Hearing: Economic Opportunity and Transition Legislation Pending Before the Veterans Affairs Committee
June 26, 2012
STATEMENT OF
RYAN M. GALLUCCI,
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
NATIONAL
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE
VETERANS OF
FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES
BEFORE THE
VETERANS’
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
UNITED STATES SENATE
WITH RESPECT TO
Hearing:
Economic Opportunity and Transition Legislation
Pending
Before the Veterans Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON,
D.C. June
13, 2012
MADAME
CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE:
On
behalf of the more than 2 million men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
of the U.S. (VFW) and our Auxiliaries, I would like to thank you for the
opportunity to testify on today’s pending legislation. With the conflict in
Iraq drawing to a close, withdrawal from Afghanistan on the horizon, and
proposals to scale back our nation’s active duty military, the VFW believes
economic opportunity for today’s war-fighters is a national imperative that
continues to demand the kind of decisive action we saw with last year’s passage
of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act. Recent unemployment numbers indicate that
veterans of the current conflicts remain unemployed at a higher rate than their
civilian counterparts, with young veterans and female veterans have experienced
unemployment rates well over twice the national average in the last year. The
VFW is encouraged to see that this committee continues to take this situation
seriously, and we are honored to share our thoughts on today’s bills in an
effort ensure our veterans have the opportunities they have earned to succeed
in a cut-throat economy after leaving military service.
S. 1184,
Debarment for Misrepresented Veteran Businesses:
The
VFW has consistently called for improved oversight on businesses claiming to be
owned and controlled by veterans and service disabled veterans. Too often we
have heard that businesses skirt federal regulations to take advantage of
potentially lucrative set-aside contracts for veteran-owned business ventures.
Unfortunately, penalties for misrepresenting your small business entity are
entirely too relaxed to discourage nefarious practices. With this in mind, the
VFW is proud to support a minimum of five year debarment from federal contracts
for small businesses that misrepresent themselves as veteran-owned or service
disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
S. 1314,
Establishing DVOP/LVER Geographic Funding Thresholds:
The
VFW supports the intent of this bill to revisit the funding model for Disabled
Veterans Outreach Program specialists, or DVOPS, and Local Veterans Employment
Representatives, or LVERs, but we have serious concerns about unintended
consequences for the proposed guidelines on how Department of Labor would
establish minimum state thresholds. The VFW believes this bill could swing the
pendulum too far in favor of large geographic states, diverting too many
resources away from population centers that may need them. VFW members have
consistently supported the concept of DVOP and LVER staffing grants, rather
than the current correlation between unemployed veterans as a segment of the
population, as reflected in our national resolutions. We invite the committee
to further deliberate on this issue by hosting a roundtable discussion with
stakeholders from the veterans’ community and state workforce agencies to
develop a responsible solution.
S. 1634,
Restoring State Approving Agency Authority:
The
VFW supports this bill, which would restore state approving agency, or SAA,
authority to approve and disapprove G.I. Bill-eligible programs in every state.
Under P.L. 111-377, the SAAs were stripped of their authority to approve
certain kinds of schools and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs was granted
additional authority to monitor programs. This change has resulted in diverting
SAA resources to assist VA in financial compliance surveys, rather than program
quality control. This change to the SAAs’ mission has lowered the quality of
services delivered to veterans. In light of recent reports on the state of
student-veterans in higher education, the VFW asks the committee to not only
pass this bill, but to also revisit the role of SAAs by hosting a hearing or
roundtable discussion to understand how this tremendous resource could be best
utilized in the 21st century.
