Wilkes Barre Times-Leader
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Zionsville, has filed seven amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act including one that would create a pilot program to help veterans find jobs based on their military experience.
The amendment regarding the pilot program is identical to his bill, S. 3316, he introduced in June and visited Wilkes-Barre to tout.
That bill and the amendment, if adopted, would set up a one-year pilot program at the Labor Department’s One-Stop Centers to reform and streamline how veterans search online for jobs. The new search program would match veterans with available jobs based on the skills they’ve gained in the military, and employers would be able to post vacancies.
“As a member of the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus, I am very concerned about the ability of veterans, including those recently returning from Afghanistan, to find good jobs during this economic downturn. This amendment would allow the Labor Department to test a new program to help veterans connect with employers and maximize the skills they’ve learned in the military,” Toomey said. “The courageous men and women who serve in our armed forces deserve to return home to a steady job, a paycheck and a promising future.”
Toomey also filed six additional amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act. Many of them are identical to pending bills or resolutions that have not been voted on.
The amendments would:
· Limit funds authorized to be appropriated for U.S. participation in joint military exercises with Egypt if the Egyptian government abrogates, terminates, or withdraws from the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty.
· Require a DoD study on the development of a joint service military history storage and preservation facility.
· Require the Defense Department share a forthcoming report from the Military and Veterans Mental Health Interagency Task Force with Congress. The report will contain recommendations on strategies to improve the mental health of service members, veterans and their families.
· Affirm the sense of the Senate that “abandoning the search efforts for members of the armed forces who are missing or captured in the line of duty now or in the future is unacceptable.” This amendment is identical to S.Res. 593.
· Mandate that the DoD study and report on a flight training simulator that would combine the physical effects of supersonic flight with a simulated cockpit. This amendment is identical to S. 3554.
· Order the secretary of the Army to conduct a study on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle industrial base, including the quantitative and qualitative impacts of a production break for the vehicle.
The Defense authorization bill (S. 3254) is currently pending on the Senate floor.
Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Toomey-files-amendments-to-Defense-Authorization-Act,234868