[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1779]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          VETERANS JOBS CAUCUS

  (Mr. ROSKAM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, as the Representative of the Sixth District 
of Illinois and the son of a Korean war veteran, I'm honored to serve 
over 34,000 veterans. We have a deep commitment, as we know, to support 
those who've risked their lives to defend our freedom and help them in 
their transition back to civilian life. I've been active in a program 
called Helmets to Hard Hats, and there's a jarring unemployment figure 
for veterans that we are all sobered by. More than 844,000 veterans 
currently face unemployment, and veterans aged 18 to 24 face a 
staggering 31 percent unemployment rate.
  There's an opportunity for us to work together, and I'm pleased to 
have recently joined the Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus in an 
effort to bring Republicans and Democrats together to be like-minded as 
we seek to serve those who have served us so well. There's a myriad of 
obstacles that are in place that need to be remedied, and together we 
can join with the Disabled American Veterans organization, which is 
here in Washington, D.C. this week to celebrate their success and our 
obligation to them.

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