Mr. Brendon Gehrke
STATEMENT OF
BRENDON GEHRKE, SENIOR LEGISLATIVE ASSOCIATE
NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SERVICE
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES
BEFORE THE
VETERANS’ AFFAIRS SUBCOMMITTEE
ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WITH RESPECT TO
H.R. 356, H.R. 832, H.R. 1994, H.R. 2133, H.R. 2275, H.R. 2344, H.R. 2360,
H.R. 2361, AND DRAFT LEGISLATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. June 2, 2015
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano and members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of the men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) and our Auxiliaries, I want to thank you for the opportunity to present the VFW’s views on today’s pending legislation.
H.R. 356, Wounded Warrior Employment Improvement Act
This legislation directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop and publish an action plan for improving the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E). We share Representative Sean Patrick Maloney’s concerns that VR&E may not be able to serve the veterans who need it the most if Congress does not make changes to the current system. However, we are doubtful that a VA developed action plan will remedy VR&E’s access issues and may unnecessarily burden an already overworked agency.
In place of an action plan, the VFW urges Congress to fund the longitudinal study that was authorized in the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, so that VA can identify problems and modify VR&E to be better serve veterans. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Independent Budget Veterans Service Organizations (IBVSO) recommend that Congress fund this longitudinal study, to be conducted by an outside organization, to measure VR&E’s effects on the long term employment outcomes of its participants. It is difficult for VA to put forth an effective action plan to improve VR&E without good quantitative and qualitative data provided by a longitudinal study.
The VFW believes that VA is willing to improve VR&E when issues are properly identified and they have the resources to make improvements. For example, VA instituted 100 of 110 of the Congressional Commission on Service Members and Veterans Transition Assistance recommendations to improve VR&E. However, due to a lack of resources, VA is unable to implement the Commission’s recommendations to expand VR&E eligibility, create a monthly stipend for those participating in VR&E’s employment track, or create incentives to encourage disabled veterans to complete their rehabilitation plans. We strongly urge Congress to provide VR&E sufficient funding so VR&E can implement all of the Commission’s recommendations.
H.R. 832, Veterans Employment and Training Service Longitudinal Study Act of 2015
This legislation requires the Department of Labor (DOL) to contract with a non-government entity to conduct a longitudinal survey of veterans who have used or are using DOL’S Veterans Employment Training Services (VETS) job counseling, training, and placement services to better understand the veteran hiring experience. The VFW supports H.R. 832.
The services delivered by DOL-VETS provide veterans with an important gateway to meaningful civilian employment after their military service. Unfortunately, there is not enough quantitative or qualitative evidence to determine which elements of DOL-VETS’ programs do or do not help veterans find meaningful employment. Therefore, it is difficult to implement best practices and cut ineffective ones. A longitudinal study will allow DOL-VETS to detect developments or changes in the characteristics of the unemployed veteran population at both the national and the local level; thereby, helping Congress and DOL make clear connections between which employment programs work and which do not work.
H.R. 1994, VA Accountability Act of 2015
The VFW believes that VA and Congress must collaborate to identify and fix what is broken within VA, must hold employees appropriately accountable to the maximum extent of the law, and must do everything possible to restore veterans’ faith in their VA. We support Chairman Miller’s VA Accountability Act of 2015. However, we also believe that in order to help foster a culture of accountability, Congress must include language within the bill to prevent whistleblower retaliation, and while expediting the firing process will help rid VA of bad actors, it is equally as important to ensure VA can quickly fill vacancies within its workforce.
The VFW believes that Congress should not make it easier for VA’s senior leaders to target low level employees and mid-level managers, without including legislation to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers. A federal survey shows that less than 50 percent of VA employees feel that arbitrary action, personal favoritism and coercion for partisan political purposes are not tolerated. More so, only 43 percent felt senior leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity; only 37 percent are satisfied with policies and practices of senior leaders; and only 36 percent feel senior leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce. These statistics are alarming and suggest that for a culture of accountability to be established, change must start from the top, not the bottom.
We believe that if Congress focuses on firing bad employees without also focusing on hiring good employees, VA will not have the staff needed to care for veterans. In our report, “Hurry Up and Wait,” we highlight deficiencies in VA human resources practices, outlining several recommendations to improve the hiring process and customer service training. Section 203 of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act called for a Technology Task Force to perform a review of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ scheduling system and software development. In their review, the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) reinforced our concerns that VA’s hiring process moves too slowly. NVTC suggested that for VA to be successful, it should aggressively redesign its human resources processes by prioritizing efforts to recruit, train, and retain clerical and support staff. In today’s economy, hiring the best people is extremely critical. In many cases, it is more effective to coach a current employee, even a poor performing one, than it is to find, interview, engage and train new employees. We fear that VA’s workforce productivity could decline due to staffing shortages and low employee morale if VA does not reform its hiring processes.
The VFW looks forward to working with Congress to expedite passage of this legislation and find workable solutions to VA human resources’ issues to ensure VA can move quickly to fire employees who put veterans at risk, and at the same time move quickly to hire the best applicants to set VA on a path to restore trust in the system.
H.R. 2133, Servicemembers’ Choice in Transition Act
This legislation will provide transitioning service members with additional training opportunities under the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). The VFW supports H.R. 2133, which ensures transitioning service members have access to the full suite of transitional training.
A persistent issue with the delivery of TAP to transitioning service members is ensuring consistent and timely access to the newly established track curricula and relevant training. While the VFW’s internal surveys show that the revised TAP curriculum is a useful improvement over past iterations, we continue to receive complaints from service members who feel they are being denied the opportunity to take advantage of the optional track curricula, and that the current components of TAP covered under the participation mandate do not necessarily provide them with all of the information they need to pursue their career aspirations. While we recognize the progress that the services have made with TAP design and implementation, TAP has not yet reached its full potential. By mandating service members’ access to any of the track curricula, if they choose to attend the briefings, it will go a long way in providing access to specific information and training service members need to more seamlessly transition.
