Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to come to the floor this afternoon to present H.R. 240, the Veterans' Employment Opportunity Act of 1997, as reported.
This legislation contains many vital features of importance to our Nation's veterans. This bill is the product of hard work by a number of Members on both sides of the aisle, Mr. Speaker.
I want to take just a moment to pay particular thanks to several individuals who have helped make this historic legislation possible. First, the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump], who chairs the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Buyer], who is chair of one of the subcommittees and last year worked with us on a nonstop basis. Both of those gentlemen deserve great credit.
In addition, of course, the chairman of the Committee on Rules, who has been an untiring advocate on behalf of our veterans interests, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], also the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton], chair of our committee, and the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Frelinghuysen].
I also want to pay a particular debt of gratitude to the new ranking member of our subcommittee, the Civil Service Subcommittee, which I chair and which produced this legislation, to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Holden], again, the current ranking member of our subcommittee, and also to the gentleman for Virginia [Mr. Moran], who was the ranking member of the subcommittee last year, and his untiring efforts helped make this legislation possible, and also to the many Members who served and acted as cosponsors of this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, last year the House passed a very similar bill, H.R. 3586, with overwhelming support. However, the other body failed to act on this legislation before we adjourned. In order to strengthen that proposal that we had last year, that bill, and in order to facilitate its consideration as it moves through the Congress, we have consulted with the major veterans service organizations, Federal employee organizations, and other interested parties before bringing the legislation back to the House. I want to thank each of these organizations also for their assistance.
Mr. Speaker, there are two important differences that I would like to explain between the bill before the House today and the bill we passed last year. First, H.R. 240 makes the knowing violation of veterans preference a prohibited personnel practice.
Second, as a result of our consultations, we made it clear that the bill would not interfere with job bidding and assignment under selective bargaining agreements in the Postal Service.
Mr. Speaker, I will not attempt to detail here all of the benefits in this bill for our veterans, but I would like to emphasize what I believe are the three most important provisions of this legislation:
First, H.R. 240 establishes for the first time an effective user-friendly redress mechanism for our veterans whose rights have been violated. The second major provisions of H.R. 240 protects veterans against reductions in force using techniques that we have seen such as single person competition that in fact undermine veterans preference.
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The third major provisions in the equal access section of the bill. Mr. Speaker, this provision has been included to ensure fair treatment for the men and women we employ in the Armed Forces. Just because these Federal employees have worn uniforms should not bar them from competing for Federal jobs. Yet that is the practice in the Federal civilian work force that we see today.
This bill tears down those artificial barriers for those who have served honorably in the Armed Forces for 3 years. We have made clear, however, that the equal access provisions do not interfere with certain transfers, promotions and assignments of employees under collective bargaining agreements between the Postal Service and its unions. The language in the bill has been carefully crafted.
Mr. Speaker, this bill does not interfere with the reassignment or transfer of rights of postal employees, and it does not diminish the rights of injured postal employees to what is called limited or light duty positions.
Finally, the bill has also been revised to permit the Judicial Conference to develop its own program for implementing veterans preference in our judicial branch. We recognize that personnel practices in the judicial branch may differ and do differ markedly in many instances from civil service processes in the executive branch.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, we have honored the request of the Office of Personnel Management that in fact when there are changes in reduction in force procedures, that we do not disrupt ongoing RIF's and that at least 90 days will be allowed in which to implement those changes.
Mr. Speaker, when the Veterans Preference Act was passed in 1944, veterans had a reasonable expectation that service to our Nation would be recognized and rewarded. Veterans, many of whom risked their lives and livelihood, could expect, with all other factors being equal, to be given a preference when seeking Federal employment.
As our country has moved from the threat of international conflict, rewarding those who in fact have served our military has become more an illusion than a reality, unfortunately. While hiring preferences for others, for various reasons, has actively been encouraged, veterans' preference in securing Federal employment has, unfortunately, withered on the vine.
Lacking any enforcement or redress capability, veterans have watched the value of their so-called preference decline as others usurp their rightful place at the front of the Federal employment line. How ironic it is that those whose Federal service often put them at the most peril in an armed conflict now become more often the last hired and the first fired in a time of downsizing.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1997 provides much-needed protection to our veterans. It provides an effective redress system, and it expands job opportunities for those who in fact have served our Nation honorably in its armed forces.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is strongly supported by 19 major veterans service organizations representing 12 million veterans. I urge my colleagues to support and pass this bill.
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