Congresswoman Corrine Brown made the following statement in honor of our nation’s veterans and brave troops:
“Every Veterans Day, Americans come together to remember those who have served our country around the world in the name of freedom and democracy. The debt that we owe to them is immeasurable. Their sacrifices and those of their families are freedom’s foundation. Without the brave efforts of all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and Coast Guardsmen and their families, our country would not live so freely.
On this Veterans Day, we remember the patriotic sacrifices of those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world. The President kept his commitment to end the war in Iraq in a responsible way and our soldiers who were deployed there have returned home. We are working toward the same goal in Afghanistan with our troops slated to come home in 2014. This honors the remarkable sacrifice and service of our men and women in uniform over the last decade, and gives us the opportunity to make the United States stronger around the world and at home, building an American future worthy of our veterans’ sacrifice.
Now, more than ever, we renew our commitment to keep our promises to the nation’s more than 2 million troops and reservists, their families, and 23 million veterans, including over 55,000 here in Florida’s third congressional district. Let us also honor the memory of the more than 4,400 American servicemen and women who have died in Iraq and more than 2,100 who have died in Afghanistan. We also honor the sacrifices of the nearly 50,000 troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When I was first elected to Congress, I requested to be a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. And today, as the second most senior Democrat on the Committee, I believe it is my duty to continue to do everything I can to assist the honorable members of our armed forces.
As part of keeping our promises to our veterans, the President and Democrats in Congress are focused on taking major steps to help our men and women in uniform obtain good jobs when they come home. Our soldiers who fight on the battlefield should not have to fight for a job when they return home. With one-in-ten returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan unemployed and looking for work, we have an obligation to make sure our veterans have the necessary tools to succeed in the civilian workforce.
Last fall, Congress enacted President Obama’s veterans hiring initiative, to expand job opportunities for our veterans through tax credits for businesses that hire service members. The VOW to Hire Heroes Act also includes additional provisions to boost hiring for veterans and provide them with the training they need to find a job in civilian life. With this law, America can welcome our soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen back into their communities as entrepreneurs, small business owners, and workers.
But there is more to do. In his State of the Union address, the President embraced the idea of a Veterans Job Corps – to help our returning veterans find pathways to civilian employment and employ at least 20,000 veterans over 5 years. The Veterans Jobs Corps would ensure that our veterans are at the front of the line when it comes to hiring in our local communities:
- providing grants for jobs for veterans in conservation-related work on federal lands and in maintenance of national veterans cemeteries;
- providing hiring preference for veterans in first-responder jobs in law enforcement and firefighting;
- providing training to veterans looking for civilian jobs; and
- requiring authorities to consider a veteran’s active-duty military service as a qualification for certification or licensing for certain jobs, such as emergency medical technicians.
Republicans rejected this Veterans Job Corps proposal in the House Budget Committee, while Senate Republicans blocked its passage in September by a vote of 58-40 (S. 3457).
From 2007 through 2010, under Democratic Leadership, the Congress made historic gains for America’s troops, veterans and military families. That is why the American Legion said “111th Congress Achieves Banner Year on Veterans Legislation… the real successes were the passage of bills that affected nearly every veteran in America.” And we will fight to preserve and build on this record. Over four years, the Democratically-led Congress:
· Enacted the new Post 9-11 GI Bill to restore the promise of a full, four-year college education, that has already allowed over 700,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars to afford college, just like after World War II, along with tax incentives for hiring to expand job opportunities for returning soldiers.
· Strengthened health care for more than 5 million veterans, with a historic commitment -- including the largest single increase in the history of the VA -- for more doctors and nurses, better access for rural veterans, and expanded efforts to treat the signature injuries of the war, PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury, while enacting a law to guarantee timely and predictable funding for veterans’ health care and to address the health care needs of our nearly 2 million female veterans.
· Provided troops and veterans the benefits they have earned and resources they need, giving troops a pay raise, restoring military readiness, providing the best training and equipment for the men and women serving in our Armed Forces, taking steps to reduce the backlog and wait for veterans trying to access their earned benefits, providing special payments for service members and veterans who were forced to serve under stop-loss orders since 2001, and making headway in ending the Disabled Veterans Tax and the Military Families’ Tax.
· Strengthened support for military families, building more military child care centers and better military family housing, and enacting landmark legislation to provide much-needed support for family members and other caregivers for wounded veterans.
On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind. This day and every day, let us honor their service with actions that fulfill our commitment to our troops, their families, and our veterans – and that are worthy of our grateful nation.”