WASHINGTON — With more than one in five veterans
of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unemployed, Sen. Patty Murray
introduced legislation Tuesday that would provide expanded training, job
placement and small business assistance to them, calling the current
situation unacceptable.
“It really makes you ask how this can be, how
these heroes … struggle so much when they come home,” said Murray,
D-Wash., adding that existing programs offered by the Veterans Affairs
Department and the Defense Department were inadequate.
The
legislation has bipartisan support. Among the co-sponsors are Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin.
Murray said the price tag of her legislation has yet to be
determined by the Congressional Budget Office.
The effort comes as
the employment training center for the 6,200 members of the Washington
National Guard is trying to handle requests from 1,500 soldiers who need
jobs.
“These are citizen soldiers from every county in the
state,” said Morgan Zantua, an employment transition coach with the
Guard at Camp Murray. “Everyone is having a hard time.”
The
Washington National Guard’s 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team has deployed
twice to Iraq.
Murray’s bill is aimed at helping regular Army
veterans as well as Guard members.
The problem of unemployed young
vets has only grown worse, even as the recession eases. The Labor
Department said the unemployment rate for veterans ages 18 to 24 was
21.1 percent in 2009, up from 14.1 percent a year earlier.
The
unemployment rate for non-veteran 18- to 24-year-olds was 16.6 percent.
Since
the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more than 1.9 million members of the
military have deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. As they return, many are
struggling with injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and other
mental health issues, homelessness and alcohol and drug addictions.
Unemployment can compound those problems.
“I applied for every job
I could find and sent out hundreds of resumes,” said Jason Hansman, a
veteran of the Iraq war from Seattle. “I couldn’t even get an
interview.”
Hansman, who appeared with Murray at a news
conference, said that despite having a degree from the University of
Washington and overseeing hundreds of reconstruction projects in Iraq,
the only job he could find was as a night-shift security officer. He
took the job, but eventually found work with a veterans group.
Murray,
along with Democratic Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska and Amy Klobuchar of
Minnesota, said Hansman’s story was typical of what they are hearing
from veterans.
“This is flat-out unacceptable,” Murray said.
“When
they signed up to serve,” Klobuchar said, “there wasn’t a waiting line,
but they are now standing in line waiting for a job or health care or
other services.”
Begich agreed.
“After the initial
excitement of coming home, the reality of the challenges they face set
in,” he said. “They need to know the government is there for them.”
Among
other things, Murray’s bill would:
- Expand the post-9/11 GI bill to allow veterans to use benefits not
only for college, but for apprenticeship and worker training programs. -
Establish a Veterans Business Center Program within the Small Business
Administration to help veterans forming their own businesses. -
Create pilot programs to help veterans build on the technical skills
they learned in the military and market those skills in the civilian
workforce. - Create a Veterans Conservation Corps, modeled
on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, which built projects
throughout the country. - Require a study that could lead
to the expansion of the National Guard Employment Enhancement Project,
which provides transition assistance to National Guard members.
“We can’t continue to pat veterans on the back for their
service and then push them into the job market alone,” Murray said.
– McClatchy
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