[House Hearing, 112 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE VOW TO HIRE HEROES ACT OF 2011
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
of the
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 15, 2011
__________
Serial No. 112-38
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
JEFF MILLER, Florida, Chairman
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida BOB FILNER, California, Ranking
DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado CORRINE BROWN, Florida
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida SILVESTRE REYES, Texas
DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine
MARLIN A. STUTZMAN, Indiana LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
BILL FLORES, Texas BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio JERRY McNERNEY, California
JEFF DENHAM, California JOE DONNELLY, Indiana
JON RUNYAN, New Jersey TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota
DAN BENISHEK, Michigan JOHN BARROW, Georgia
ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri
TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas
MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada
ROBERT L. TURNER, New York
Helen W. Tolar, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
______
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
MARLIN A. STUTZMAN, Indiana, Chairman
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa, Ranking
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota
MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public
hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also
published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the
official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare
both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process
of converting between various electronic formats may introduce
unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the
current publication process and should diminish as the process is
further refined.
C O N T E N T S
__________
December 15, 2011
Page
Implementation of the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011............. 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chairman Marlin A. Stutzman...................................... 1
Prepared statement of Chairman Stutzman...................... 20
Hon. Bruce L. Braley, Ranking Democratic Member.................. 2
Prepared statement of Congressman Braley..................... 20
WITNESSES
Ismael Ortiz, Jr., Acting Assistant Secretary, Veterans'
Employment and Training Service, U.S. Department of Labor...... 3
Prepared statement of Mr. Ortiz.............................. 21
Accompanied By:
Gerri Fiala, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employment and
Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
Curtis L. Coy, Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity,
Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs........................................................ 5
Prepared statement of Mr. Coy................................ 23
Accompanied By:
Keith M. Wilson, Director, Education Service, Veterans
Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs
MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Deliverable from Department of Veterans Affairs, Received
February 1, 2012
Questions from Honorable Bill Johnson to Mr. Curtis Coy, Deputy
Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity, Veterans Benefits
Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.......... 27
IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE VOW TO HIRE HEROES ACT OF 2011
----------
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2011
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:09 a.m., in
Room 340, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Marlin A. Stutzman
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Stutzman, Bilirakis, Johnson,
Braley, Walz.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN STUTZMAN
Mr. Stutzman. Good morning. And I want to welcome everyone
this morning to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. And I
want to thank our witnesses for being here this morning. We are
here today to begin this Subcommittee's review of the
implementation of Public Law 112-56, the Vow to Hire Heroes Act
of 2011. This will be just the first in a series of oversight
hearings we will hold through July of next year.
This bipartisan and bicameral legislation was signed into
law by the President in November and is the culmination of many
months of work by this committee and many others to reduce
unemployment among veterans. These efforts began with oversight
hearings by this Subcommittee last winter, which led to the
introduction and passage of H.R. 2433, the Veteran Opportunity
to Work Act of 2011 earlier this fall.
The major provision of both H.R. 2433 and the Vow to Hire
Heroes Act is the temporary extension of Montgomery GI Bill
benefits to eligible veterans to receive up to 1 year of
training at a community college or technical school for in
demand occupations. Eligible veterans would have to be between
the age of 35 and 60, be unemployed, and not have eligibility
for other VA education programs.
The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show
that there are an estimated 531,000 unemployed veterans between
the ages of 35 and 64. This represents about two-thirds of all
of unemployed veterans in this country. It is this population
that this program is intended to help. And it is our obligation
to ensure that VA and VETS meet the July 1, 2011 implementation
deadline so this provision can help this group of aging
veterans as quickly as possible.
While there are many other worthwhile provisions in the Vow
Act, the implementation of this provision and the provision
extending vocational rehabilitation benefits to veterans who
have passed their delimiting date will be this Subcommittee's
focus.
While I am aware that the legislation was only signed into
law a few weeks ago, I am anxious to hear about the progress
the VA and the DOL have been making on implementation in their
plans for future collaboration as required by law.
I cannot stress enough that the proper implementation of
this law is extremely critical. And as such, I want to put both
agencies on notice that this will our Subcommittee's top
priority in the next session of Congress and we need your help.
And we look forward to working with you in identifying
obstacles and problems as soon as possible so we can work
together and work them out, and get this law implemented.
Together we can ensure that our veterans are not cheated
out of this wonderful benefit because of any bureaucratic
delays or hurdles. Our veterans deserve and will receive
nothing less. So I thank our witnesses for being here today to
inform us on the progress the departments have made. At this
time I want to yield to the distinguished Ranking Member from
the great State of Iowa, Mr. Braley.
[The statement of Marlin A. Stutzman appears on p. 20.]
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BRUCE L. BRALEY, RANKING DEMOCRATIC
MEMBER
Mr. Braley. Well thank you for acknowledging the greatness
of the State of Iowa, Mr. Chairman. I can tell you after
visiting Fort Wayne with you earlier this summer, I extend the
same warm greeting to all of your constituents and colleagues
back in Indiana. This has been a delightful Subcommittee to
work with this year and we have a great panel, and we welcome
all of you especially a special guest from the State of Iowa
who has roots in Mason City. So welcome to all of you.
I am very proud to have worked with this Committee to pass
the Vow to Hire Heroes Act and I am optimistic that this
legislation is a step in the right direction to putting our
veterans back to work. In August when we were doing our field
hearings in Waterloo, Iowa and Fort Wayne, Indiana I introduced
the Combat Veterans Back to Work Act, which provided tax
incentives to employers to hire veterans who recently returned
from service overseas. And I am pleased that the Vow Act
includes tax incentives for hiring veterans that I have been
pushing all year.
Additionally in October I joined Chairman Stutzman to host
two field hearings, one in Iowa and one in Indiana, that
focused on the important issue of veterans unemployment. And
one of the things that came up at those hearings was the need
to help returning servicemembers translate their military
skills to the civilian workforce, which is why I am pleased
that the Vow Act includes veterans retraining provisions. This
will ensure that they have the skills necessary to be
competitive in today's tough job market.
Section 211 of the bill which focuses on retraining has an
implementation date of July, 2012. This new program will be
very beneficial for older veterans that have exhausted their
educational benefits or other available VA educational
programs. And it is my hope that they Department of Veterans
Affairs and the Department of Labor have already begun
discussions on how to jointly carry out this program and
administer this section as scheduled. The interagency program
will change the lives of 99,000 unemployed veterans and that is
a goal we can all be focused on and hopefully help reduce.
Section 233 of the Vow to Hire Heroes Act provides disabled
veterans up to 12 months of additional vocational,
rehabilitation, and employment benefits. In the past we have
had hearings and discussions surrounding VR&E counselors
workload. During our March hearing we expressed our concern
with the VR&E veteran to counselor ratio of one to 136. I look
forward to hearing from our witnesses today on what steps will
be taken to ensure there is adequate staff at VR&E who are
prepared to handle proper implementation of this section. And I
hope the VA is ready to discuss how they will prepare to handle
additional workload without sacrificing the counseling services
that veterans need.
And with that I thank you all and yield back.
[The statement of Bruce L. Braley appears on p. 20.]
Mr. Stutzman. Thank you, Mr. Braley. And at this time I
want to welcome our panelists. And our panel consists of Mr.
Curtis Coy, who is accompanied by Mr. Keith Wilson. Welcome.
And both of these gentlemen are from the Department of Veterans
Affairs. And Mr. Ortiz, who is accompanied by Ms. Gerri Fiala,
both from the Department of Labor. And I had the opportunity to
visit with Mr. Ortiz just a couple of days ago. Some remarkable
stories, four sons in the military. So I am looking forward to
working with you. You should be very proud of your family and
what you have accomplished yourself, as a veteran yourself. And
so thank you for being here this morning, and we will recognize
you for five minutes for your testimony.
STATEMENTS OF ISMAEL ORTIZ, JR., ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
VETERANS' EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
LABOR; ACCOMPANIED BY GERRI FIALA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
LABOR; AND CURTIS L. COY, DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC
OPPORTUNITY, VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; ACCOMPANIED BY KEITH M. WILSON, DIRECTOR,
EDUCATION SERVICE, VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
STATEMENT OF ISMAEL ORTIZ, JR.
Mr. Ortiz. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Braley, and
distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Junior
Ortiz of the Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and
Training Service. And I am accompanied by Ms. Gerri Fiala,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Employment and Training
Administration. Thank you for the invitation to participate in
today's hearing on the implementation of the Vow to Hire Heroes
Act of 2011.
This legislation is an integral part of President Obama's
efforts to ensure that America fulfills its obligation to our
returning servicemembers, veterans, and their families. The
Department of Labor has various responsibilities under the Vow
Act. However, per the Subcommittee's request my testimony today
will focus on Section 211, the Veterans Retraining Assistance
Program, and Section 233 that provides training and
rehabilitation for veterans with service-connected disabilities
who have exhausted rights to unemployment compensation under
state law.
I am particularly grateful for this opportunity to discuss
DOL and VA's collaborative efforts to implement and administer
these two provisions. The department is fully committed to
working with our Federal partners to implement the Act.
