Madame Chairwoman, Ranking Member Boozman and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for giving Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) the opportunity to offer our brief comments in this statement for the record on a number of expiring authorities, and whether those authorities should be renewed.

Incarcerated Veterans Training Programs 

This is a small but effective program that deserves not only to be renewed but better funded and expanded. The problem of veterans incarcerated is a longtime problem that is rarely spoken of but has been a concern of VVA since our inception thirty years ago. VVA has a number of chapters inside prisons, and many of our chapters have programs of regular visitation of veterans who are incarcerated. We have worked for many years to get programs in place that assist with helping veterans who are incarcerated overcome problems while they are still in prison, primarily neuro-psychiatric wounds and the need to acquire marketable skills in the legitimate economy so they can get a job quickly when they are released.

While VVA chapters and state councils have such programs from Louisiana to Connecticut to Ohio to Washington state, perhaps the most extensive work has been done in New York. Most of this work is low key, and done without fanfare or publicity. More than ten years ago we effected a tripartite agreement between VA, VVA New York State Council, and the New York State Department of Correctional Services to establish the “Veterans Rehabilitation Training” (VRT) program at 17 facilities. This agreement called for training at the Correctional Officers Academy in the special problems of veterans, particularly combat veterans. It resulted in tele-medicine counseling and other medical services being available to honorably discharged veterans in state prisons, establishment of pre-release planning programs, and in general preparation to reconstruct the lives of these veterans on a positive track after their release. A study of recidivism done in the mid-1990s showed a recidivism rate for those who did not complete the VRT program to be more than 70% while those who did complete the VRT

Program had a recidivism rate of less than 30% 24 months after release. The point is that such programs, when pursued quietly by dedicated staff and volunteer advocates work to help these veterans go on to lead constructive and productive lives.

There are two programs for diversion to avoid incarceration in the first place by means of the newly established “veterans court” in Buffalo, N.Y., and an intensive training program of all law enforcement personnel in Onondaga County (Syracuse), N.Y. that have been started in the last few months. While it is too early to tell how effective these programs will be in avoiding incarceration of these veterans in the first place, efforts like this have great promise for reducing this problem for the young combat veterans returning home today. Both of these programs were initiated by Vietnam combat veterans who are members of VVA and include judges, retired and still active law enforcement officers, and are done in cooperation with VISN 2 of the Veterans Health Administration of the VA.

Higher Rates of Compensation

VVA favors re-establishing higher rates of compensation for the Survivor & Dependents Educational Assistance program that is more in line with the high cost of even public higher education today. The primary reason for non-completion in this program (and the Montgomery GI Bill, we might add) is that the rates do not adequately cover the costs incurred in being able to finish and get a degree that will lead to higher earnings in the long run. When it is a tough choice of economic survival in the short run of the family or completing education then education loses. We owe it to those who have died or been permanently and totally disabled as a result of service to country in the military to take proper care of their families.

Similarly, re-establishing the higher rates of compensation for the Apprenticeship and On-The-Job Training will make it possible for veterans to survive economically while they complete these programs that will lead to much better and more stable long term employment, therefore affecting a pay off on the earlier investment that these veterans have earned. It is both the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do in regard to both the health growth of the American economy and in regard to higher future tax receipts by the Federal government.

Pilot Program for the Special Counsel  & Veterans Preference Complaints

VVA generally favor extending this program, but cautions that there is no effective enforcement of veterans’ preference laws in federal employment in our view. The Department of Labor, Veterans Employment & Training Service (VETS) has failed miserably in meeting their responsibilities pursuant to the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998. Since the preliminary investigation the referral action is supposed to be performed by VETS, the system breaks down before the complaint ever reaches the Special counsel. Once the few complaints that have gotten that far is received by Special Counsel the results have not exactly been encouraging, but there appears to be more competence and expertise at that level than at the VETS. Frankly we need a much more effective redress mechanism that does not currently exist for veteran preference eligible persons who have had their rights abrogated. Further, the VEOA law needs to be changed so that any violation of veterans preference law “SHALL” be considered a prohibited personnel practice (the law currently reads “MAY”), and managers and supervisors and others who hold responsible positions in regard to hiring need to be held strictly accountable for not according these veterans’ preference eligible persons with the rights they have earned by virtue of military service.

ARMS Demonstration Program

While VVA does not oppose the requested extension of this program, we urge great caution to both individual veterans and to the VA in regard to the need to avoid veterans getting into a position whereby they cannot re-pay loans that are “adjusted” upward quickly to the point where veterans cannot meet their payments and therefore lose their homes. It is our understanding that many at VA and some veterans are happy with the way this program has operated thus far, but in the credit market as it exists today everyone should proceed cautiously and conservatively.

Thank you for the opportunity to offer these views here today. I would be happy to answer any written questions you may have, and to work with staff to take any action you deem necessary on these topics.