Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to highlight H.R. 758, the GI Internship Program Act. I am a cosponsor of this important legislation with my colleague from Illinois, Brad Schneider. If implemented, this bill would expand the use of the existing post-9/ 11 GI Bill benefits to include internships as an option in place of a traditional degree program. The GI Internship Program Act would allow veterans to gain practical skills and work experience to help ease their transition back into the civilian workforce. Under current law, the post-9/11 GI Bill only allocates money to veterans for traditional postsecondary education in the classroom, but for many veterans this is a path not meant for them. For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 300,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs at the end of 2016. This gap could be filled by the veterans who use their post-9/11 GI benefits as a stipend to support them while receiving on-the-job training as high- skilled technical workers. Further, these jobs can be filled at no additional cost to the employer because the cost would be covered by the preexisting GI Bill. This bill would allow businesses all over the U.S., both large and small, to meet their employment needs and help our skilled veterans to enter the civilian workforce. As long as employers comply with the program and intend to hire the veterans after the internship is over, the veterans will continue to receive funding.…”