I would like to begin by first discussing Section 211 of
the Vow Act, which establishes the Veterans Retraining
Assistance Program for unemployed veterans between the ages of
35 to 60. Eligible veterans have up to 12 months of retraining
assistance when they pursue a qualified education and training
program. The Vow Act specifies that VA and DOL will jointly
administer the process for determining veterans' eligibility
into the program. As a result, the two agencies are working
together to make sure this implementation happens.
Even before the Vow Act was enacted DOL and VA had already
initiated planning to get a head start on implementation of
this critical legislation. During the next 7 months DOL and VA
will jointly manage and accomplish the following milestones.
One, establish a memorandum of agreement and project charter
that will delineate agency specific processes and
responsibilities from initial intake through the completion of
the program. Two, seek consultation on process design with
veterans employment and training experts in state and local
workforce agencies and other appropriate stakeholder
organizations representing veterans' interests. Three, design,
test, and implement customized application processing systems
to manage DOL and VA's joint responsibility under the program.
Four, develop, test, and implement enrollment and participation
tracking systems to enable the agency to report program
results. And five, develop and execute outreach and technical
assistance strategies to both stakeholders and program delivery
staff.
As we complete the project charter and the memorandum of
agreement we have identified two major operational
implementation challenges which will need to be addressed over
the next few weeks. First, we must find a way to connect and
facilitate a successful interaction between the public
workforce system and the VA's federally centralized GI Bill
system. Second, we need to develop a mechanism to enable DOL
and VA to appropriately access each other's administrative and
performance data systems. Now VA and DOL are working together
to address these issues to ensure the program is successful
while protecting privacy and data sharing agreements.
We are also working together to implement Section 233 of
the Vow Act which provides additional benefits to disabled
veterans that have exhausted their unemployment insurance (UI)
benefits. The VA is primarily responsible for the
administration of this provision. However, DOL will have a key
role in developing the eligibility determination process.
Currently there is no single unified system that can be used to
determine whether a person has exhausted his or her rights to
regular compensation under state law. As a result, we expect
the state UI agencies will be involved in making the
determination. DOL is exploring possible operational methods to
successfully execute this provision.
In addition to Sections 211 and 233 the Vow Act contains
several provisions that DOL is working to implement in
collaboration with other Federal agencies as needed.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, both DOL and VA are committed
to the full and speedy implementation of the Vow to Hire Heroes
Act of 2011. We will keep you and the Subcommittee appraised of
implementation milestones through regular briefings as
requested.
Members of the Committee, this concludes my statement. I
would be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Thank
you.
[The statement of Ismael Ortiz, Jr. appears on p. 21.]
Mr. Stutzman. Thank you. Mr. Coy, we will recognize you for
five minutes for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF CURTIS COY
Mr. Coy. Thank you, sir. Good morning, Chairman Stutzman,
Ranking Member Braley, and Members of the Subcommittee. I
appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to
discuss the progress made by the Department of Veterans Affairs
toward implementing the provisions of Title II of Public Law
112-56, the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. I am accompanied by
Mr. Keith Wilson, our Director of VA's Education Service. My
testimony will discuss the relevant sections of the legislation
and explain how we plan to address them, with particular
emphasis on Section 211.
Secretary Shinseki has emphasized that this critical
legislation will materially help our servicemembers and
veterans with employment and transition. We are absolutely
committed to executing in collaboration with other agencies and
stakeholders all provisions of this law. Section 211, the
Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, requires the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs to establish a program of retraining
assistance for eligible veterans in collaboration with the
Secretary of Labor not later than July 1, 2012. The number of
veterans who participate in the program may not exceed 45,000
in fiscal year 2012, and 54,000 during the period beginning
October 1 and ending March 31, 2014. Eligible veterans will
receive Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty Chapter 30 full time
benefit rate for up to 12 months. Training must be completed at
a VA approved community college or technical school leading to
an associate degree, certificate, or other record of
completion. And the training must pertain to an occupation
deemed by the Department of Labor to be in high demand. The
training programs must begin on or after July 1, 2012 and the
authority for VA to make payments ends on March 31, 2014.
The law establishes a set of criteria that veterans must
meet in order to participate in the program. Specifically, ages
35 to 60, unemployed, not eligible for GI Bill assistance, not
receiving VA disability compensation by reason of
unemployability, and not enrolled in a Federal or state
training program.
The law requires that VA and DOL form a close partnership
to successfully implement this retraining assistance program,
including establishing a formal memorandum of agreement with a
process for resolving disputes and appeals. We are close to
agreement on concept of operations, project charter, and draft
project schedule as well. We must track collaboratively
participants, payments, and degrees awarded, and submit a final
report on the impact of the retraining program.
Prior to the President signing Vow, VA and DOL
representatives met to discuss plans for implementing the
provisions of Section 211. Included were senior level VA and
DOL staffs, as well as IT staffs from both agencies. We
identified high level roles, responsibilities, decision points,
and discussed preliminary framework for an integrated master
schedule for managing the implementation of this new program.
VA also provided a high level summary of the claims and
payment process from VA's perspective to initiate these
collaborative discussions regarding information sharing and
other logistical needs between the two departments. At follow
up meetings, including an all day off site between VA and DOL
just two days ago, we discussed how to successfully administer
this program without duplication of effort and within the
required time frame. Including existing benefit processing and
payment systems within VA and one stop career centers and other
veteran intake centers within DOL.
A project of this magnitude and complexity requires
multiple hand-offs between VA and DOL to include but not
limited to conducting initial veteran intake; making DOL
specific eligibility determinations on employment, high value
career fields, etc.; ensuring that required information is
collected and appropriately disseminated.
We have also discussed mechanisms to be put in place to
meet the law's extensive reporting requirements. While VA and
DOL are on track and perhaps even a little bit ahead of
schedule in implementation planning and tackling the more
complex aspects of the law, we anticipate challenges associated
with implementing this program. The law requires a rapid
establishment of a broad partnership between agencies with
vastly different operating structures and information
technology systems. Provisions of this law, including wide
ranging eligibility criteria, present IT and logistical
challenges in addition to an increased workload the program
generates. The aggressive time frame also magnifies the
complexity of this effort. VA and DOL are working hard to
mitigate these risks.
To ensure this program's success, VA and DOL staff and
leadership currently participate in weekly meetings to track
progress, share information, and develop strategies. Internally
VA staff and project leads meet daily to discuss implementation
status and ensure we remain on track to meet this July 1
deadline.
The implementation of the Veterans Retraining Assistance
Program will include outreach programs for the appropriate
target population. We would like to thank the Committee staff
for including VA in the creation of the Retraining Assistance
Program. That collaboration has helped us mitigate some of
these challenges in this program.
Enhancements to VR&E or Vocational Rehabilitation. The new
law will also enhance services provided by VA's Vocational
Rehabilitation and Employment Program. The law extends VA's
authority to provide vocational rehabilitation services to
injured active duty servicemembers and promotes collaboration
between VR&E and other organizations to provide additional
services to aid veterans' transition to civilian employment.
This law also allows VR&E to fund special employer incentives
who did not previously qualify for on the job training. In
addition, VR&E can now provide an additional 12 months of
benefits to veterans who have exhausted their unemployment
benefits, and is also now able to provide additional services
to assist veterans returning to employment.
In addition, Section 262 of Vow extended through September
30, 2016 the provisions which limit to $90 the pension payable
to certain recipients of Medicaid covered nursing home care,
and protect that pension payment from being applied at the cost
of the recipient's home nursing care. This limitation was
previously set to expire on May 31, 2015. But because Section
262 extends this existing authority VA has already implemented
and we anticipate no delay in implementing this revised law.
The same applies for Section 264. With the enactment of Vow
funding fees for VA home loans were set at the same rate
through September 30, 2016, the next 5 years. VA has already
drafted and posted a new program policy circular which outlines
the fees in effect. This circular along with other news updates
about the bill's signing and the new fee rates was posted to
the Home Loans Program Web site on the day after the President
signed the legislation. Additionally, VA worked with Treasury
to update FFPS with the current rate structure.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be
pleased to answer any questions you or other Members of the
Subcommittee may have. Thank you, sir.
[The statement of Curtis L. Coy appears on p. 23.]
Mr. Stutzman. Thank you, Mr. Coy. And I will begin the
questions for the Committee here. Obviously I know that there
is a lot of work in front of us and this is the first hearing
that we are having. And Mr. Ortiz, you had mentioned the MOU.
When do you expect the MOU and the operating agreement for the
retraining provision between the two agencies to be finalized?
You had mentioned that that is something you are working on.
Can you give us any more specifics? And are there any other
outstanding issues that may potentially slow that down?
Mr. Ortiz. Yes, sir. As of right now the department
anticipates that the MOA or the MOU will be finalized and made
available to the Subcommittee in January of 2012, sir.
We are working on it. VA and DOL, as Mr. Coy has already
alluded to, are working on a daily basis not only internally
but externally on making sure that we meet the obligations
needed, sir.
Mr. Stutzman. Do you believe, either one of you, that the
departments have sufficient resources in fiscal year 2012
budget to implement all provisions? And if not, or if so, I
mean hopefully so, but if not any readjustments to your 2013
budgets to meet those particular staffing issues?
