[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 7626-7627]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE HELP HIRE OUR HEROES ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JULIA BROWNLEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 20, 2015

  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge the House to 
bring to the floor my bill, the Help Hire our Heroes Act.
  My bill would renew the Vocational Rehabilitation Assistance Program 
(VRAP) and permit additional veterans to participate in the program. As 
you may know, the VRAP program provides up to 12 months of re-training 
assistance to veterans in need of employment training, but who are 
unable to participate in other VA programs because of their age and 
time since active duty service.
  Specifically, the program provided training assistance to unemployed 
veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 who are no longer eligible for 
the GI Bill. Veterans could use these

[[Page 7627]]

benefits at community colleges and technical schools in occupations 
that the Department of Labor identified as ``high demand.''
  The VRAP program started in 2012, but funding for this program 
expired in March 2014 and the VA has not been able to enroll new 
veterans in VRAP.
  In 2014, there were 573,000 unemployed veterans, 55 percent of whom 
were age 45 and up. I simply do not understand why the Majority has 
allowed this important veterans' job training program to lapse. It has 
resulted in thousands of older, qualified veterans being unable to 
access job training to help them find work.
  As we approach Memorial Day, Congress should be doing all it can to 
help unemployed veterans find work. Please bring my bill to the floor, 
so that we can renew the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program.

                          ____________________