[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 18, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H37-H38]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MORE THAN LIP SERVICE: HELPING OUR VETERANS FIND JOBS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Woolsey) for 5 minutes.
Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, our Nation is now in the 124th consecutive
month of war. And while those of us privileged to serve in this body
enjoyed time back home with our families for the holidays, there is no
such holiday break for our servicemembers who are serving in harm's
way.
{time} 1050
Thousands of American families had a permanently empty seat around
their table this holiday season because a son or daughter or mother or
father was killed in one of these senseless wars that we've been
fighting.
I would note as a bit of an aside, Mr. Speaker, how ironic it is that
2 days ago we celebrated a Federal holiday named for a man who was a
proud and principled pacifist, who believed in the moral power of
nonviolent resistance. Martin Luther King once said, ``A nation that
continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than
on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.''
Mr. Speaker, it's time we paid more than lip service to his dream;
it's time we started living it.
It's time also that we paid more than lip service to our veterans who
are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. These men and women who
have courageously sacrificed so much for us are coming home to an
economy that seems to have no place for them.
Yes, we're in the grips of a devastating job crisis that's affecting
just about every community and every group in the United States, but
veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars are feeling the squeeze
disproportionately. Even as the job numbers have picked up some for the
rest of economy, because it has rallied slightly, veterans are slipping
further behind.
Overall, unemployment dropped to 8\1/2\ percent in December for our
country. But for veterans who've served since September 2001, the
jobless rate is a staggering 13.1 percent. Is this
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what we call a hero's welcome? Is this how our Nation shows its
gratitude? Closing this gap must be at the top of our 2012 calendar.
There has been some progress. For example, in November, Congress
passed and the President signed the Vow to Hire Heroes Act, which
provides tax credits to employers who hire veterans. But, Mr. Speaker,
we need to do much, much more because unless we take bold action, this
problem is going to get much worse before it gets any better as the war
in Iraq and, hopefully, the war in Afghanistan winds down and even more
returning troops flood the jobs market.
We know what to do. There's no question. We need more job training.
We need more technical assistance so that these skilled young people
can find the work they need. We need more career counseling and job
fairs. We need to increase our investment in veterans' housing
initiatives. How about helping veterans become entrepreneurs by
starting their own businesses? And basically, we need more jobs in this
country.
We must not pinch pennies on veterans. We must not pinch pennies on
their health care, and we must make sure that wounded veterans aren't
victimized by job discrimination.
So let's get creative here. Let's put our money where our mouth is.
If we can spend billions of dollars every month on wars, then certainly
we can spend a fraction of that to help the Americans who fought those
wars. When they come home they should have a seamless transition back
to civilian life.
These wars have already taken too much from all of us, from our
country. We can't let them also destroy the job prospects and the
successful futures of the people who served so bravely on the front
lines. It's time to bring our troops home and, at the same time,
provide them with the jobs they need to support their families.
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