H.R. 2275, Jobs for Veterans Act of 2015
This legislation establishes the Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and moves the authority for the Veterans Employment and Training Services (VETS) from Department of Labor (DOL) to VA. By establishing a fourth administration within VA, funding for VETS programs will not be in competition with other DOL priorities during an era of funding restraints; Congress will have stronger oversight of all the veterans economic opportunity and employment programs; and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) will be able to focus on its primary responsibility – disability and pension claims.
By removing VETS from DOL, Congress protects the program from budget caps and Department priorities. This idea is reflected in the fact that from FY 2011 to FY 2015 the VETS program saw a 5.6 percent increase in funding, while VA saw a 13.3 percent increase over the same period of time.
We believe that placing all veterans’ employment programs under a single authority will improve congressional oversight and government efficiency. Since 1997, there have been 16 federal reports on the continuing and consistent inefficiencies with the VETS’ state grant program and poor interagency coordination between DOL and VA economic opportunity programs. As a result of fragmented programs, veterans have a hard time deciphering where they should go to receive employment services. Divided responsibility for federal economic opportunity programs leaves neither DOL nor VA completely accountable for veterans’ economic success or failure. By aligning VETS programs with the veteran-centric mission of VA, veterans will have easier access to employment services.
By creating the Veterans Economic Opportunity Administration and dividing these responsibilities between two Under Secretaries, executive oversight of all these programs will improve. The VFW looks forward to working with this Committee to pass this much needed piece of legislation.
H.R. 2344, Veterans Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Act of 2015
The VFW supports every section of H.R. 2344 with the exception of section 4. Section 4 calls on the Secretary to prioritize access to the program based on levels of need. No veteran should have to wait or be denied this critical service because his or her disability is not as severe or their economic situation is better than other veterans. This provision calls on VA to manage to a budget instead of managing to need. This practice has led to veterans being denied care. We cannot allow this to happen again. Congress must fully fund the VR&E program so every eligible veteran has timely access to the full suite of services.
H.R. 2360, Career-Ready Student Veterans Act
This legislation will mandate that education programs provide accreditation when such accreditation is necessary for employment. The VFW supports H.R. 2360 to ensure schools that are approved for the Post-9/11 GI Bill are offering programs that award student veterans with proper programmatic accreditation to meet both veterans’ and employers’ needs.
Some schools offer degrees that do not provide graduates the needed credentials to qualify for certain professions. Worse yet, when asked, many of these schools offer prospective students unclear information about programmatic accreditation and the requirements for professional certification. Some schools use terms like “fully accredited,” which in theory may be true, but in reality do not offer the program accreditation needed to gain employment. Unfortunately, student veterans often fall prey to misleading recruiting sales tactics. We believe that student veterans need to be given the resources to be informed shoppers with federal education dollars. Also, it is not a wise investment of taxpayer dollars to allow students to use money, whether it comes from military tuition assistance or the Post-9/11 GI Bill, for degrees that will not yield any significant return.
Furthermore, the fact that the education requirements vary from state to state and that the professional associations do a poor job of communicating with potential job candidates, only adds to the problem. Therefore, the VFW supports this legislation to ensure that schools provide student veterans with licensure and certification through their programs when the credential is needed to gain employment.
H.R. 2361, Work Study for Student Veterans Act
This bill is a simple extension of VA’s authority to offer work-study allowances for student veterans. The VFW has long supported the VA work-study program, and we would proudly support this initiative to extend the program to 2018.
DRAFT LANGUAGE
This legislation will consolidate all education benefits into a single program, extend the time commitment required to obtain the transferability benefit, and decrease the Basic Housing Allowance for dependents. The VFW played an integral role in passing the Post-9/11 GI Bill and we have a vested interest in ensuring that the veterans who utilize this robust benefit receive quality educational and vocational training outcomes. Military and veterans’ education benefits provide a critical tool to ensure that those who have defended our nation can compete for the best jobs when they leave service. We believe the country has a vested interest in ensuring that federal education dollars for our military men and women provide the greatest value. Therefore, any reductions of certain elements in the Post-9/11 GI Bill must not be seen as savings, but must be reinvested for those who need it most.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill should primarily be used to help veterans reintegrate into civilian life by providing the education and skills necessary to gain meaningful employment. The Post-9/11 GI Bill must be a transition benefit first, and the retention and transferability aspect should never provide a greater benefit to dependents than it does to war time veterans.
We also recommend that duplicative education assistance programs should sunset to reduce administrative costs and to simplify the education benefits system. To do so, Congress would have to choose between two options. First, extend full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to all service members and veterans, including all reserve component members. The second option would be to create a scaled system in which certain categories of veterans will receive different percentages of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, depending on whether they served on active duty, reserve status or during a time of war, similar to how VA awards a certain percentage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill to reserve component service members today. If these programs are set to expire, Congress needs to ensure that war veterans, including guardsmen and reservists, do not receive less of a benefit than other veterans and dependents.
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, this concludes my testimony and I am happy to answer any questions you or the Committee members may have.
Information Required by Rule XI2(g)(4) of the House of Representatives
Pursuant to Rule XI2(g)(4) of the House of Representatives, VFW has not received any federal grants in Fiscal Year 2014, nor has it received any federal grants in the two previous Fiscal Years.
The VFW has not received payments or contracts from any foreign governments in the current year or preceding two calendar years.