Veterans employment legislation faces delays - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Veterans employment legislation faces delays

Congress is finding it hard to pass jobs-creating legislation for veterans by Veterans’ Day.

There is bipartisan support for a veterans employment package — with details to be determined — but passage has not been a top priority in Congress, making it difficult for a compromise to be signed into law by Nov. 11, the nominal deadline set by supporters of the legislation.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which has increasingly complained that the Obama administration and Congress are not doing enough to help unemployed veterans, announced in March that it viewed Nov. 11 as a deadline for the government to reduce the number of jobless veterans.

Lawmakers interpreted this as a deadline for passage of legislation that would reduce the jobless rate in the future, not by Veterans Day — and even that deadline may not be met.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has been sitting since July 18 on the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011, a comprehensive package of employment and training provisions passed by the Senate Veterans’ Committee on July 7. The bill, S 951, was set aside during fights involving the debt ceiling and deficit reduction, overhaul of patent laws and an effort to prevent shutdown of the entire federal government at the start of the fiscal year.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is moving a little faster on the Veterans’ Opportunity to Work Act, HR 2433, which passed the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Sept. 8. It is scheduled to be taken up on the House floor in mid-October and faces only token opposition related to the decision to pay for some of the costs by delaying a reduction of some fees on veterans’ home loans.

Passing a compromise bill in less than a month is possible, but not easy. Matt McAlvanah, a spokesman for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman, said Murray “has directed her staff to begin discussions with House committee staff, while also working to get her bill time on a very clogged Senate schedule.”

Similarly, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee aides acknowledge a quick compromise could be possible because House and Senate committee staffs have informally discussed what would be needed to reach a deal.

The House and Senate bills contain similar provisions to expand skill training and transition assistance for separating service members and unemployed veterans, but the House bill has a more expensive element aimed at veterans who exhausted education and training benefits but have been unemployed for long periods. Up to 100,000 veterans in this situation would receive training over a two-year period to learn a new skill.

The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee has scheduled a Thursday roundtable discussion about veterans’ employment to look at hiring and training issues. The Elevate America Veterans Initiative, a partnership between the Labor Department and Microsoft Corp. to help veterans gain computer skills, will be a key aspect of the discussion.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee held a similar roundtable in September.