Vet News: Murray Presses Administration Officials on Efforts to Help Veterans Find Jobs

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held a hearing to examine current efforts to address unemployment among our nation’s veterans. The hearing featured testimony from veterans, labor leaders, and administration officials on the challenges the federal government faces meeting this mounting problem.
 
The hearing included the testimony of Eric Smith, a Navy medic who completed two tours in Iraq and who has struggled to find work, often performing day labor and volunteering himself for medical tests. The hearing also included testimony from Garett Reppenhagen, an Iraq veteran who works to find veterans good jobs in the green energy sector.
 
During the hearing, Murray confronted administration officials on bureaucratic delay and inaction related to improvements to veterans employment programs. Specifically, in questioning Ray Jefferson, the Assistant Secretary for the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service at the Department of Labor, Murray highlighted a long promised but so far unrealized plan to overhaul the Transition Assistance Program that service members go through before leaving the military as an unacceptable delay.