Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2109, the Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment Act, or BRAVE Act.

We know that overall veterans' unemployment rates are below the national average, and that includes a 3.5 percent rate for our younger post-9/11 veterans. However, this hides an alarming statistic: nearly one-third of veteran jobseekers are underemployed at a rate 15.6 percent higher than nonveteran jobseekers.

Both parties agree that men and women returning from our most recent conflicts deserve to come home to a reliable, good paying job. We owe them that.

We can start right here in the Federal Government. The VA establishes long-term contracts with private companies for medical equipment, construction supplies, services, and more.

Currently, the VA gives a preference for these contracts to veteran- owned small businesses.

The BRAVE Act would expand this contracting preference to allow the VA Secretary to give a preference to companies that actively employ veterans, a policy that would incentivize companies to hire more veterans, already a smart approach for companies, because veterans bring to a job the skills they earned and learned in their years of invaluable military training.

This bipartisan bill would not add any additional costs or burdens to the taxpayers. It allows for the debarment of any company that knowingly misrepresents its proportion of veteran employees in order to receive a contracting preference.

The BRAVE Act represents a win-win for the private sector, the Federal Government, and most importantly, veterans themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative Rice for her hard work on this excellent bill, and Ranking Member Roe for beginning work on this bill last Congress. I urge my colleagues to support it today.

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Mr. TAKANO. 2109.

Miss RICE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2109, the Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment Act, which I introduced along with Paul Cook from California.

The BRAVE Act is commonsense, bipartisan legislation that will authorize the VA Secretary to give preference to contractors with high concentrations of full-time veteran employees when awarding Federal contracts.

First, this bill will reward companies that actively hire and invest in veterans, companies that seek out veterans and give them opportunities to bring their unique skills and training and experience to the civilian workforce.

Second, it will create an incentive for other companies to do the same, which in turn will help bring more veterans into the workforce, and with good-paying jobs at that, the types of opportunities that give veterans and their families the stability they need as they transition to civilian life.

Most importantly, as more and more companies hire more and more veterans, they will ultimately see that investing in veterans is just good for business. That is what the real incentive should be, not just an advantage in securing Federal contracts, but getting the benefit of employees who have worn the uniform, who have been trained by the greatest military in the world, and who have learned to get the job done no matter what the job is or how tough it may be.

What business wouldn't want to have employees like that?

Lastly, it bears emphasizing that this bill will cost taxpayers absolutely nothing.

We need more businesses in the private sector to recognize the value of investing in the men and women who have served our country.

To be clear, this isn't an act of charity. Veterans are not looking for a handout. They just need an opportunity to show what they can do. That is what this bill will help accomplish.

The BRAVE Act will help ensure that more veterans have those opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Takano and Ranking Member Roe for supporting this bill and for helping to bring it to the floor today.

This legislation passed unanimously in the last Congress, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to once again give it the bipartisan support it deserves.

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