Veterans Jobs Corps Act of 2012 Motion to Proceed -- Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I would like to thank Chairman Murray for her work on the Veterans Jobs Corps Act.

The unemployment rate for our young, returning veterans is higher than that national average, and this is a travesty. This important bill would invest $1 billion in creating a Veterans Jobs Corps to help our veterans transition into civilian life and get job placements in important areas of law enforcement, first responders positions, or positions in parks and forests involving restoration and protection of our public lands.

The bill makes other strategic investments to improve our infrastructure to help veterans with their job search. Veterans deserve access to Internet at one-stop job centers, as well as qualified outreach specialists to help disabled veterans seek employment. It is designed to help ensure that veterans get the credit they deserve for their training and military experiences when they seek civilian certification and licenses.

I would also like thank Leader Reid and Chairman Murray and their staffs for working with me to find an acceptable offset for this legislation, which would have had an impact on the National Energy Technology Laboratory, NETL, located in West Virginia. NETL does critically important research on improving the safety and environmental sustainability of offshore oil and gas development and importantly for my State they are working on identifying measures that can be taken to reduce the environmental impact and improve the safety of shale gas production. I am pleased that we will be able to switch out the objectionable offset and move this bill forward quickly as soon as we return from recess.

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