January 28, 2009

Buyer’s Plans to Create Jobs for Veterans Excluded from Stimulus Plan

For more information, contact: Brian Lawrence, (202) 225-3527

Washington, D.C. – By a party line vote on Tuesday, Democrats on the House Rules Committee rejected Congressman Steve Buyer’s efforts to amend the economic stimulus package to include economic opportunities for veterans.

Buyer, the Ranking Member on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, offered four amendments to bolster employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for veterans to H.R.1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. All were defeated by a vote of nine to three. They were:

  • Amendment 44, to provide $10 million in grant funding for entities that provide job skill training for homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children.
  • Amendment 45, to increase the monthly living allowance for veterans undergoing vocational and rehabilitation training. 
  • Amendment 46, to provide $20 million for veterans’ workforce investment programs under section 168 of the Workforce Investment Act.
  • Amendment 47, to provide $1 billion to guarantee small business loans for veterans.

“I am very disappointed that these veterans’ initiatives were blocked from the stimulus package,” Buyer said. “I believe the best economic stimulus we can provide is to empower those who have defended liberty. In a bill with over $800 billion in new spending, I find it unconscionable that amendments to include successfully proven job programs for those to whom we owe our very freedom were not even allowed to be discussed in the people’s house. It saddens me that the amendments were denied for apparently partisan reasons. Veterans and the citizens of this great nation deserve better.”   

For more news from House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Republicans, please go to: 

http://republicans.veterans.house.gov/

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