Wall Street and Main Street Agree:
Veterans Give Businesses the Winning Edge!

Fortune 500 Executives Join Veterans' Affairs Committee to
Promote Hiring of Veterans as a Competitive Business Advantage

(Washington, DC) – Corporate leaders from some of America’s leading Fortune 500 companies, including UBS Financial Services (formerly PaineWebber), Ford Motor Company, Oracle, Harley-Davidson, Prudential, PeopleSoft, Home Depot, Union Planters, and John Deere Company, joined leaders of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and other business, labor and government officials in support of hiring veterans.  Chairman Chris Smith (NJ) and Ranking Member Lane Evans (IL) organized a press conference and congressional hearing to hear firsthand the experience and success achieved by some of America's largest employers who pro-actively recruit and hire qualified military veterans.

Chairman Smith pointed out that Congress has, "taken the lead in providing new resources and new programs to help veterans find meaningful employment through enactment of our Veterans' Jobs and Business Opportunities Package."

"However, the fact remains that unemployment among veterans, especially among younger veterans and minority veterans, remains higher than the national average," Smith said.  "That's why it is so important that our friends from Wall Street and Main Street have joined us in saying that hiring veterans is good for business, good for our economy and good for our society," Smith said.

"To put it simply, veterans give business the winning edge," said Smith.

"We must do all we can to educate, promote and market the business value of employing individuals with military training," said Ranking Member Evans.  "The men and women serving in the military today are highly trained, highly qualified, and extremely motivated.  They would add value to any small business or corporation savvy enough to tap into this ready labor pool," he said.

Veterans Across America, a non-profit organization that helps veterans compete for quality employment, worked closely with many of the corporate witnesses who testified at the hearing.  Wes Poriotis of Veterans Across America also testified before the Committee on the need to "re-brand veterans" as a competitive business asset. 

Also attending the press conference were Secretary of Veterans' Affairs, Anthony Principi, as well as leaders of the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the AFT-CIO, all of whom have taken the lead to promote the hiring of veterans.

Statements from witnesses at the Veteran's Affairs Committee hearing are below: