Expressing Support for the Help Hire Our Heroes Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge the House to bring to the floor my bill, the Help Hire our Heroes Act.

My bill would renew the Vocational Rehabilitation Assistance Program (VRAP) and permit additional veterans to participate in the program. As you may know, the VRAP program provides up to 12 months of re-training assistance to veterans in need of employment training, but who are unable to participate in other VA programs because of their age and time since active duty service.

Specifically, the program provided training assistance to unemployed veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 who are no longer eligible for the GI Bill. Veterans could use these benefits at community colleges and technical schools in occupations that the Department of Labor identified as ``high demand.''

The VRAP program started in 2012, but funding for this program expired in March 2014 and the VA has not been able to enroll new veterans in VRAP.

In 2014, there were 573,000 unemployed veterans, 55 percent of whom were age 45 and up. I simply do not understand why the Majority has allowed this important veterans' job training program to lapse. It has resulted in thousands of older, qualified veterans being unable to access job training to help them find work.

As we approach Memorial Day, Congress should be doing all it can to help unemployed veterans find work. Please bring my bill to the floor, so that we can renew the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program.

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