Activity on the Hill: Veterans Employment

AFA has been behind two separate veteran employment bills and keeping track of them as they go through each side of Congress. Yesterday, U.S. Representative Jeff Miller (R-FL), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, commended a bipartisan agreement to boost employment opportunities for veterans -- the "VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011."

The unemployment rate for separated Iraq and Afghanistan veterans averages 13 percent nationally. Often these service men and women are already equipped with the skills needed to qualify for civilian professions. The “VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011” contains bipartisan provisions to ensure service members transitioning to civilian life receive the aid they need to find a job in today’s tough economic climate. This bill combines provisions of Chairman Murray’s Hiring Heroes Act (S. 951; Report #112-36), Chairman Miller’s Veterans Opportunity to Work Act (H.R. 2433; Report #112-242), and veterans’ tax credits into a comprehensive package that will aggressively attack the unacceptably high rate of veteran’s unemployment.

“This agreement is a bipartisan and comprehensive approach to getting our nation’s veterans back to work,” said Chairman Murray. “It includes Republican and Democratic ideas because getting our veterans the financial security and dignity a job provides should never be partisan. For too long in this country we have patted our veterans on the back for their service and then pushed them out into the job market alone. By advancing this legislation we are giving our veterans the job skills to get their foot in the door and incentivizing employers to make sure that door is open to them.”

Key provisions include:

• Improving the Transition Assistance Program (TAP): The VOW to Hire Heroes Act will make TAP mandatory for most servicemembers transitioning to civilian status, upgrade career counseling options, and resume writing skills, as well as ensuring the program is tailored for the 21st Century job market.
  
• Translating Military Skills and Training: This bill will also require the Department of Labor to take a hard look at what military skills and training should be translatable into the civilian sector, and will work to make it easier to get the licenses and certification our veterans need.

• Veterans Tax Credits: The VOW to Hire Heroes Act provides tax incentives of up to $5,600 for hiring veterans, and up to $9,600 for hiring disabled veterans, if the veteran has been looking for work for six months or longer.

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AFA President and CEO Mike Dunn and Legislative Assistant Kristine Robbins
attended Rep Nancy Pelosi's Veterans Roundtable on Wednesday, Nov 2.