Senator Murray's Landmark Veterans Employment Bill Passes Senate

Press Release

Today, by a vote of 95-0, the Senate passed landmark legislation authored by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to put America's veterans back to work. Murray, Chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced the basis of this comprehensive bill in May of this year after traveling throughout Washington state to talk to veterans, employers, and experts about the barriers veterans face in finding employment. The legislation is designed to help put veterans back to work by providing job skills training as they leave the military and by easing the training and certification process veterans face. The bill comes on the eve of Veterans Day, at a time when nearly one million American veterans are unemployed.

The bill passed today, the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, combines provisions of Senator Murray's original Hiring Heroes Act of 2011 with a tax credit for employers that hire veterans and job training assistance for veterans from earlier eras.

"This is a huge victory for our veterans who have returned home only to have to fight to find work to support themselves and their families," said Senator Murray. "Our veterans have the drive, discipline, and self confidence to succeed in any workplace. But for too long at the end of their career we've patted them on the back for their service and pushed them out into the job market alone. This bill takes a huge step forward in rethinking the way we treat our men and women in uniform after they leave the military by helping them to translate the skills they learned in the military into careers and by giving employers even more incentive to hire veterans. Veterans across Washington state were instrumental in crafting this bill and deserve tremendous credit today."

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