Veterans Economic Opportunity Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maine, the ranking member of our committee, for yielding time, and I thank Chairman FLORES of the subcommittee for his hard work.

I am pleased to see that the Veterans Economic Opportunity Act of 2013 is receiving a vote today on the floor, as every Member of this distinguished body has servicemembers in his or her congressional district, and all of us believe that taking care of these heroes, when they complete their service, should be a top priority.

Bipartisanship in this Congress is rare, but Republicans and Democrats all agree that Congress should be making it easier for our servicemembers as they transition back to civilian life.

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee has a strong track record of being the least partisan committee in Congress, and this very bill is consistent with that record, as it passed in committee unanimously this past September.

I am especially proud that H.R. 331, which I originally introduced with my Republican colleague from California, Representative Calvert, was included in the final legislation. With Riverside Community College District campuses in both of our congressional districts and with Riverside County having the eighth largest veterans population in the country, I am proud that Representative Calvert and I joined forces to make it easier for veterans to receive their veterans education benefits.

Our legislation will help decrease education benefit processing times by eliminating unnecessary and duplicative paperwork for individual community colleges that are part of a group, district, or consortium. Specifically, it will allow a multicollege system, such as the Riverside Community College District, to verify a student's class enrollment number with the Department of Veterans Affairs instead of requiring each individual constituent college to do so. Centralizing the reporting for veterans enrollment at multicollege systems will be a great benefit to veterans in the Inland Empire, as unnecessary and duplicative paperwork delays benefits, increases processing times, and increases costs to the Department of Veterans Affairs and multicollege systems, such as the Riverside Community College District.

I am also pleased to see the Military Family Home Protection Act, of which I was a lead cosponsor, included in the final bill. This portion of the legislation will expand foreclosure protections to all servicemembers regardless of when they purchased their home and will stay home foreclosures for servicemembers who are receiving hostile or imminent danger pay. It will also prohibit banks from discriminating against servicemembers, veterans, and surviving spouses who are looking for home loans and mortgages. Finally, it will double civil penalties for mortgage-related violations.

The veterans who so bravely served this country deserve every opportunity for success and every protection possible.

I thank my Republican colleagues from the Veterans' Affairs Committee for pushing this legislation, and I look forward to its passage.

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