Veterans Identity and Credit Security Act of 2006

VETERANS IDENTITY AND CREDIT SECURITY ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - September 26, 2006)

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate you for your leadership and really appreciate all the hard work. This has been a difficult thing to get to the floor. Also I want to thank Mr. Filner and Ms. Herseth and again the staffs on both sides that have worked so very, very hard to, like I say, get this thing done.

I rise in strong support of H.R. 5835, and I would like to highlight section 7 of the bill. This section would create a scholarship and debt reduction program at VA to encourage recruitment of new personnel with Ph.D.s in information security, computer engineering or electrical engineering from an accredited institution of higher learning. This is so we can attract and secure the best talent possible at the VA's IT department.

This section would allow the Secretary to award scholarships or repayment of education debts to future VA employees. The scholarships would not exceed $200,000, or $50,000 per year, per person. Debt reduction payments would not exceed $82,500 over a total of 5 years of participation, or $16,500 per year in the program. The recipients would also be required to agree to a period of obligated service at the Department of not less than 2 years for every 1 year of tuition paid.

This is a great way to attract talented people at the VA. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5835.

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