Veteran Excellence Through Education Act

Floor Speech

Mrs. NEGRETE McLEOD. This week marks the 10th anniversary of the onset of the Iraq war. As our troops return home, many still face a high unemployment rate. The statistic is higher for women veterans.

One remedy to this abysmal unemployment rate is education. However, for many veterans, the opportunity to pursue the necessary education is difficult because of economic constraints, family responsibilities, or lack of information about available Federal resources. Similarly, many college campuses struggle to provide veterans with these resources.

That is why I introduced my first bill this week, called the Veteran Excellence Through Education Act. This bill creates a competitive grant program aimed at helping college campuses that serve underrepresented populations and provides academic and related support services for all enrolled veterans in these schools. My district has many nearby schools with a growing veteran student population that would benefit from this bill, such as Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State San Bernardino, San Bernardino Valley Community College, and UC Riverside.

Education is a future investment. It is our obligation to assist veterans with job training and economic opportunity in return for their service to our country. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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