Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) is expected to lead the House Education and the Workforce Committee in the next Congress, which begins next month.
The House Republican Steering Committee on Thursday selected Walberg as the successor to the committee’s outgoing chair, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina). The full House GOP Conference is expected to confirm the choice.
Walberg, who has served on House Education and the Workforce Committee for 16 years, beat out fellow Republican Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah, who chairs the committee’s House Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee.
“We have a unique opportunity to make substantive reforms to empower parents, incentivize workforce training, improve government efficiency, and unburden American innovators and job creators,” Walberg said in a release following the Steering Committee’s announcement. “The American people have given us a mandate to enact meaningful change and ensure future generations will succeed.”
A Workforce Pell supporter
Walberg — a former pastor and state lawmaker — supports college affordability, apprenticeships, career and technical education (CTE) and has been a leading House critic of antisemitism at U.S. colleges following campus protests regarding the unrest in Palestine. He co-sponsored the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, which would expand the use of Pell grants for skills-based programs that offer high-quality credentials and certifications in high-demand industries.
“Taxpayer dollars must be more effective in aligning America’s education opportunities with our workforce needs. The PELL Act would address these needs by enabling education and career training opportunities for a new segment of the American population,” Walberg states on his website.
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In a Washington Reporter interview in October, he emphasized his support for Workforce Pell, including extending it to non-college training programs.
“There are manufacturing sites in my district that are giving apprenticeship programs, internship programs, all for the purpose of training employees that they need, and they’re not getting what they need from four-year institutions,” he said. “If they meet the standards, the quality that would require, the outcomes, why not offer a short-term Pell Grant for that? I think we need to expand that.”
Other legislation
Walberg also introduced legislation that would help community colleges in rural areas.
In 2023, he and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware) introduced the bipartisan Immersive Technology for the American Workforce Act, which would help support community colleges and CTE centers to develop job training programs using immersive technology, including virtual reality.
Pertaining to reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, Walberg states on his website: “Any reforms to our higher education policies and programs must prioritize reducing costs and emphasize the importance of completion, while simplifying and improving student aid programs, and increasing transparency in prices and program outcomes.”
