Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, center, co-sponsored legislation with Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. to require the VA to do more to make veterans aware of educational and career training benefits available to them. Chip Somodevilla / GETTY IMAGES
New bill would task VA with more actively promoting veteran transition assistance
The Informing VETS Act would require the department to regularly promote programs designed to assist veterans leaving military service and offer more comparison of information on educational benefits.
A new House bill seeks to require the Veterans Affairs Department do more to make transitioning service members aware of the education and career benefits afforded to them once they leave military service.
The Informing Veterans on Education for Transitioning Servicemembers, or Informing VETS, Act aims to amend statues to require the VA secretary to “regularly promote” the department’s Veteran Readiness and Employment program through acts like sending letters to qualifying veterans to make them aware of the educational, job training and other benefits.
The bill — cosponsored by Reps. Colin Allred, D-Texas, and Byron Donalds, R-Fla. — would also compel the VA to make side-by-side comparisons of programs available to help veterans determine their best options, such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Veteran Readiness and Employment program, which serves veterans and transitioning service members with “service-connected disabilities and employment barriers to prepare for, obtain and maintain suitable employment.”
“Ensuring our veterans can access the benefits they have earned will always be a priority of mine in Congress,” said Allred in a May 24 statement. “I am proud to introduce the bipartisan Informing VETS Act which works to ensure that our veterans are informed as they make decisions regarding education benefits.”
The legislation would also call on the VA to make the information available on a publicly accessible website.
A 2022 longitudinal study of the VR&E program found that “the majority of Veterans in the VR&E program require significant re-training and support to obtain suitable employment,” with 88% enrolled in the Long-Term Services track, which offers “a comprehensive range of services, including career counseling, case management, employment planning, vocational training, education, VHA-sponsored medical care and other supportive services.”
Making certain that veterans and transitioning service members receive and are aware of the benefits entitled to them has been challenging at certain levels for the VA and Defense Department.
In March, the Government Accountability Office offered recommendations to the VA, Defense and Labor departments after finding that 4,300 transitioning service members did not receive the interagency assistance, commonly known as a “warm handover,” that they are entitled to when they didn’t meet either career readiness standards or were expected to face other transition challenges.
The Informing VETS Act was referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs on May 24.