Joe Manchin: “just over a year ago my good friend, Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, and I launched a new caucus in the Senate. Our…”

“just over a year ago my good friend, Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, and I launched a new caucus in the Senate. Our purpose was to bring attention to the problem of unemployment among our military veterans. Mark and I looked at everything the Department of Veterans Affairs and other government agencies were doing to help veterans find jobs. We believed the private sector needed to be more involved, so we created the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus. Today, the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus is the Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus. It is a bicameral, bipartisan group of 37 Senators and 46 House Members brought together by a shared commitment to the newest generation of veterans. This week we are kicking off the caucus's activities for the 113th Congress with a ``Day on The Hill.'' It is an event highlighting our work on behalf of veterans, and particularly our showcase program, ``I Hire Veterans.'' Not only will we be recruiting more Members of Congress to join our caucus, but we will also be enlisting more businesses to join the eight major corporate partners that have already joined our ranks. These corporations expect to hire about 200,000 veterans in the next 5 years. The members of the Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus are leading by example. We are hiring veterans to work in our Senate and House offices.…”