WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley today said it's very good news that the veterans hiring legislation he and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus introduced in January may be included in a larger proposal that the Senate will vote on this week.
"These men and women are extremely capable," Grassley said. "They have a lot of skills to offer in the workplace. The legislation that Senator Baucus and I put together would clear some bureaucratic hurdles and add a financial incentive to encourage employers to seek out veterans. These steps are a logical follow-up to my effort to increase the IRS' hiring of veterans. The IRS saw the value of this pool of potential workers and followed through on increased hiring of veterans. Other employers, including small businesses, should have similar opportunities. Whether our bipartisan legislation is included by amendment, or when the larger package is brought up for a vote, the veterans hiring proposal needs to be passed."
As introduced, the Veterans Employment Transition Act, or the VETs Jobs bill, would reward employers for hiring qualified veterans who have recently completed their service in the military with a tax credit of up to $2,400 per veteran. A previous version of this credit, which was part of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and also authored by Grassley and Baucus, was designed to help employers hire veterans but expired at the end of 2010. The new version of the legislation would reinstate the tax credit and make it easier for veterans and small businesses to use. As a result, servicemen and women who have been recently discharged would be able to provide documentation directly from the Department of Defense without having to go through the tax credit's current certification process.
Any veteran who has left active duty in the past five years who has discharge paperwork showing 180 days of qualified active duty would be eligible for the credit. This would include those men and women who were activated by their states as members of the National Guard. The bill also helps service members market themselves to prospective employers by requiring the military to educate service members about how the credit works.
Noting that the unemployment rate for veterans is higher than for non-veterans nationwide, the senators first introduced the VETs Jobs bill in May 2010.
