Jobs bill by Veterans Day looks unlikely - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Jobs bill by Veterans Day looks unlikely

Passage by Veterans Day of legislation to help veterans find jobs looks increasingly unlikely, as Senate Democrats are considering adding two White House-sponsored tax provisions that could delay a final vote.

The House passed its employment bill, the Veterans’ Opportunity to Work Act, on Oct. 12, hoping to make a Nov. 11 deadline for passage set earlier this year by major veterans’ groups. The Senate, however, has yet to act on its bill, the Hiring Heroes Act.

Senate aides are now talking about holding a vote next week on a bill different from the House-passed measure, making it unlikely a final bill could be signed into law by Veterans Day.

If the Senate adds tax credits to the bill — not yet a certainty — the measure would have to return for another vote in the House, where the Republican-controlled body has been reluctant to approve any job-related provisions proposed by President Obama.

If the Senate makes any changes, there is an additional complication because the House of Representatives will not be session from Nov. 7 through Nov. 14. That means a vote on the revised bill would be postponed until after Veterans Day.

“Any delay in getting a veterans jobs bill passed by Veterans Day is inexcusable,” said Paul Rieckhoff, the founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “We have been calling on the Senate to pass the Hiring Heroes Act for months now. With the VOW Act already passed out of the House, it is the Senate’s responsibility to step up to get a bill to the president’s desk by next Friday, Veterans Day.

“With the veteran unemployment rate at 11.7 percent, veterans don’t want empty lip service next Friday,” Rieckhoff said. “They want action and jobs.”

Attaching the tax credits to the veterans’ jobs bill would be a ploy to win a political victory that succeeds only if the House Republican leadership caves, at least this time, on passing Obama initiatives.

The specific initiative under debate would provide businesses with a $2,400 tax credit for hiring any unemployed veteran, a $4,800 tax credit for hiring a veteran who has been out of work for at least six months and a $9,600 tax credit for hiring a veteran with a service-connected disability who has been out of work for six months.

Senate debate over adding the Obama provisions to the employment bill come at a time when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has become increasingly active in pushing the White House’s political agenda, including delaying action on the 2012 defense authorization bill solely because it includes a bipartisan plan for dealing with detainees held at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which the White House opposes.