Mr. Coy. I will take that initially. Mr. Chairman, as you
know I testified on this in July and we intimated then that we
thought it would take about 130 FTEs to implement the bill. We
currently are looking at all of our resources at this time. And
we are also working with our department's Chief Financial
Officer and they are talking with OMB as well to identify any
resources that we may or may not need to implement that. But
rest assured, sir, we are not waiting for any of those
additional resources. As you can see from the very aggressive
schedule that we put up already and the work we have already
done, we are moving ahead with the implementation of this bill
with or without those resources.
Mr. Stutzman. Good.
Mr. Coy. With respect to 2013, I am not at liberty to
discuss what the department has put in their 2013 budget.
Mr. Ortiz. Sir, I echo a lot of what Mr. Coy has said. The
department is currently operating under short term continuing
resolutions and we are working to implement related Vow Act
provisions by relying on current funding and staffing
resources. This definitely presents some challenges for us. But
we are balancing our current strategic priorities to make it
work.
Mr. Stutzman. Very good. You know, as we did the hearings
in Iowa and Indiana we heard from several veterans about the
challenges that they have. And of all of the different bullet
points of the legislation that was in the Vow to Hire Heroes
Act the one that continually kind of popped out at me was the
challenge that veterans have in translating their skills from
military skills to a civilian workforce. And I know maybe this
is getting a little bit further into the weeds on this
particular issue, maybe too soon. But I guess that is one thing
that we heard a lot about, and how do we help our veterans, how
do they as they come out of the military translate those skills
in their efforts, whether it is through resume, whether it is
through communicating that to potential employers. Could you
discuss that a little bit? Have you had any discussion about
that? I think that is a real challenge for a lot of our vets.
Mr. Ortiz. Mr. Chairman, I think that is probably one of
the biggest challenges that we have. There are two pieces that
play a big role. One is the fact that the veteran has to be
able to show his or her values, as they come out. The second
piece is educating the employer on the value of our young men
and women.
There are numerous programs, numerous things out there to
help veterans translate their skills so that they can get that
information to put it on their resumes, and give that
information to the employer. In response to the second part, we
are conducting employer outreach, having hiring fairs and
things of that nature, to make employers aware of the value of
our veterans. We are hoping to do that. And we are working, not
only ourselves in DOL, but with DoD, with VA, and other
departments throughout the government.
One of the things that I want to tell you about is our Web
site called My Next Move for veterans, created within our area
to help that young man and woman actually translate their
skills into a specific occupation, for example, servicemembers
or veterans can input their MOS or their military occupational
specialty, and translate what that specialty is. With my next
move they are able to actually see what job availabilities
there are where they are going to go. It also gives them
information on what to put in their resume. You know, what the
key phrases are if you will. How they need to include certain
key words that employers will pick up on. So that is one piece.
There are others services such as career one stops for
veterans reemployment; career one stops are keys to success.
Also the Department of Defense has Army credentialing
opportunities, Navy credentialing opportunities, and Air Force
certification. So there is a multitude of services. What we
have done is to organize the services in the Veterans Job Bank,
which is something that just came out, the President announced
it a few weeks ago, there are a lot of those places where they
can actually go. VA is part of it, DoD is part of it, and DOL
is part of it, sir.
Mr. Stutzman. Well, and I know you know this. I was just
over in Afghanistan this past weekend and I had this question
come up frequently. What is going to happen back home when I
get home? And I know you are very aware of that. And to me that
is a high priority, to help, it is a difficult challenge. But
it has to happen one way or the other. And I think as a small
business owner and coming from the business sector I think that
it is important for small businesses. We have to connect them
somehow. It is more difficult for them. Larger corporations
obviously have larger staff and resources to develop these, to
develop a program. But it is that communication and networking
that we have to somehow organize so that those small businesses
out there who will do most of the hiring for these, for
veterans, and in translating our, or informing them of the
skills and the abilities that our veterans have when they do
come home. So I appreciate that.
I yield to Mr. Braley.
Mr. Braley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to continue on
this line questioning because when we did our field hearings
and many of the hearings we have had here in Washington, this
whole issue of what I will call interoperability, which was the
problem identified in the 9/11 Report, is the one that keeps
coming up over and over again. And I appreciate your
explanations, Mr. Ortiz, about what resources are available.
But something you said caught my attention. And you said there
is a multitude of them out there. And in fact that is part of
the problem we have. Is that there is no uniform system,
uniform language where these MOSs are translated into civilian
workforce language. And at the hearing we had in Iowa, the
field hearing, we had a lot of great employers, some of the
biggest ones in Iowa, many of whom hire a lot of veterans. Some
of whom are defense contractors and hire a lot of veterans who
have those skill sets they are looking for in their civilian
workforce. And as the chairman noted they have much more
sophistication in trying to make that translation than a lot of
small business owners who frankly do not even know where to go
to try to make that determination. So I would be interested in
both of your thoughts on what we can do to provide a
centralized Rosetta Stone, if you will, that will help us
definitively bridge this gap which most people believe is one
of the most serious obstacles veterans have in marketing
themselves to civilian employers.
Mr. Coy. I will make a couple of comments, sir. VA is
incredibly supportive of what DOL is doing with respect to
this. I would agree with Mr. Ortiz that there are multiple
systems out there. And I think our initial discussions have
been let us take a look at what is out there now and do that
sort of analysis. For example, VA just finished their program
called VA for Vets, of which they also have a translator of
MOSs of civil service jobs within VA. And so looking at those
challenges of those various structures that are out there, VA
has our VetSuccess.gov Web site, and that also has an MOS
translator. I would agree that across the board veterans are
looking out at all of these things and looking to us, DOL and
VA, and DoD to some extent, to tell them which is the
translator that we need to use. And so you have the veteran
perspective. You also have the employer's perspective that you
very articulated, such that employers do not know where to go
into and take a look at these things. I get employers that come
in to my office often and saying, this is what I do. I want to
hire 300 vets. How do I go about doing that? Where do I find
them and what do I do? So it is a unique challenge. And I would
agree, and we are very enthusiastic about working with DOL to
make sure that we come up with a good solution to this.
Mr. Ortiz. Along those same lines, sir, I think one of the
things that we have, all of us have come together around is the
veteran job bank that the President announced that is a place
where a lot of these things are housed. It is part of the
National Resource Directory. And right there is one point where
anyone, including employers, can put their information or
access information. And our young men and women can actually go
in there. We just got results about a week ago, where we wanted
to see what was happening, and who went in there, and so on.
Our servicemembers were in there. We went from zero when it
opened up on the 7th of November and within 1 month we had over
200,000 hits. And a lot of them, 49 percent were from the Army.
And then the other services fell right in place. And they were
talking specifically on things of that nature.
But you know, there is also another piece to this. Our one
stops have information. I am going to pass it over to Ms. Fiala
to give you an understanding of what the one stop may have
also.
Ms. Fiala. Thanks. Very quickly, the one stop delivery
system is a decentralized system, a partnership if you will
between the Department of Labor as well as states and local
workforce areas. And there are nearly 3,000 one stop career
centers located around the United States, either full service
or ancillary service centers. Plus there also is a virtual
access to one stop services. And these centers are charged with
providing information on job openings and the skills required
for those jobs. They are required to provide information on how
to translate, assess individual skills, and perhaps reshape
resumes if you will to communicate to employers the skills and
abilities of an individual to fill job openings.
Mr. Braley. And let me just interrupt you for a second.
Ms. Fiala. Yes?
Mr. Braley. I mean, one of the things we keep hearing is
that a lot of employers do not even use resumes any more. They
use an online application process----
Ms. Fiala. Exactly.
Mr. Braley [continuing]. That is tailored to their
employment needs to analyze a high number of applicants in a
short period of time. And the reason why I bring this up is
because it is a symbol of the changing nature of the workforce
and how we have thought traditionally of helping people update
their resumes when that may no longer be a priority to a lot of
employers.
Ms. Fiala. And that is true. And in those centers there
computer resources there for everyone to be able to go online
and respond to employers who have required applications be
submitted online. And I wanted to go back a little bit to My
Next Move for Veterans, because I think that it is an excellent
example of an electronic service. In that case veterans can go
into my next move and literally find jobs, they can figure out
what military skills translate to civilian jobs, learn what
they need and communicate to employers and actually apply for
jobs. Because it drills down to actual job openings in
communities.
Mr. Braley. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Stutzman. Thank you. Mr. Bilirakis.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it.
Thank you for holding this hearing. Mr. Ortiz, you mentioned in
your testimony and we talked just now about the one stop career
centers, and they will play a key role in implementing the
Veterans Retraining Assistance Program. But it will be
challenge to link the 3,000 centers with VA. We spend over, it
is my understanding we spend over $165 million per year on the
Disabled Veterans Outreach Program, the DVOP specialists, and
then also the local veterans employment representatives. Their
job is to find training and employment opportunities for
veterans. Do you think they should play a central role in
coordinating the validation of the employment status and
providing eligible applicants names to a central source, either
at the Veterans Employment and Training Services or at the VA?
Should they play a central role?
Mr. Ortiz. Well sir, I----
Mr. Bilirakis. Mr. Ortiz, thank you.