S. 1798, Open
Burn Pit Registry Act of 2011:
Open-air
burn pits were used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan to incinerate
everything from medical supplies to automobiles, with possible hidden and grave
health reactions on the military personnel exposed to them. VA, DOD, and other
partners in the civilian sector are working to give us the tools necessary to
properly diagnose and treat the conditions associated with open-air burn pits and
other exposures to environmental hazards. However, much work remains to be
done, and any delay means less than optimal treatment options now. In addition
to working to treat these conditions, the Veteran Benefits Administration must
continue to improve their ability to account for their effects when evaluating
claims, and DOD could make a greater effort. The VFW believes that by allowing
service members to go on record with VA at the earliest possible time will help
VA deploy advances in medicine and technology as they become available to treat
the serious conditions associated with burn pit exposure. We know that the
physical effects of environmental exposures can go unnoticed for decades, and
it can be extraordinarily difficult to establish causation to military service
that has long since passed. This legislation is a positive step forward, and we
ask the committee to pass this measure without delay.
S. 1852, Spouses
of Heroes Education Act:
The
Marine Gunnery Sgt. John D. Fry Scholarship Program offers the surviving
children of fallen service members the opportunity to earn a quality education.
This bill would expand Fry Scholarship opportunities to surviving spouses and
the VFW is proud to support this initiative. Military spouses often must
sacrifice careers of their own to support the service obligations of their
loved ones. By extending this kind of educational opportunity to a surviving
spouse, we demonstrate our commitment to serving not only the service member,
but also the one ones they may leave behind.
S. 1859, TSA/FAA
Agency Status for Veterans Preference:
The
VFW supports this bill, which will close a loophole whereby Transportation
Security Administration, or TSA, and the Federal Aviation Administration, or
FAA, are not considered “federal agencies” for the purposes of
preference-eligible redress for potential veteran employees. At a time when
unemployment of Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans far outpaces unemployment
among civilians, we have an obligation to ensure that veterans receive quality
career opportunities. We also believe that the federal government should serve
as the example of a model employer. Both TSA and FAA can stand to benefit by
closing this loophole by ensuring their potential veteran employees receive the
hiring preferences we have promised to them.
S. 2130,
Veterans Conservation Corps Authorization Act:
In
2010, the VFW supported the concept of a Veteran Conservation Corps as part of
a broader veterans’ employment initiative before this committee. We continue to
support this concept, which would offer opportunities to veterans who do not
participate in other federal training programs to work preserving national
parks, monuments and other infrastructure projects. At a time when veterans
have been hit disproportionately hard by tough economic times, this is just one
more step to help veterans get back to work and acquire the kinds of skills
that will make them competitive in the jobs market.
S. 2179, S.
2206, S. 2241, Veterans’ Education Reform Legislation:
The
VFW supports each of these bills designed to ensure that military and veterans’
education programs provide service members and veterans with the opportunity to
acquire critical job skills in a harsh economic climate. To the VFW, we believe
each of these bills contain strong provisions that could offer the framework
for a comprehensive veterans’ education bill, designed to offer improved
consumer protections to student-veterans and improved accountability for
schools participating in military and veterans’ education programs, while
continuing to offer veterans choice in the academic marketplace.
In
S. 2179, the VFW supports the notion
that degree-granting schools should participate in Title IV. However, we would
hope to see assurances that religious-based schools that choose not to
participate in Title IV would have an opportunity to continue to participate in
G.I. Bill programs. We also support the idea of revisiting the role of State
Approving Agencies, or SAAs, but believe this concept merits further discussion
before this committee to develop a solution that best serves the needs of
student-veterans.
In
S. 2206, we believe that front-end
consumer education on an “opt-out” basis will ensure that all student-veterans
have reasonable access to educational and vocational counseling resources
available to them under Chapter 36 or title 38. We also believe that codifying
a formal complaint process for student-veterans will ensure accountability of
the benefit within VA and offer clear redress mechanisms for student-veterans
who believe they have been victims of fraud, waste or abuse.
