Rosen's Bipartisan Hire Student Veterans Act Gains Momentum in The Senate

Today, Congresswoman Jacky Rosen (NV-03), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) have introduced a Senate companion bill (S. 3563) to her bipartisan Hire Student Veterans Act, cosponsored by Republican Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-7). Rosen introduced the legislation after speaking directly to Nevada veterans and community leaders about the challenges veterans face during a roundtable discussion in May of 2018. The Hire Student Veterans Act would expand the existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to ensure that all student veterans using their GI benefits can take advantage of valuable paid internships or work opportunities while in school. Roughly 56,000 veterans call Nevada's 3rd Congressional District home.

"I'm glad to see my bipartisan legislation to help employ Nevada's student veterans gain momentum in the Senate," said Rosen. "This legislation will help student veterans further their careers by incentivizing businesses to hire them while also helping those who are using their GI Bill benefits find paid internships or jobs while in school. I'll continue working to see that this commonsense legislation moves forward so that we can help our servicemembers transition back to civilian life."

BACKGROUND: Currently, the WOTC is limited in its application to hiring veterans. Employers can only qualify for the credit by hiring veterans who have a service-connected disability or have been unemployed for more than four weeks. There is also a stringent 400-hour per year work requirement. As the law stands, the WOTC does not incentivize employers to hire student vets part-time and does not reflect the reality of today's job environment in which new college graduates often need work experience in order to obtain even an entry-level career-track job. Congresswoman Rosen's bill seeks to make three important changes to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit that will incentivize businesses to hire more student veterans, ultimately helping to move their careers forward. The Hire Student Veterans Act will:

Automatically qualify employers who hire veterans using their GI Bill benefits for WOTC's 40% tax credit on the first $6,000 of a new employee's first-year wages.

Reduce the 400-hour work requirement to 120 hours if a newly-hired employee is a veteran using their GI Bill benefits, allowing a student veteran to work part-time, including in a paid internship during the summer or semester; and

Directly incentivize employers to hire more student veterans for part-time work and paid internships.

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