Posted on: Monday, March 4, 2002
Veteran training programs may be shuffled
By Dennis Camire
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — In 14 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, fewer than 10 percent of job-seeking veterans who receive employment and training help under federal Labor Department grants actually found jobs, according to federal veterans and labor officials.
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi said that at the same time, veterans age 20 to 24 have a 9.6 percent unemployment rate. An average 519,000 veterans per month were unemployed last year, with almost a third out of work for more than 15 weeks.
The lack of success by veterans age 22 to 44 in finding jobs, along with the high jobless rate, are key reasons why the Bush administration wants to replace three main programs of the Labor Department's Veterans Employment and Training Service, known as VETS.
The replacement would be a $197 million competitive grant program under the VA.
The two biggest programs — the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program, financed at $81.6 million this year, and the Local Veterans Employment Representatives, with a $77.2 million budget — make grants to the states to help veterans find training and work.
The third, the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Project, is a competitive grant program open to any organization to provide employment services to homeless veterans. Its $18.2 million budget this year will finance up to 70 projects across the country.
"I believe this proposed transfer is a good one," Principi said. "I believe it will help improve the employment outlook for recently separated military service members."
Under the Labor Department, the program has been mired in mismanagement without vision, accountability and results, some charge. But veterans' advocates and some members of Congress say the proposed switch lacks details.
"I don't think it's a good idea," said Gary Flaherty of Canaan, N.Y., a retired Army command sergeant major who is co-chairman of the New York Council of Veterans Organizations. "I just think the VA's plate is full, or should be full, with taking care of needs that veterans have from a medical and compensation standpoint."
Frederico Juarbe, assistant secretary for VETS in the Labor Department, admitted that his agency and the VA did not yet have details or a legislative proposal to do what they wanted.
"We will have a legislative measure that is being worked on right now jointly by the VA and our folks here at the Department of Labor," he said later. "We will be introducing that to Congress.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he didn't believe Congress would do anything this year on the issue.
Bob Jones, executive director of American Veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, said now is not the time to transfer programs.
"VA is ill-prepared to accept a program which is so naturally suited to the Department of Labor," he said. "Shifting VETS from one department to another is not a 'magic bullet' and it will not serve veterans better."
As part of the move, Juarbe and 200 VETS staff members would be transferred to VA.
The General Accounting Office, the watchdog arm of Congress, has issued a series of reports critical of VETS program oversight and the methods used to determine the programs' effectiveness.
Part of the problem is the law setting up the grant programs is outdated and lacks flexibility to allow states to design their services to meet the needs of employers and veterans, the GAO said.
Principi and Juarbe said part of the solution is to redesign the grant programs so they respond to the best proposals for helping veterans.
"The VA's mission is focused exclusively on the whole continuum of veterans benefits, from education to vocational rehabilitation and housing," Principi said. "The employment piece is the missing piece."
