't a budget choice. This was a values choice. It tells our 
young people their future doesn't matter, not if they are working 
class, not if they are Black or Brown, not if they come from a ZIP Code 
that doesn't matter.
  I rise today because Job Corps works. It changes lives, and there is 
no defense, none at all, for ripping that away from students.

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