In
S. 2241, we support improving data
collection from schools participating in G.I. Bill and military education
programs to ensure that student-veterans have relevant information from which
to make an educational choice and to demonstrate student-veteran success in
higher education. We have heard anecdotally from VA that student-veterans
remain enrolled at higher rates than their civilian counterparts, but we have
little additional data to back this up. Chairman Murray’s bill also lifts the
cap on Chapter 3697A education counseling, which the VFW believes has long tied
VA’s hands in its ability to deliver quality educational counseling.
The
VFW applauds Chairman Murray, Senator Webb and Senator Lautenberg for each
taking the issue of student-veteran success very seriously. We are pleased that
each of these bills offers unique solutions to the problem and that this
committee has decided to host a hearing on this critical issue. We believe that
given the wealth of ideas, that the committee should build a comprehensive
piece of legislation that includes ideas from each of these bills. The VFW has
consistently taken the lead in building consensus among higher education
stakeholders and the veterans’ community on this issue, and we look forward to
working with this committee to develop a package that meets the needs of
today’s student-veterans.
S. 2246, TAP
Modernization Act of 2012:
As
the debate on whether or not to mandate participation in the military’s
transition assistance program (TAP) unfolded, the VFW learned that many service
members on active duty failed to understand why they would need to participate
in the program. However, once service members left the military, many wondered
why they never received comprehensive training and information on how to access
their earned benefits and successfully transition from military to civilian
life. Unfortunately, a veteran has no way to reasonably anticipate all of the
challenges he or she may face once out of the military, which is why the VFW
believes TAP resources must be available to veterans after they have
transitioned off of active duty. The VFW supports H.R. 4051 and its pilot
program to offer off-base TAP to communities where veterans have been hit
disproportionately hard by difficult economic times.
S. 2299,
Servicemembers Rights Enforcement Improvement Act of 2012:
The
VFW fully supports this bill, which will strengthen USERRA and SCRA protections
for service members and their families. Recent reports have shown that some
banks choose to shirk their legal obligations under SCRA, foreclosing on
military families, while service members are deployed overseas. S. 2299 closes
this loophole once and for all. In the years since 9/11, we have also seen a
precipitous rise in USERRA complaints. Unfortunately, many veterans simply move
on from their complaints, rather than waiting for Department of Justice to take
action. This bill streamlines the process and still allows DOJ to take action
without the pursuit of the veteran. This will give USERRA teeth and demonstrate
to employers that we take this law seriously.
S. 3179, Servicemember
Housing Protection Act of 2012:
The
VFW proudly supports this bill. In a time of war, and when a large portion of
our fighting force is being drawn from the National Guard and Reserve, every
protection must be taken to ensure their lives are not further complicated by
financial worries while they are deployed and once they return home. This bill
offers more protection and piece-of-mind for active duty personnel and their
loved ones who may need financial protection by making it easier for personnel
to claim deployment-related financial and credit protections, extending
foreclosure protections to surviving spouses, and allowing service members to
terminate lease agreements without penalty when on-base housing becomes
available.
S. 3233,Servicemembers Access to Justice Act of 2012:
The
VFW supports this bill, which not only seeks to ensure that companies cannot
force veterans to waive their reemployment rights as a condition of employment,
but also streamlines processes through which veterans can take action against
non-compliant employers. This bill also improves outreach and education to
companies that do business with the federal government and to small businesses,
informing them of their obligations under USERRA.
S. 3236,
Servicemember Employment Protection Act of 2012:
This
bill affirms the VFW’s long-held belief that USERRA precludes an employer from
forcing service members to sign into binding arbitration agreements, basically
forfeiting their employment and reemployment rights. This bill will allow
service members to continue to pursue redress through the courts, while
preserving the option to enter into an arbitration agreement after a dispute
arises. This bill also ensures that treatment for service-connected medical
conditions will be treated as “service in the uniformed services” for the
purposes of USERRA, ensuring that employers cannot take negative action against
an employee seeking treatment for the wounds of war. This bill also ensures
that businesses that willingly violate USERRA will be barred from doing
business with the federal government. The VFW is proud to support this bill.
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