Legal Services for Homeless Veterans Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PANETTA. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman and ranking member. I appreciate this opportunity to talk about something that both of these gentlemen have discussed and support. I appreciate that, so I thank the gentlemen very much.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise in support as well of H.R. 3749, the Legal Services for Homeless Veterans Act.

This is a bill that directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide grants to organizations that provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness.

The grant funds will be used to provide legal services related to housing, such as legal services related to family law; legal services related to income support; legal services related to criminal defense, including defense in matters symptomatic of homelessness; and legal services related to requests to upgrade discharge characterizations.

The legislation also authorizes appropriations of at least $20 million for additional aid to women veterans experiencing housing instability and homelessness. As you heard from the chairman, women are the fastest growing group not just of homeless veterans but in the military and in our veterans' communities. And, as you heard, they are more likely to be single parents.

While serving as a local prosecutor, before my time here in Congress, in Monterey County, and working as a board member for the Veterans Transition Center of Monterey County, an organization which offers veterans not just transitional housing but, of course, case management programs to get them up on their feet and back into the communities where they can continue to serve, I worked firsthand with many veterans who had certain legal issues that brought them to the brink or pushed them right into, unfortunately, homelessness.

It is essential that Congress now ensure that our veterans are properly supported, have access to legal aid, and, yes, get the benefits that they have earned. We can then keep a roof over their heads.

For veterans in my district and across this country, this bill will provide them aid that really can help them during such events as Veterans Stand Down, a biennial event that we have in our district that provides much-needed legal assistance and helps our community's veterans get back on solid ground, be accepted into housing, drive legally, and make sure that they can find a job.

Madam Speaker, as a former veteran, I do urge my colleagues to support my bill to provide veterans the resources necessary to help them resolve legal issues and get back on their feet so that they can get back to being an integral part of our community and, of course, our country.

Finally, Madam Speaker, I thank the members of the For Country Caucus for endorsing this legislation. As a co-chair and founder of this caucus, the membership and I have worked to provide a platform for military veteran members to work across the aisle, to improve governance, and to enact productive policy, just like we have done here.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to have this bill introduced through the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, which I do believe does the exact same thing, and I thank both of these gentlemen for bringing this bill to the floor.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I strongly support this bill and appreciate Mr. Panetta's leadership on it.

When I got to Congress in 2009, there were over 100,000 homeless veterans in this country. That number has been reduced by 70 percent. And, as the chairman said, zero is the right number; that is the correct number of homeless veterans.

This will go a long way to reestablishing many other things that the committee has done to help this, but this is a major step in helping when you are trying to get legal services with a lease or with many other things, with family issues.

I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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