Mr. Ortiz. Yes, sir. Through the normal intake process that
is conducted by the one stop staff, sir, veterans are
identified. And if they meet the eligibility requirements they
go to our DVOP and LVERs depending on their needs. If there is
an absence of a DVOP and LVER the actual one stop personnel
work on that. As for the question will they play a major role
in this effort? Am I understanding your question, sir?
Mr. Bilirakis. Yes, sir.
Mr. Ortiz. Yes, sir, they will. Because no matter what in
the 2011 piece when the individuals come in from 35 to 60 years
old they need to have somebody to give them counseling. If they
are a veteran they are going to be referred to our DVOP and
LVERs directly. I want to pass this question over to Gerri.
Mr. Bilirakis. Please. Please.
Mr. Ortiz. Because she can tell you a little bit more as
far as the connectivity, sir.
Ms. Fiala. I guess I would just add, because I think that
is a good description, is DVOPs and LVERs are generally located
in one stop career centers. And a veteran would walk into a
reception area. And if they identify themselves as a veteran,
they are going to be referred to DVOPs and LVERs for
specialized services and counseling. There may be some centers
where there is not direct access to a DVOP or LVER. In that
case they would be served by, through the one stop staff to
ensure that their needs are addressed right away.
We have a priority of service within the one stops for
veterans, regardless of whether they are in the age group which
is targeted by Section 211 or in general. So that when a
veteran walks into a one stop they will receive priority of
service.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you very much. Mr. Coy, in your
testimony you mentioned that your primary outreach plan for the
Veterans Retraining Assistance Program included using the G.I.
Web site and Facebook page. While these are great tools, how
are you going to reach out to the veterans, the targeted
population is between 35 and 60, those who may not be high tech
and do not use Facebook or the internet. Do you have a plan?
Mr. Coy. Yes and no. I would like to go back to something
that Mr. Ortiz mentioned. We also with respect to your
questions about DVOPs and LVERs, we have DVOPs and LVERs
colocated in each one of our 57 regional offices within VA. And
our VR&E counselors work very, very closely with those DVOPs
and LVERs. So we are already plugged into that DOL, DVOP, and
LVER network.
With respect to the communication plan, we have a draft
communication plan. But we plan on not only using, you know,
our GI Bill Web site, our GI Bill social media sites, we also
have our state approving agencies, we have VSOs in our
communication plan. We have the approved community colleges. We
have the non-college degree program facilities. As I mentioned,
we have 57 regional offices. We have over 800 VA voc rehab
counselors that are going to get the word out. We have 147 VA
medical centers that we are going to leverage and that
infrastructure. Our 200 VA VETS Centers. Our 240 plus community
based outpatient clinics. We are including this program as
well, updating our TAP presentation. We have a call center that
we are also going to be updating to ensure that our call center
representatives have that information. We are going to push
emails out through our ebenefits system. We are going to also
do what we can to leverage Mr. Ortiz' 3,000 one stops that they
have. So the yes and no question is we have a draft
communication plan. We plan on leveraging all of those
infrastructure items as well as not just the GI Bill and those
social media sites.
Mr. Bilirakis. What about a national advertising campaign?
Mr. Coy. We do not have that in our current program budget,
if you will. But we certainly would love to have something like
that and we will look at that. As I mentioned, our
communication plan right now is in its draft format.
Mr. Bilirakis. Okay. Very good. I would love to work with
you on that.
Mr. Coy. Yes, sir.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I yield
back.
Mr. Stutzman. Okay, thank you. Mr. Walz.
Mr. Walz. Well, thank you Mr. Chairman and the Ranking
Member for holding this, and thank you to all of you for the
work with veterans and the commitment we are all on this team
together and trying to get it right. I think some great points
got brought up. I am going to go back to, I know that I am a
broken record on this, and it is once again the lack of
seamless transition. Once again we do not have armed services
folks here with us, or talking with them on that. I bring up we
recently had the honor of hiring one of our heroes in our
office, Brendon Gehrke sitting behind me, a Marine that just
got out 2 months ago, did his TAP program. No representative
from the VA at his TAP. So I know that it is still falling
through the cracks. They are not getting the tools. I think,
the thing I noticed in here that I think is the most effective,
and I would argue that this is again, your efforts are going in
all the right directions I believe. But we have to figure out
this seamless transition piece that every year we come back to.
But this idea of allowing servicemembers to begin the process
before they are actually out, I have a story in Minnesota, the
34th Division, the Red Bulls, have been deployed again. They
are in Iraq right now as part of the final wrap up there, and
Kuwait. The Department of Economic Development, along with the
Veterans, the Commissioner and the Veterans Affairs in
Minnesota, has identified every single person on that
deployment status, work status. They have identified 511 who
would probably be looking for work on the way back. They have
matched them up to employers in Minnesota. And by the time
January comes along they will have 100 percent of people placed
into the community they are going back to when they are done.
Now we do not have to pay unemployment benefits. We do not have
the drop off. We have some security for the family and we know
it is coming.
I think it is possible with some technology and some
commanders' initiative on this for us to implement that. I just
thought I would get maybe some of your folks feedback on that.
And we know people make transitions. They get out. They may
move to another state. But especially with our Guardsmen, I
think we are going to have a zero percent unemployment on a
returning brigade combat team. And that is pretty impressive.
And it saves money.
So I do not know if you have any insight on that, if there
are more ways we can do that, or if this issue of seamless
transition would help us if we did more?
Mr. Ortiz. I think you hit the nail on the head on a few
things. The biggest thing is the TAP. The Vow Act, actually
making TAP mandatory has probably given us the best tool that
we can give to our returning servicemembers, and our Guards and
Reservists. This is because it gives them at least the basic
tools. The basic toolkit, if you will, for transitioning
servicemembers to be able to walk out, get what they need, go
to the right places and get the information that they need in
order to be successful in finding a job. We have been working,
including Mr. Coy and myself on the task force to do a lot of
these things that you mentioned.
Mr. Walz. So you think this is, like with Brendon, and that
is exactly what he mentioned, that his folks did not know about
the tools. They are out there. They do not search the VA Web
site. They do not know anything about the VA. They are 24-year-
old Marines coming out, or whatever. And this new, you think
that now he should be one of the last ones that miss that
opportunity, and this next group should be hitting it?
Mr. Ortiz. Sir, we hope that is the truth. And I think we
are heading in the right direction. As you know, I have a
vested interest in that myself. It is important for our young
men and women to have that capability. I think one of the
biggest things that we are seeing right now, that the services
are also realizing, that mandatory TAP, at least the two pieces
are important. The VA benefit piece, and the transition
employment workshop. Those two pieces are very, very important.
Mr. Walz. Do you think culturally they are getting that,
Mr. Ortiz? That the services are getting that? Because I mean I
know it is, this is kind of hard for them. As a sergeant major
for me, I am telling my first sergeants do whatever you can to
get them to reenlist. And my concern was to keep them in
uniform. But I also cared when they left. But I mean, we put a
lot of pressure on them to fill their numbers, keep them up.
They cannot spend a lot of time preparing to go work at Joe's
Roofing, or whatever it is. Are we getting that right, and
giving them time and the resources? I am just curious on your
insight of, you talk about the Department of Labor. How about
the service?
Mr. Ortiz. Sir, I tell you what, I spent the last 2 weeks
in different summits and speaking to different services. Both
myself and Curt have had some exposure on this directly. The
services do get it. They understand it. The Vice Chief himself
gets it. And says you commanders are going to do what needs to
be done. You sergeant majors, go out there and take care of the
troops like you are supposed to.
We are living in a time when we are bringing back our
troops. We need to give them the tools they need to be
successful. And it is happening, sir. It is happening very
much. And the Vow Act is going to help implement a lot of those
things directly.
Mr. Walz. Well, again, thank you for your commitment to
veterans. Thank you for coming and updating us and leading
forward on this. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Stutzman. Thank you. Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Coy, first of all
thanks for providing the timelines.
Mr. Coy. Yes, sir.
Mr. Johnson. Can you give us some additional information on
the timeline of events for implementation of the training
provision, such as the first checks going out in August?
Mr. Coy. Absolutely. As I think you have it up there, and
you may have it in front of you, we started very aggressively
working through the timeline. One of the questions I had
earlier was why are you paying in August and not sooner, if you
will? We cannot start any programs until 1 July. So August,
once we got the information, we would be able to reimburse and
start paying in August, that is the point of August, or the
timeline for the August pay.
This notional schedule as we walk through it, you can see
that we believe that in the next few weeks we are going to be
able to finalize the MOUs, the charter, the schedule. It is a
breathing document. This is just sort of a snapshot of those
key dates that we have in there. But looking at the various
systems that you see on there, whether they be BDN, VA1s, ECAP,
the generated letters, we are all shooting toward starting to
accept the requests for the eligibility determinations by May.
And starting the payment system procedures, we are going to use
the same payment system that we currently have for Montgomery
GI Bill. We pay currently about 180,000, I think last year if
my numbers are correct, 185,000 service, or veterans, received
Montgomery GI Bill payments last year. So adding 45,000 this
year on an existing payment system we think will lessen and
mitigate some of those risks.
So I would be happy to answer any of the specific
questions----
Mr. Johnson. That is okay. You have answered, and that is
good. Can you explain how employment service staff will provide
retraining and VR&E applicants' names to the VA?
