Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2109, introduced by Representative Rice of New York.

Mr. Speaker, to improve employment opportunities for veterans and business opportunities for the companies that employ them, H.R. 2109 would authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, to consider the number of veterans who would be employed by a potential contractor and give the company that employs certain veterans credit for doing so during the contract approval process.

The bill would also allow VA to debar any contractor who willfully and intentionally misrepresents the number of veterans they employ.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to President Trump and Republican pro-growth policies, the veteran unemployment rate is at a near historic low of 2.7 percent.

I firmly believe that we should encourage businesses to provide job opportunities to veterans as well as provide VA with the authority to consider veteran hires when making contracting decisions. This legislation emphasizes that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Rice for her work on this bill, which has my full support. I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 2109.

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