Chairwoman Herseth-Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding this hearing today and thank you for the opportunity to provide AMVETS’ views regarding these key pieces of legislation.

AMVETS does not support H.R. 114. All thought this is a creative way to assist veterans fund the establishment of a business, it will set a negative precedent for the use of veterans’ benefits. Each benefit has an expressed intent and has a system of distributing their funds. Adding business development to chapter 30 would not only change the intent of the benefit it would change the roll VA would have to play in distributing funds and oversight of the use of funds by the recipient.

AMVETS believes that VA should design their website to make it easier for veterans to find veteran employment opportunities and resources in one, easy to find location on the VA.gov homepage. Currently, VetSuccess information is located in the “Veterans Services.” This is easy to navigate to, but if a veteran does not know what this service provides they may skim past it. There is also a link to USAJobs on their homepage, so this might lead veterans to believe this is the only employment resource available from the website. AMVETS supports H.R. 3685. Providing an easily recognizable “Employment” dropdown from the VA homepage that houses all employment opportunities for veterans will simplify and ensure that all veterans who visit the VA website will find all relevant employment information.

AMVETS believes that every effort should be made to ensure that veterans who are in financial distress can keep their home. AMVETS supports H.R. 4635, prevent mortgagee from initiating foreclosure on financially distressed mortgagor without first arranging mediation in an attempt to keep the mortgagor in the home. Providing this intervention will drastically reduce the number of foreclosures by allowing the homeowner to negotiate a revised payment plan.

The loss of a spouse places unimaginable physical, mental and financial stress on the survivors. Understanding this, it is important to ensure that additional stress isn’t placed on them while they work through this abrupt and devastating event. AMVETS supports H.R. 4664, which will prevent surviving spouses from losing their home for one year after the combat death of their spouse and service member.

AMVETS supports H.R. 5360. Federal statute defines legal blindness as:

“…central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees shall be considered for purposes in this paragraph as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.”

42 U.S.C. § 416(i)(1)(B) (Supp. IV 1986).[1]

It is time to ensure veterans affected by visual impairment receive the benefits and assistance they have rightfully earned.

Madam Chairwoman, thank you again for providing AMVETS the opportunity to present our views on these key pieces of legislation. This concludes my testimony and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.