Mr. Coy. That is one of the procedures and one of the pass
throughs that is one of the complex problems we have not
figured out yet, to be quite frank. We have begun those
discussions but I do not have an answer right now.
Mr. Johnson. Do you have a time frame to resolve that?
Mr. Coy. I do not have that in front of me, but I will be
happy to get back to you, sir.
Mr. Johnson. Okay.
Mr. Coy. And get you that information.
Mr. Johnson. All right. And I would appreciate that. During
implementation of the Post 9/11 Act VA set up a system where
users could sign up and get email alerts when more information
on the implementation of the Post 9/11 GI Bill was posted on
the GI Bill Web site. Do you have similar plans for this
retraining provision?
Mr. Coy. I will let Keith answer that question. He was our
Post 9/11 GI Bill implementer. If anybody knows anything about
implementation of Post 9/11 it is Mr. Wilson.
Mr. Wilson. Thank you for the question. The short answer is
yes. We have that capability built into our existing systems.
We have what we refer to as right now web capabilities through
our internet web page, and we create different topics and
individuals can sign up for updates on those topics. We plan on
doing the same type of procedure for this piece of legislation
as well, yes.
Mr. Johnson. Okay. What, or how will you reach out to VR&E
applicants or participants about the new eligibility that is
provided under the Vow Act?
Mr. Coy. I would suggest that is another one of those key
challenges. It is both a technology challenge and it is a pass
over the transom challenge between us and DOL. We have begun
those discussions but we, I do not have an answer right now,
sir. But we will make sure that the Committee and your staff is
updated as we go down that path.
Mr. Johnson. Okay. One more, one more, Mr. Coy. Can you
please tell us why the plan to implement Section 233 that
provided additional VR&E benefits on June 12, 2012, when the
deadline for implementation is listed in the law as June 1,
2012?
Mr. Coy. That is meant to be 2012, not June 12.
Mr. Johnson. Okay.
Mr. Coy. And so we hope and expect to be ahead of this
schedule. But quite frankly, sir, what we wanted to do is lay
out the steps that we needed to accomplish for each one of
those steps to implement the law. And as you can see, we expect
to develop all of those verification procedures next month. We
expect to develop the training between January, February, and
March. Deliver that training and policy to the field
personnel----
Mr. Johnson. So you are anticipating it all being there
prior to June 1?
Mr. Coy. Absolutely, yes, sir.
Mr. Johnson. On or before June 1? Okay.
Mr. Coy. And the June 12, June 1-2, was June of 2012.
Mr. Johnson. Okay. All right. Great. All right, that is all
the questions I have, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Stutzman. Thank you. I have just got a couple of follow
up questions. And then if anybody else wants to ask any
additional questions we will do that. But for Mr. Ortiz, would
veterans who are no longer looking for work and are considered
not in the labor market be eligible for the retraining
provisions?
Mr. Ortiz. Yes, sir. If they are unemployed, yes sir, they
would be.
Mr. Stutzman. Okay. All right. And then can you kind of
just give us just a minute or two on, just how is this all
going to work? Just broad strokes. We all know this is just
getting started here. But kind of just how do you foresee this
starting? And hopefully by the time we have the next hearing
some of the things that are hanging out there that you
mentioned, where you might be at?
Mr. Coy. I will do a quick intro and then pass it over to
Keith who has helped us develop the entire project plan. I will
just make a quick statement with respect to implementation of
this particular law. I have been a senior executive within the
government for over 11 years now. I served in the Navy for 24
years. I do not think I have ever been associated with anything
that between two government agencies that we have been more
proactive in going after this for the common cause. There is no
one up and down the chain in each agency that is not a firm
believer in what we are trying to accomplish here. So the
enthusiasm of the boots on the ground, from the senior staff
down to the IT specialists, are all on board.
Keith can, I will ask Keith to walk through the schedule
and how he is physically doing it. But as I indicated earlier
we are having daily hot washups, weekly hot washups. We are
quite frankly tired of seeing each other, because we are
meeting so much.
Mr. Stutzman. You will get a Christmas break here
hopefully----
Mr. Wilson. Let me start by thanking the Committee again
for engaging us from the technical perspective. Engaging us
early on allowed us to leverage a lot of the existing systems
we have in place right now and that has made the lift much more
manageable on this. We have had a lot of discussions over the
past couple of weeks with Department of Labor. Our discussions
have gone beyond the 50,000-foot level and are really more at
the granular level right now. The overall manner in which we
see this process working is number one, a web portal that would
be stood up by the Department of Labor that will be completed
by the individuals at the one stop centers. The one stops will
be the initial intake point of contact for this. The
information that will be collected there will meet the needs of
both VA and Department of Labor. We do not expect for the
veterans to have to apply once again for VA benefits when we
are at the point of making our eligibility determinations. So
we will have that single piece of information. That portal that
Labor is setting up will come through a new gateway we are
establishing within our image management system now, which is
how we process and manage all of our education claims right
now. That pass through is going to put that work into queue in
front of the claims examiners that work our education claims
right now.
Once Department of Labor has done their determinations, the
person is unemployed, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, information
is transmitted over to VA that allows us to make our
determinations, processing it as an education claim just like
any other education benefit we administer.
Leveraging that capability then allows us to use the
internal interfaces we have now between our processing systems
and our payment systems. So we will simply process those
claims. For those people that we determine eligible, we already
have the mechanism to transmit information into our payment
system and then into Treasury. So that will be the vehicle that
payments will use to get out the door.
Mr. Stutzman. Thank you.
Mr. Ortiz. Sir, I cannot say anything more than what Mr.
Coy said as far as the amount of collaboration that has
happened between our two agencies has been nothing less than
outstanding. As Mr. Coy and I are both military members, we are
looking at it almost like an operational plan. We have been
given a task and we are doing what needs to be done to make
sure that task is accomplished. We are meeting and on his side
he is meeting on an internal basis constantly, we are doing the
same thing on our side. And the idea of being able to share
this information without any kind of prejudice or restrictions
in any way, shape, or form. We are here to do one thing and one
thing only, that is to make sure that we take care of our
troops. Bottom line. To make sure that we do what we need to do
in order to make sure that they get the tools they need to be
successful. So that when they come out they do not have to
worry about having to look for a job, or having to pay a
considerable amount of unemployment compensation in order for
services, while they look for a job.
So yes, there are some challenges. There are some things
that we need to do. We need to be able to do our systems, our
technology pieces, and so on. But we are, we are working on it.
You asked, Mr. Chairman, how is this going to turn out? This is
going to be successful. As far as we are concerned it is going
to do what needs to be done. It may take some time, and it may
take some effort, and hopefully you all will be patient in how
we accomplish this. But we have a lot of great people that are
doing what needs to be done to make it happen.
I am going to pass it over to Gerri to give you an idea of
the intensity with which we have been working on this.
Ms. Fiala. Thank you. I will not add much. I think you
actually have heard the intensity and the commitment voiced by
both of the agencies. I would just simply say to begin to make
this work we are going to reach out to all our respective
stakeholders to make sure that both the veterans that are
targeted by the Vow Act, as well as the employers, who need to
be informed and encouraged to hire them, have the information
about the services and about how they can benefit from what you
have established. We will be providing clear guidance on both
sides of the system. We are going to promote this with all of
our employer partners, from the United States Chamber of
Commerce on down to make sure that everyone gets the
information.
You have heard that there are some challenges. But our
staff actually met Tuesday for almost 8 hours to begin to work
out the technical challenges so that our systems can talk to
each other and can make sure that there is one form to be
filled out, there is one set of information and that it does
flow from one agency to the other. There will be challenges
because we have a decentralized public workforce system and a
highly centralized system for the GI Bill. And we are going to
ensure that we can share the data and respect the privacy, both
of the individuals who are applying and can benefit from the
system, as well as the security concerns for the agencies.
Mr. Stutzman. And I appreciate that from all of you.
Because, as Mr. Walz always says we cannot afford not to get
this right. We have to get this right. And I know you all know
that. And you know, expectations are high for all of us. And we
have to answer to people back home and I know you, you are
answering to not only our vets but to this committee. And we
want to make sure that we are here to help but also to hold
everybody accountable as well to make sure that this is done
right. Because these guys and gals are coming home, and we want
to make sure that they are coming home to the best situation
that we can possibly provide. So, Mr. Braley.
Mr. Braley. Mr. Wilson, I understand you are going to be
leaving us soon. And we want to thank you for the tremendous
work that you have done on behalf of our veterans. And I know
everyone on the Committee joins me in wishing you the best in
everything you do in the future. And I know that a lot of times
the work that you and others do is unseen by our Nation's
veterans and underappreciated. But I just wanted to acknowledge
the tremendous efforts you have made. We really appreciate it.
Mr. Wilson. Thank you.
Mr. Braley. Mr. Ortiz, I just have a question about the
next item on the timeline which it seems to be allocated to
your agency, and that is the uptake analysis of the top ten
states with the highest number of unemployed veterans with a
timeline of February, 2012. Can you give us some sense of where
we are heading into next year with that coming up on the
horizon?
Mr. Ortiz. Sir, I will get back to you on it. Sir, we are
working on the different angles and I will make sure I get back
to you for the record, sir.
