Newburgh, NY –Standing with student veterans at SUNY Orange Newburgh Campus, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today announced bipartisan legislation to help provide education and job training for young veterans and streamline certification processes for civilian jobs.
Last year, Senator Gillibrand hosted roundtables with local business and veterans leaders to discuss innovative ways to address veterans’ unemployment across New York. As a result, Senator Gillibrand helped pass a bipartisan VOW To Hire Heroes Act to address unacceptably high rates of unemployment among veterans by ensuring that all troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have the necessary tools for a seamless transition from military service to the civilian workforce. This law included measures to incentivize their hiring and ease their transition into the work force. Now Senator Gillibrand is working on legislation that would make training more accessible, protect veterans’ access to education, and ease hiring processes for veterans.
“This new legislation is an important investment for our heroes,” Senator Gillibrand said. “We must provide veterans with access to the necessary resources which allow them to get the education, job training and appropriate licensing that will ease their transition from military life to the civilian work force. Our veterans have earned this and it’s the least we can do to give them the appropriate tools needed to be successful in their life after the military.”
“The men and women of our armed forces who heroically serve our country overseas deserve our complete gratitude and full support when they come home. And one of the best ways to support our veterans when they return is to help them find a job,” said Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who himself is a Navy veteran. “I am proud to work with Senator Gillibrand to eliminate bureaucratic red tape and provide the resources and training necessary to help our returning veterans find good, solid jobs upon returning home. I remain extremely focused on helping to create jobs for veterans and all Americans and will continue to support new innovative efforts to achieve that goal.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that in 2011, more than 12 percent of veterans who have served post 9-11 are unemployed.
Make TAP Training Accessible For Veterans And Families
The VOW To Hire Heroes Act made the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) mandatory for all departing servicemembers. TAP gives veterans an opportunity to gain job training, understand their benefits, and practice skills like resume writing and interviewing. Yet many veterans never had the opportunity to take the program or want the ability to come back and receive additional training. The TAP Modernization Act would make improvements to TAP by offering classes for veterans and their spouses at convenient, off-base locations. In addition the legislation would require the Department of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) to integrate job search experts to teach the classes. The bill also authorizes a temporary extension of TAP benefits for three years through a pilot program in three to five states with the highest veteran unemployment.
Protect Veterans’ Access To Education And Job Opportunities
The Military and Veterans Educational Reform Act strengthens the Post-9-11 GI Bill by ensuring that educational institutions receiving assistance through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) meet commonsense requirements, including providing critical information to potential students. Additionally, the bill calls on state agencies to conduct greater outreach activities to veterans through events such as career fairs and training programs. The legislation would also streamline the complaint process for veterans who want to report instances of fraud, waste, and abuse within educational institutions to the VA and DOD. Implementing a centralized process will increase coordination between the VA, DOD and the Department of Education, which will be required to share information across agencies.
Ease Hiring Process For Veterans
Currently, veterans are held back by the bureaucratic red tape of the federal certification process that prevents them from immediately applying for jobs they are qualified for. To speed up the credentialing process for veterans and get them into the workforce sooner, Senator Gillibrand is pushing for the Veteran Skills to Jobs Act. The legislation would require agencies to recognize relevant military training and skills when certifying veterans for federal occupational licenses. Instead of spending time retraining, veterans would be able to receive a federal license if it’s determined their military experience is enough to fulfill the license requirements.