Political Quotes

“I rise today to introduce legislation that will provide certain of our Nation's veterans with the ability to enforce their statutorily protected veterans' preference rights in the Federal Government. The Veterans' Preference Act, which became law in 1944, was intended to provide a preference in hiring in the Executive Branch to returning servicemembers who acquired valuable skills during their service in the Second World War. Before signing this legislation into law, President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to the great responsibility our Nation owes its veterans: I believe that the Federal Government, functioning in its capacity as an employer, should take the lead in assuring those who are in the armed forces, that when they return, special consideration will be given to them in their efforts to obtain employment. It is absolutely impossible to take millions of our young men out of their normal pursuits for the purpose of fighting to preserve the Nation, and then expect them to resume their normal activities without having any special consideration shown them. By 1998, it had become clear that providing veterans with a preference in hiring was an effective way to attract and retain qualified veterans in government service. However, it was apparent that veterans needed a mechanism to enforce their veterans' preference rights where an agency was not applying the law as Congress intended.…”