Mr. Braley. Okay. The other question I raised in my opening
statement, and I will pose for you and Mr. Coy both, and that
is the VR&E benefits and the alarming counselor to veteran
ratio that we have had in the past that I mentioned of one to
136. My question to both of you is how are we dealing with that
ratio moving forward? Do we have enough counselors? If not,
what are we going to do about it? Are we looking at ways to
maximize the benefits of those existing counselors through
programs like telecounseling? And what are the outreach
programs that we are targeting?
Mr. Coy. I will take that first, if that is all right with
Mr. Ortiz. For VR&E counselors, this fiscal year in 2012 we
have allotted an additional 110 VR&E counselors, mostly
stationed at our IDES sites. And so we are on our way to ensure
that we can try and reduce that caseload with respect to that.
I cannot speak for the fiscal year 2013 and on budgets, if you
will. But we believe that with the preplanning of the IDES
sites and the collaboration between the services, our IDES
coordinators and Ruth Fanning's VR&E folks, we should have most
of those concerns taken care of.
Mr. Braley. Thank you.
Mr. Ortiz. In our case the flexibility of our DVOPs and
LVERs to be able to work with VA and their VR&E counselors is
probably going to be the most effective piece that we have
right now, sir.
Mr. Stutzman. Okay. Mr. Walz? Okay. All right. Well that
concludes the questions. I just I would like to make just one
follow up to Mr. Walz' suggestion about what they are doing in
Minnesota in identifying those who are unemployed. I think that
is something that we could follow up on. I appreciate that
suggestion. And it is something that we could work on right
away in the near future. I think that is, it would be valuable
for us to look at that, and also for you all as well.
I want to thank you all for being here today. And I know we
will be meeting again soon. And I appreciate your input and the
work that you are doing. As I mentioned earlier, this is
important to all of us and especially our veterans. And so at
this point I would like to ask unanimous consent that all
members have five legislative days to revise and extend their
remarks on today's hearing. Hearing no objection, so ordered. I
want to wish you all a happy holiday season, and again I know
we have veterans that are coming home for the holidays
thankfully and we cannot wait until they are home safe and
sound. So at this point, if there is no further business, we
are adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:14 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
Prepared Statement of Honorable Marlin A. Stutzman, Chairman,
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
Good morning. We are here today to begin this Subcommittee's review
of the implementation of Public Law 112-56, the Vow to Hire Heroes Act
of 2011. This will be just the first in a series of oversight hearings
we will hold through July of next year.
This bipartisan and bicameral legislation was signed into law by
President Obama in November and is the culmination of many months of
work by this Committee to reduce unemployment among veterans. These
efforts began with oversight hearings by this Subcommittee last winter
which led to the introduction and passage of H.R. 2433, the Veteran
Opportunity to Work Act of 2011 earlier this fall.
The major provision of both H.R. 2433 and the Vow to Hire Heroes
Act is the temporary extension of Montgomery GI Bill benefits to
eligible veterans to receive up to 1 year of training at a community
college or technical school for in-demand occupations. Eligible
veterans would have to be between the ages of 35 and 60, be unemployed,
and not have eligibility for other VA education programs.
Latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that there
are an estimated 531,000 unemployed veterans between the ages of 35 and
64. This represents about two thirds of all of unemployed veterans in
this country. It is this population that this program is intended to
help, and it is our obligation to ensure that VA and VETS meet the July
1, 2011 implementation deadline so this provision can help this group
of aging veterans as quickly as possible.
While there are many other worthwhile provisions in the Vow Act,
the implementation of this provision and the provision extending
vocational rehabilitation benefits to veterans who have passed their
delimiting date will be the Subcommittee's focus.
While I am aware that the legislation was only signed into law a
few weeks ago, I am anxious to hear about the progress VA and DOL have
been making on implementation and their plans for future collaboration
as required by law.
I can't stress enough that the proper implementation of this law is
extremely critical, and as such I want to put both agencies on notice
that this will be this Subcommittee's top priority in the next session
of Congress and we need your help in identifying obstacles and problems
as soon as possible so we can work them out and get this law
implemented.
Together we can ensure that our veterans are not cheated out of
this wonderful benefit because of bureaucratic delays or hurdles. Our
veterans deserve and will receive nothing less.
I thank our witness for being here today to inform us on the
progress the departments have made, and I now yield to the
distinguished Ranking Member from the great state of Iowa for any
remarks he may have.
Prepared Statement of Honorable Bruce L. Braley,
Ranking Democratic Member
I'm very proud to have worked with this Committee to pass the Vow
to Hire Heroes Act. I am optimistic this legislation is a step in the
right direction for putting our veterans back to work. In August, I
introduced the Combat Veterans Back to Work Act, which provided tax
incentives to employers to hire veterans and recently returned
servicemembers. I am pleased that the Vow Act includes tax incentives
for hiring veterans that I've been pushing for all year.
Additionally, in October, I joined Chairman Stutzman to host two
field hearings--one in Iowa and one in Indiana--that focused on
veterans' unemployment. One of the things that came up at these
hearings was the need to help returning servicemembers translate their
military skills to civilian skills, which is why I am pleased that the
Vow Act includes veterans retraining. This will help ensure that they
have the skills necessary to be competitive in today's tough job
market.
Section 211 of this bill, which focuses on retraining, has an
implementation date of July, 2012. This new program will be very
beneficial for older veterans that have exhausted their educational
benefits or other available VA vocational programs. It is my hope that
the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Labor have already
begun discussions on how to jointly carry out this program and
administer this section as scheduled. This interagency program will
help change the lives of 99,000 unemployed veterans.
Section 233 of the Vow to Hire Heroes Act provides disabled
veterans up to 12 months of additional Vocational Rehabilitation and
Employment (VR&E) benefits. In the past we've had hearings and
discussions surrounding VR&E counselors' workload. During our March
hearing we expressed our concerns with the VR&E veteran-to-counselor
ratio of 1:136.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on what steps
will be taken to ensure that there is adequate staff at VR&E who are
prepared to handle proper implementation of this section. I hope the VA
is ready to discuss how they will prepare to handle additional workload
without sacrificing the counseling services veterans need.
Prepared Statement of Ismael Ortiz, Jr., Acting Assistant Secretary,
Veterans' Employment and Training Service, U.S. Department of Labor
Good morning Chairman Stutzman, Ranking Member Braley, and
distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for your
invitation to participate in today's hearing on the implementation of
the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 (Vow). This legislation is an
integral part of President Obama's efforts to ensure that America
fulfills its obligations to our returning servicemembers, veterans, and
their families. The Vow Act also incorporates several important
components of the American Jobs Act, including the Wounded Warrior and
Returning Heroes Tax Credits. The bill garnered broad bipartisan
support in Congress and the President signed it into law on November
21, 2011.
Although recent data from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics shows that payrolls have climbed and the unemployment rate
has dropped to a 2-year low, we need faster economic growth to put
Americans back to work. Moreover, high unemployment rates among
veterans remain an area of concern. The Vow Act is intended to lower
the unemployment rates of veterans by providing a broad array of new
and expanded services to assist them in acquiring the enhanced skills
needed to compete in today's labor market and thus facilitate veterans'
return to work.
The Department of Labor (DOL) has various responsibilities under
the Vow Act; however, per the Subcommittee's request, my testimony
today will focus on section 211, the ``Veterans Retraining Assistance
Program'' (VRAP), and section 233, ``Training and Rehabilitation for
Veterans Who Have Exhausted Rights to Unemployment Compensation Under
State Law''. I am particularly grateful for this opportunity to discuss
DOL's collaborative efforts with the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) to implement and administer these two provisions in a coordinated
and cost-effective way that will facilitate eligible veterans' access
to the valuable services available under the law.
The Vow Act recognizes that providing comprehensive services to
veterans requires Federal agencies to work together, leverage
collective resources, and streamline processes. The Department is fully
committed to working with our Federal partners to implement the Act. We
believe that this commitment is demonstrated not only by DOL and VA's
recent collaboration on sections 211 and 233 of the Vow, but also by
other ongoing efforts in support of our Nation's veterans. Therefore,
before I turn to a discussion of the Vow Act, I want to update you on
some of our other recent work with the VA.
On November 7th, 2011, the President and DOL announced the ``Gold
Card Initiative'' which offers a set of intensive services to post-9/11
veterans through DOL's nationwide network of approximately 3,000 One-
Stop Career Centers. The goal of this initiative is to jump-start the
job search process for post-9/11 veterans through enhanced in-person
services that help them reconnect to the civilian labor force. In order
to maximize outreach, DOL partnered with the VA to ensure that the
promotion of the Gold Card was visible through both DOL and VA
resources, including posting easy-to-access links on our respective Web
sites.
On the same day, the Administration launched a new Veterans Jobs
Bank, an easy-to-use tool to help connect veterans looking for jobs
with employers looking to hire them. It already allows veterans to
search nearly one million job postings and is still growing. In a few
easy steps, employers can make sure the job postings on their own Web
sites are part of this Veterans Jobs Bank. The Veterans Job Bank is
found at http://www.nrd.gov/, the National Resource Directory, which
has been a successful joint effort and example of past collaboration
among DOL, VA, and the Department of Defense.
