Good afternoon.

Madam Chair, in reading today’s testimony, I saw lots of discussion about the Transition Assistance Program and lots of websites that translate military skills and occupations into civilian equivalents.  But I saw very little about how we go about getting education and training institutions to adjust their curricula to account for military training and education.  Secretary Jefferson, I congratulate you on being the only witness today to directly identify the core of the issue as the role of state and local governments in licensing and certification.  Too often, our men and women are needlessly required to repeat education or training already gained in military service.  To me that means that states need to be more flexible in recognizing military training and skills.

I am disappointed that the National Governors Association declined once again to join today’s discussion.  To me, the states hold the key to solving this dilemma.  We cannot afford the current economically inefficient system that ignores the millions of dollars spent on top quality military education and training.

Madame Chair, maybe the best we can hope for is to provide veterans with the best education and training benefits and work with the education and certifying industries to increase the credit given for training as a way to speed licensing and certification.

I yield back.