WASHINGTON – The White House has asked Congress to authorize a new, comprehensive employment program for veterans that would consolidate the federal government's job-search efforts for former service members within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
"The placement of the employment services program within VA will strengthen the focus on veterans' needs," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "Over the late decade, veterans have received less-than-adequate job-search assistance."
The unemployment rate for veterans between 20 and 24 years of age was 14.8 percent in the first quarter of 2002, compared to 5.1 percent unemployment for all veterans.
"We want to use competitive grants and performance-based outcomes – key elements that have improved service in other federal programs," Principi said. "We would also elevate employers to become equal partners in the program. They, after all, are the ones who have the jobs."
If approved by Congress, the new program, called the "Veterans Employment, Business Opportunity and Training (VEBOT) Program," would take effect in 2003. It would cost about $197 million the first year and entail the transfer to VA of 199 civil service jobs from the Department of Labor.
"Employment is the only major program in the continuum of service for which VA does not have responsibility," Principi said. "Just as education, home loans, insurance and health care for veterans are entrusted to VA, so should employment."
Highlights of the proposal include:
Establishing a system for state governors or public or private organizations to receive grants to provide employment programs for veterans;
Transferring to VA the current functions of the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans Employment and Training; and
Transferring to VA from the Labor Department responsibility for both the transition assistance program and the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Project.
"In light of VA's clear mission of service to veterans, VA would be in a stronger position to objectively evaluate veterans' employment needs, while adapting to the needs of future generations of veterans," Principi said.