Interagency collaboration is an essential component in ensuring
that the public workforce system effectively implements the
requirements of this legislation. For example, DOL plans to consult
with the VA in preparing guidance related to the recent revisions to
the Post-9/11 GI Bill. This guidance will be issued to the One-Stop
Career Center line staff and Disabled Veterans Outreach Program
Specialists and Local Veterans Employment Representatives so that they
are familiar with these revisions. The guidance will also help them tap
into the resources made available in the GI Bill to better direct
veterans to training and other such services critical to helping
veterans attain the credentials necessary to secure employment.
The Veterans Retraining Assistance Program
Section 211 of the Vow establishes the Veterans Retraining
Assistance Program (VRAP) for unemployed veterans aged 35 to 60. The
VRAP, which entitles eligible veterans to retraining assistance for up
to 12 months when they pursue a qualified program or training, must be
up and running no later than July 1, 2012. The Vow Act specifies that
VA and DOL will jointly administer the process for determining
veterans' eligibility for VRAP. Specifically, DOL will be responsible
for determining applicants' initial eligibility based on age,
employment status, and previous participation in other job training
programs. Following DOL's determination, the VA is required to certify
applicants based on several additional criteria, such as the conditions
of the applicants' discharge and eligibility for other forms of
assistance. Other DOL-specific requirements include identifying the
high-demand occupations that will be the focus of VRAP training, and
contacting veterans within 30 days of completing or terminating the
VRAP training to inform them of the employment placement services that
are available to them. The Vow Act also requires DOL to work with VA to
establish a process for resolving appeals of eligibility determinations
made by the agencies. DOL and VA are still discussing the processes and
systems that will be used to carry-out the VRAP program but it is very
likely that the One-Stop Career Center System will play a key role.
Before the Vow Act was enacted, DOL and VA had already initiated
planning to get a head start on implementation of this critical
legislation. During the next 7 months leading up to the July 1, 2012
deadline for the commencement of VRAP, we will accomplish the following
milestones that will be jointly-managed by DOL and VA:
Establish a Memorandum of Agreement and a Project Charter
delineating agency specific processes and responsibilities covering
participants' initial intake through completion of the VRAP program;
Seek consultations on process design with veterans
employment and training experts in state and local workforce agencies
and other appropriate stakeholder organizations representing veterans'
interests;
Design, test and implement customized application
processing systems to manage DOL and VA's joint responsibilities under
the VRAP program;
Develop, test and implement enrollment and participant
tracking system(s) to enable the agencies to report program results;
and
Develop and execute outreach and technical assistance
strategies to both stakeholders and program delivery staff.
We have identified two major operational and implementation
challenges which will need to be addressed over the next few weeks as
we complete the Project Charter and Memorandum of Agreement. First, we
must find a way to connect, and facilitate a successful interaction
between the public workforce system--a decentralized, nationwide
network of approximately 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers managed though a
combination of Federal, state, and local partnerships--and the VA's
Federally-centralized GI Bill system. Second, we need to develop a
mechanism to enable DOL and VA to appropriately access each other's
administrative and performance data systems, so that we can ensure the
successful execution of the VRAP, while also protecting the agencies'
respective privacy and data sharing agreements and requirements.
Expanded Benefits for Veterans with Service Related Disabilities
Section 233 of the Vow amends current law to allow individuals with
service-connected disabilities who have exhausted Unemployment
Insurance (UI) benefits under state law to seek assistance from
additional rehabilitation programs specified in the legislation. The VA
is primarily responsible for the administration of this provision;
however, DOL will have a key role in developing the eligibility
determination process. To avail themselves of the assistance provided
for under section 233, applicants must have exhausted their rights to
regular compensation under State law and must not be receiving
unemployment compensation under Canadian law. Because there is
currently no single unified system that can be used to determine
whether a person has exhausted his or her rights to regular
compensation under State law, we expect that State UI agencies would be
involved in making this determination. DOL is exploring possible
operational methods to successfully execute this provision. In
particular, we are examining the process utilized in other Federal
benefit programs, such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), that would
allow state UI agencies to be reimbursed for the workload in making the
necessary determinations.
Additionally, while we can determine if someone is receiving
unemployment benefits based on wages in both the United States and in
Canada, we do not, at present, have the ability to determine if an
individual is eligible for Canadian unemployment benefits solely based
upon the wages the person earned in Canada. DOL anticipates that we
will need to review Canadian confidentiality laws to ascertain if there
are any existing, reasonable methods to reliably obtain that
information.
Other Provisions of Note
In addition to sections 211 and 233, the Vow contains several
provisions that are designed to enhance the Department's current
activities and programs targeted towards veterans. These enhancements
include, but are not limited to: (1) required participation in the
Transition Assistance Program, which designed to increase veterans'
awareness and utilization of the employment, education, and training
programs that are available to them; (2) increased veterans' access to
apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs; (3) clarified priority
of service reporting requirements within the public workforce system;
(4) identification of skill equivalencies between military and civilian
occupations; and (5) amendment and expansion of the categories of
veterans eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. The Department,
working in collaboration with other Federal agencies, as needed, is
actively developing a strategic plan to implement these provisions
within the time frames contained in the Vow Act.
Conclusion
Mr. Chairman, as I stated earlier, both DOL and VA are committed to
the full and speedy implementation of the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of
2011 in support of veterans' success in the civilian labor market. We
will keep you and the Subcommittee apprised of implementation
milestones through regular briefings, as requested.
Members of the Committee, this concludes my statement. I would be
pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Prepared Statement of Curtis L. Coy, Deputy Under Secretary
for Economic Opportunity, Veterans Benefits Administration,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Good morning, Chairman Stutzman, Ranking Member Braley, and Members
of the Subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you
today to discuss the progress made by the Department Veterans Affairs
(VA) toward implementing the provisions in title II of Public Law 112-
56, the ``Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011.'' I am accompanied today by
Mr. Keith Wilson, Director of VA's Education Service. My testimony will
discuss the relevant sections of the legislation and explain how we
plan to address them, with particular emphasis on section 211.
Many of the provisions outlined in the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of
2011 closely align with the improvement of economic opportunities for
Veterans. Secretary Shinseki has emphasized that this critical
legislation will materially help our Servicemembers and Veterans with
employment and transition. VA is committed to executing, in
collaboration with other agencies and stakeholders, all provisions of
this law for which we have responsibility, and I have outlined our
coordinated approach in my testimony.
Section 211--The Veterans Retraining Assistance Program
This section requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
establish a program of retraining assistance for eligible Veterans in
collaboration with the Secretary of Labor not later than July 1, 2012.
The number of Veterans who participate in the program may not exceed
45,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2012 and 54,000 during the period beginning
on October 1, 2012, and ending on March 31, 2014, when the authority to
make payments under the program will terminate. Eligible Veterans will
receive the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty (chapter 30) full-time
benefit rate for up to 12 months. Training must be completed at a VA-
approved community college or technical school; it must lead to an
associate degree, certificate, or other record or completion; and the
training must pertain to an occupation deemed by the Department of
Labor (DOL) to be in high demand. The training programs must begin on
or after July 1, 2012, and the authority for VA to make payments ends
on March 31, 2014.
The law establishes a set of criteria that Veterans must meet in
order to participate in the program. VA and DOL must evaluate a
Veteran's age range, employment status, character of discharge, type of
training, and other key elements when determining eligibility. The law
requires VA and DOL to form a close partnership to successfully
implement this retraining assistance program, including establishing a
formal memorandum of agreement with a process for resolving disputes
and appeals. VA and DOL must also track participants, payments, and
degrees awarded, and submit a final report on the impact of the
retraining program to the Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs and
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the House Committees on
Veterans' Affairs and Education and the Workforce.
In mid-November, VA and DOL representatives met to discuss plans
for implementing the provisions of section 211. The participants
identified high-level roles, responsibilities, and decision points, and
discussed a preliminary VA-developed framework for an integrated master
schedule for managing the implementation of this new program. VA also
provided a high-level summary of the claims and payment process from
VA's perspective to initiate collaborative discussions regarding
information sharing and other logistical needs between the two
Departments. At follow-up meetings, representatives from both
Departments discussed how to successfully administer this program
without duplication of effort and within the required time frame,
including existing benefit processing and payment systems within VA,
and One-Stop Career Centers and other Veteran intake centers within
DOL.
Initial DOL responsibilities identified in these meetings center on
conducting initial Veteran intake, making DOL-specific eligibility
determinations (unemployment, high-value career fields, etc.) as
directed by the legislation, and ensuring that required information is
collected and appropriately disseminated to VA. Initial VA
responsibilities include conducting VA-specific eligibility
determinations (eligibility to VA benefits, prior benefit usage),
communicating eligibility decisions, processing enrollment information,
and administering payments. VA is also focused on ensuring mechanisms
are in place to meet the law's extensive reporting requirements.
While VA and DOL are on an excellent track in implementation
planning and tackling the more complex aspects of the law, we
anticipate challenges associated with implementing this program.. The
law requires rapid establishment of a broad partnership between
agencies with vastly different operating structures and information
technology (IT) systems. Provisions of this law, including wide-ranging
eligibility criteria, present IT and logistical challenges in addition
to the increased workload the program generates. The aggressive time
frame also magnifies the complexity of this effort. VA and DOL are
working hard to mitigate these risks using innovative solutions.
