DoD objects to provisions of veterans job bill - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

DoD objects to provisions of veterans job bill

The Defense Department is raising objections to key parts of a bipartisan veterans employment bill, but it may end up being costs — not those complaints — that force lawmakers to scale back on the ambitious legislation.

Friday’s Labor Department report that showed the unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan era veterans was at 12.1 percent in May fuels efforts to pass a comprehensive overhaul of transition assistance and training programs for veterans, called the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman and chief sponsor of the bill, said the high unemployment rate “is simply unacceptable” and is a sign that current programs are not working.

“For too long, we have patted them on the back and pushed them into the civilian job market with no support,” she said Wednesday during a committee hearing that covered the jobs bill, S 951, and 34 other measures pending before the panel.

The Defense Department did not testify before the panel, but provided a statement that raised objections to many parts of the bill, including Murray’s insistence that all the services adopt the Marine Corps’ policy of making attendance mandatory for all separating and retiring personnel at the 2½-day Transition Assistance Program workshops, designed to help troops find post-service jobs.

Defense officials said they would be required to retain National Guard and Reserve members and people receiving administrative discharges on extended active duty until they could attend the classes, and would incur other expenses in providing transition help to about 160,000 people who now leave service without attending TAP courses.

Defense officials also oppose a provision of the bill aimed at boosting federal job opportunities for separating service members, which the statement says “runs the risk of making it extremely difficult for someone who is not a veteran to gain entry-level employment.”

The provision drawing Pentagon opposition would allow separating service members to receive a noncompetitive appointment to a federal job. This hiring authority would be limited to the 180 days after discharge.

Defense officials called the hiring preference “far overreaching” and said they didn’t see the point. “We have a myriad of hiring authorities for veterans,” the statement says. “We do not see what problem this language is trying to solve.”

Murray disagreed, saying the idea behind the provision is that veterans need immediate help getting jobs, something that is not now available because of delays in getting the Veterans Affairs Department to certify the status of a veteran so they can even start looking for a job using existing hiring preferences.

“This country has invested tremendous resources in training service members and we need to capitalize on that training,” she said. “As we all know, VA’s claims system is broken. A recently separated veteran must wait months before VA adjudicates their claim and before a 10-point hiring preference can be awarded. This provision says that veterans should not be forced to the sidelines because of VA’s broken system and will allow the federal hiring process to begin before separation so that recent veterans have a federal job soon after they leave service.”

What might slow down the jobs bill is money. The Congressional Budget Office has not yet assigned a price tag to the measure, but Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate veterans’ committee, said cost must be considered in whatever the committee passes.

“As we examine each bill, I think it is important to keep in mind that our nation is faced with staggering deficits and debt and is on a fiscal path that is simply unsustainable,” Burr said. “As we consider whether to create or expand veterans programs, we should start by taking a serious look at what programs already exist and how well they are working. We also should look at whether reducing any duplication could make existing services more effective and more efficient.”

Murray, however, suggested that getting jobs for veterans could save money. The Army alone is spending $1 billion a year on unemployment compensation, a cost that would be reduced if separating service members founds jobs faster, she said.