Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act of 2022
Floor Speech
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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to section 10 of House Resolution 1097, I rise to offer an amendment.
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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of my amendment to the bipartisan Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act.
Before I begin, I thank all the veterans back in my home district in northern New Jersey and nationwide from the bottom of my heart for putting your lives on the line to defend our freedom, our families, and the greatest democracy the world has ever known.
Please know this: After sacrificing so much, no veteran should ever struggle to get the care or recognition he or she has earned. We should always get their backs.
My amendment to the legislation we are considering today will do just that. It will add critical support for our brave veterans, particularly homeless veterans, to the list of allowable purposes on which State governments, including my State of New Jersey, may deploy Federal community services block grant program investments.
The bipartisan community services block grant program helps to reduce poverty, revitalize communities, and empower families and individuals to become fully self-sufficient. It helps individuals, like veterans, to get and keep a good job, a good education, housing, healthcare, and emergency assistance and, above all, to participate more actively in their communities.
In New Jersey, the program annually serves more than 200,000 individuals and 130,000 families through the work of 25 community action agencies. These agencies are typically private nonprofit organizations, public agencies, or local government entities, like Greater Bergen County Community Action, which provides education and training, financial counseling, and more; or Bergen County's government, where our county executive and commissioners have focused like a laser beam on successfully helping combat veteran homelessness.
The bipartisan legislation on the floor today will make important updates to the community services block grant program. My amendment will add support for veterans and, in particular, as I said, homeless veterans to the list of investments States like New Jersey can make through the program.
With this amendment, community action agencies will work alongside State and local agencies to raise awareness among veterans of housing programs and help those who bravely served our country to secure the housing they need. Once stable housing is secured, community action agencies will work with veterans and other eligible individuals to ensure the full range of community resources, including workforce training, health resources, and opportunities for peer support, are available to those veterans who need it most.
Supporting our Nation's veterans with the community services block grant program is the least we can do. After serving our country and putting their lives on the line to defend our freedom and democracy, our Nation's veterans should not struggle to get the resources they have earned. But far too often, our veterans face issues finding housing and employment. It is unacceptable.
On any given night, the Federal Government estimates that more than 40,000 veterans are homeless. On top of that, data shows that the unemployment rate of veterans ages 18 to 65 is higher than the unemployment rate of nonveterans.
Today's amendment builds on the work I helped lead, working with both sides of the aisle in recent months and since I was elected, to support our servicemembers, veterans, and veteran families.
The first piece of legislation I passed in Congress was to expand hiring of post-9/11 veterans. Just weeks ago, I was proud to join my colleagues in passing a 2.7 percent pay raise for members of the military to ensure we are getting the backs of those who bravely have ours.
Late last year, the House passed the bipartisan Student Veterans Counseling Centers Eligibility Act, which will expand access to mental health services for veterans utilizing their GI benefits at colleges and universities through established vet centers.
In March, we passed the bipartisan Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act to help expand access to GI benefits for members of our military who serve in the National Guard and Reserves, as they don't receive the same access to vital GI benefits that they deserve as well.
Also in March, working with the members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, we passed the Honoring our PACT Act here in the House to help veterans exposed to burn pits, covering veterans dating back to 1991 and Operation Desert Storm and through our more recent post-9/11 conflicts.
This included my key provisions to address the mental health impacts for toxic exposure for veterans and to ensure VA information on toxic exposure illnesses is published in multiple languages, like Korean and Spanish, to help even more of our veterans.
Back home in New Jersey, I have been fighting for expanded access to healthcare services, and I helped establish the mental health services at the VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Newton in Sussex County, New Jersey. I am working to cut through red tape with the VA Community Care Network to ensure eligible north Jersey veterans are able to receive referrals for community care at ImageCare Centers across the Fifth District. We have made critical progress on that front. Now, more veterans in my district have greater access to healthcare that they deserve.
Let me just say, these are not Democratic or Republican issues. They are red, white, and blue issues. They are issues core to protecting our great democracy, the ones our veterans have always fought for.
There is nothing more important in this job than our responsibility to have the backs of those who have served our great Nation, whether that is at the VA, a mental health issue, or helping veterans find housing or get jobs when they come back home.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote in favor of my amendment to add support for veterans to the list of eligible community services block grant investments.
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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member for her comments and for the support of veterans.
Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).
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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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