[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1689]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       PASS A VETERANS JOBS BILL

  (Ms. KELLY of Illinois asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise on behalf of the 
many Illinois veterans that I represent and their families to draw 
attention to the high rate of veteran unemployment in America. After 
fighting for our Nation, far too many military heroes are being forced 
to fight for a job here at home.
  Despite many veterans having the leadership skills and work ethic 
that businesses are looking for, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 
veterans is 6.9 percent, far higher than the national average of 5.6 
percent.
  I am committed to reducing veteran unemployment and helping our 
heroes find quality work. Last week, I released an updated edition of 
my veterans resource guidebook to help our veterans get the benefits 
they have earned and employment resources to get them and their 
families back in the workforce, but we need to do more.
  I urge my colleagues to work with me to pass a veterans job bill to 
put the half million unemployed veterans back to work.

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