[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         GI INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

  (Mr. YOHO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to highlight 
H.R. 758, the GI Internship Program Act. I am a cosponsor of this 
important legislation with my colleague from Illinois, Brad Schneider. 
If implemented, this bill would expand the use of the existing post-9/
11 GI Bill benefits to include internships as an option in place of a 
traditional degree program.
  The GI Internship Program Act would allow veterans to gain practical 
skills and work experience to help ease their transition back into the 
civilian workforce. Under current law, the post-9/11 GI Bill only 
allocates money to veterans for traditional postsecondary education in 
the classroom, but for many veterans this is a path not meant for them.
  For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 
over 300,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs at the end of 2016. This gap 
could be filled by the veterans who use their post-9/11 GI benefits as 
a stipend to support them while receiving on-the-job training as high-
skilled technical workers.
  Further, these jobs can be filled at no additional cost to the 
employer because the cost would be covered by the preexisting GI Bill. 
This bill would allow businesses all over the U.S., both large and 
small, to meet their employment needs and help our skilled veterans to 
enter the civilian workforce.
  As long as employers comply with the program and intend to hire the 
veterans after the internship is over, the veterans will continue to 
receive funding. This bill is a win for American job growth and, most 
importantly, a win for our veterans.
  I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense measure.

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