[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           EFFECTIVE JOB TRAINING FOR OUR RETURNING WARRIORS

  Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, when our soldiers come home from combat, 
they often face an uphill battle. For many servicemembers, the 
transition from active duty to veteran status and returning to a full, 
meaningful civilian life is daunting, fraught with many challenging 
obstacles and bureaucratic barriers. Many times, these brave service 
men and women require job training but for entirely new careers.
  Although statistics show that eventually veterans in general enjoy a 
favorable rate in the Nation's job market, many veterans obviously find 
it difficult to compete successfully in the labor market. That is why 
for over a decade the Federal Government has provided job training 
benefits to veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs and the 
Department of Labor. The mission statement for the Department of Labor 
Veterans' Employment and Training Service, VETS program, is to 
``provide veterans and transitioning servicemembers with the resources 
and services to succeed in the 21st century workplace by maximizing 
their employment opportunities, protecting their employment rights, and 
meeting labor market demands with qualified veterans today.''
  Additionally, the Department of Labor offers servicemembers leaving 
the military with a service-connected disability the Disability 
Transition Assistance Program, DTAP. DTAP includes a 3-day workshop 
plus additional hours of individual instruction to help determine job 
readiness and address the special needs of disabled veterans. However, 
this is the identical DTAP program offered to all transitioning 
disabled veterans across this country. This 3-day program is valuable 
support, but it only provides general employment information and at no 
time addresses the specific needs of the community in which the veteran 
lives. Unfortunately, this means that frequently there is a void of 
information on local labor market conditions that result in veterans 
using their benefits to train for jobs that do not exist in their 
community.
  Mr. Jeffrey Askew is director of the Marion County Veterans' Service 
Center in my hometown of Ocala, Florida. He said many veterans have 
used their Federal job training benefit for information technology (IT) 
career training. However, Ocala has little demand for IT professionals, 
and veterans are often advised to move to Orlando where there are many 
more opportunities for them. Upon finally getting settled back into 
civilian life, it is frustrating and unfortunate to say the least to be 
forced to uproot one more time and move your family to an unknown city.
  I am concerned about this problem, but I think and I believe that 
there is an easy solution. That is why I introduced legislation to 
provide better information to veterans on their local job market needs.
  H.R. 3646, the Veterans Effective Training Job Opportunities and 
Benefits Act of 2007, or VET JOBS Act of 2007, directs the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Labor to conduct a joint study on 
the greatest employment needs in various job markets around the country 
and post these results on the VA Web site. These results would then be 
updated annually to reflect the current and possibly changing needs in 
the local job market. With this tool, a veteran could plug in his or 
her zip code and see a list of the occupations that are most in demand, 
and subsequently use their Federal job training most effectively.
  The Department of Labor already has the infrastructure in place for 
this kind of research, so this is a practical, low-cost solution. In 
fact, the Congressional Budget Office has unofficially scored this 
proposal as having insignificant costs, insignificant costs for 
immeasurable benefits to our veterans.
  I encourage my colleagues to join me in this effort. Help our 
veterans today. Help them with their quality employment. Help them to 
find out where the jobs that they wish to be trained for are located, 
and support the VET JOBS Act that I ask for all of my colleagues to 
cosponsor.

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