[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 66-67]
[From the U.S. 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 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.

[[Page 67]]

  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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