To ensure this program's success, VA and DOL staff and leadership
currently participate in weekly meetings to track progress, share
information, and develop implementation strategies. Internally, VA
staff and project leads meet daily to discuss implementation status and
ensure we remain on track to meet the July 1, 2012 deadline.
Additionally, VA is currently developing program management
documentation, including a draft memorandum of agreement to outline the
relationship and operation of the program between VA, DOL, and key
representatives at the executive- and working-group levels.
The implementation of the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program
will include an outreach program for the appropriate target population.
VA will use a variety of means and resources available to raise
awareness about this new retraining benefit program, including the GI
Bill Web site and the Education Service Facebook page.
As VA and DOL work together to successfully implement the new
training program many intricacies will need to be worked out within the
time frame provided by the law.
Enhancements to Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Services
The new law will also enhance services provided by VA's Vocational
Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program. The law extends VA's
authority to provide vocational rehabilitation services to injured,
active-duty Servicemembers, and promotes collaboration between VR&E and
other organizations to provide additional services to aid Veterans'
transition to civilian employment. This law also allows VR&E to fund
special employer incentives for Veterans who did not previously qualify
for on-the-job training. In addition, VR&E can now provide an
additional 12 months of benefits to Veterans who have exhausted their
unemployment benefits, and also is now able to provide additional
services to assist Veterans returning to employment. I would now like
to provide specific information regarding implementation for each of
the VR&E provisions.
Section 222--Individualized assessment on equivalence between military
occupational specialty (MOS) and qualifications for private
sector employment
This section requires DOL, in consultation with the Department of
Defense (DoD) and VA, to contract for a study to identify equivalencies
between MOS-related skills and civilian employment. VA will work with
DOL and DoD to review existing job-skill translators and to support the
analysis required for DoD to comply with the requirement to ensure that
all Transition Assistance Program participants receive an
individualized assessment of civilian positions in the private sector
for which they may qualify based on their military experience. DoD is
expected to begin providing the individualized assessments to
Servicemembers and sharing them with DOL and VR&E in November 2012.
VR&E will be able to immediately use the assessments provided by DoD to
develop education and employment goals for transitioning Veterans that
have applied for VA education or VR&E benefits.
Section 231--Two-year extension to provide Vocational Rehabilitation to
Servicemembers
Section 231 of the bill provides a 2-year extension of section
1631(b)(2) of Public Law 110-181. This provision expedites
rehabilitation services by allowing automatic eligibility and
entitlement to VR&E services to be granted to active-duty
Servicemembers referred by DoD with severe injuries or illnesses
through December 31, 2014. This provision will enable VR&E to provide
rehabilitation services, including career counseling, retraining, and
placement services, to active-duty Servicemembers early in the
disability evaluation process. In addition, it allows VA to help
Servicemembers with maintaining or obtaining a new MOS, or to prepare
them for civilian employment that does not aggravate their service-
connected injuries.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) with DoD is in place, and VR&E
has drafted procedures for immediate implementation. This MOU
implements VR&E counseling for Servicemembers transitioning through the
Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) at designated locations.
Early access to VR&E services and assistance offers Servicemembers
resources that aid their recovery, transition, and reintegration into
civilian life. Eligible Servicemembers will be referred to VR&E if they
are: evaluated by a DoD or VA physician and are determined to have a
severe injury or illness that could cause their referral into the IDES;
assigned to a Service's Wounded Warrior program and are participating
in the Education and Employment Initiative (E2I) program; or being
processed through the IDES and referred to a Physical Evaluation Board.
The IDES project plan, which provides for 110 VR&E counselors to be
stationed at selected IDES sites in FY 2012, will enable aggressive
implementation of this section. VR&E expects to begin providing these
services in February 2012.
Section 232--Expand VA authority to pay employers for on-the-job
training
Section 232 of the bill allows VA to expand the Special Employer
Incentive (SEI) program to employers who hire Veterans participating in
a VR&E program even if the Veteran has not completed a training
program. Prior to this law, a Veteran needed to have completed
rehabilitation services, such as job retraining or education, in order
to qualify for SEI. As a result of this legislation, VR&E will
implement use of the SEI program for Veterans who choose to pursue
employment, even if they were unable to fully complete their training
programs, as well as for those Veterans who pursue a program consisting
of solely employment services. VR&E is drafting procedures and
developing staff training so that this provision may be implemented by
January 20, 2012.
Section 233--Additional VR&E services to Veterans with exhausted rights
to unemployment benefits
Section 233 of the bill entitles Veterans who have completed a VR&E
program and exhausted state unemployment benefits to an additional 12
months of vocational rehabilitation services. This legislative
authority enables VR&E to provide services to Veterans who continue to
struggle in obtaining employment. These services include an additional
short-term training program, extensive job-seeking skills training, and
job-placement services. It also allows for the provision of employment
services to Veterans who are beyond the 12-year delimiting date and are
not determined to have a serious employment handicap. VR&E will work
with DOL to identify and conduct outreach to Veterans who may qualify
for these services. VR&E will be ready to accept referrals and
applications in February 2012 so that rehabilitation programs for these
individuals may be in place on June 1, 2012, the effective date of this
provision.
Sec. 262--Extension of reduced pension for certain veterans covered by
Medicaid plans for services
In section 262, Congress extended through September 30, 2016, the
provisions of 38 U.S.C. Sec. 5503(d), which limit to $90 the pension
payable to certain recipients of Medicaid-covered nursing home care,
and protect that pension payment from being applied to the cost of the
recipient's nursing home care. This limitation was previously set to
expire on May 31, 2015. Because section 262 extends existing authority,
which VA already implemented, we anticipate no delay in implementing
the revised law.
Sec. 264--Extension of authority for Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
obtain information from Secretary of Treasury and Commissioner
of Social Security for income verification purposes
In section 264, Congress extended through September 30, 2016, VA's
authority under 38 U.S.C. Sec. 5317 to enter into data matching
agreements with the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security
Administration. This authority expired on September 30, 2011. VA uses
this authority to identify reporting discrepancies by beneficiaries in
the Department's income-based programs. Because section 264 extends
existing authority, which VA already implemented, we anticipate no
delay in implementing the revised law.
Section 265--Extend VA Home Loan Funding Fees
As you know, on October 5, 2011, Public Law 112-37 extended VA's
home loan funding fees at a higher rate structure through November 17,
2011.
On November 18, those fees reset to a lower rate structure, as
prescribed in statute. In response to the reset, our Home Loan Guaranty
program took action to provide Veterans, our program lenders, and key
industry trade groups with guidance regarding the closing of loans
during this time period. The Home Loan Guaranty program issued a
program policy circular containing the necessary guidance, and posted
that, along with a newsflash, to its Web site. We also ensured that
Treasury's Funding Fee Payment System (FFPS), wherein lenders remit the
funding fees to Treasury, was properly coded with the lower rate
structure.
With the approval of Public Law 112-56 on November 21, funding fees
were once again set at the higher rate structure. Specifically, section
265 of the law amended 38 U.S.C. Sec. 3729(b)(2) by extending VA's
authority to collect certain fees and by adjusting the amount of the
fees, through September 30, 2016. The Home Loan Guaranty program once
again communicated these important program changes to Veterans and the
mortgage industry. VA personally contacted the Home Loan program's
largest lenders and several key industry trade groups to notify them of
the bill signing and of the new funding fee rates. VA also drafted and
posted a new program policy circular, which announced the signing of
the bill, and outlined the fees in effect. This circular, along with
another news update about the bill signing and the new fee rates, was
posted to the Home Loan program's Web site on the day after the bill
was approved. Additionally, VA worked with Treasury to update FFPS with
the current rate structure. We are not aware of any Veterans having
difficulty closing their VA-guaranteed home loans during this time
period.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, there is one provision in the bill not
connected with VBA that relates to ambulance reimbursement. That is a
subject of Veteran Health Administration operations, so I will not
address it in this testimony, other than to note my understanding that
VA has brought one technical issue to the Committee staff's attention,
as well as their counterparts in the Senate.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be pleased to
answer any questions you or other Members of the Subcommittee may have.
MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Deliverable from Department of Veterans Affairs, Received February 1,
2012
Questions from Honorable Bill Johnson to Mr. Curtis Coy, Deputy Under
Secretary for Economic Opportunity, Veterans Benefits
Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Mr. Johnson: Can you explain how employment service staff will
provide retraining and VRE applicants' names to the VA?
Mr. Coy: That's one of the procedures and one that they have passed
through is one of the complex problems. We have not figured it out yet,
to be quite frank. We've begun those discussions, but I don't have an
answer right now.
Mr. Johnson: Do you have a time frame to--to resolve that?
VBA Response: VBA will leverage the existing VA electronic
application system (VONAPP). It will be modified to allow DOL access to
submit Veterans' applications to VA. There is no retraining required
for VBA staff, as VONAPP data is electronically transferred into VA's
processing systems. There would only be minimal training required for
DOL staff to enter the applications, as VONAPP is designed to be used
directly by our Veterans and is therefore user-friendly. VA and DOL
have not finalized a date when DOL will receive access to the system,
but DOL will be able to submit applications to VA prior to July 1,
2012.