OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Veterans Education Transparency and Training Act

Floor Speech

Date: April 29, 2024
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Van Orden of Wisconsin for his leadership on H.R. 5914, the Veterans Education Transparency and Training Act.

This bill makes much-needed improvements to veteran educational assistance programs, and it will expand job opportunities for the brave men and women who serve our great Nation.

I am similarly grateful to Mr. Van Orden for his collaboration and including my bill, the Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act of 2023, into the VETT Act.

The VICDL Act will increase veteran access to timely, quality commercial driver license training, increase the truck driver workforce pool, and reduce the strain on our Nation's supply chain that is currently worsened by the severe truck driver shortage.

Across the United States, the trucking industry is facing more than a 78,000-driver shortage, which some estimate could reach 160,000 by 2030.

The shortage is exacerbated, in part, by burdensome red tape restricting veteran access to commercial driver license training using their GI Bill benefits.

Currently, roughly 8,400 commercial driving programs are approved for use by eligible veterans under the GI Bill, but a statutory 2-year rule prevents these training facilities from accepting GI benefits at secondary locations for 2 years.

This burdensome red tape has excluded many veterans from attending closer secondary branch training facilities, and it has been forcing veterans to travel hundreds of miles further for training or to wait 2 years to pursue their CDL.

My bill fixes that issue by exempting new branches of preapproved training facilities located in the same State as each other from the statutory 2-year wait to accept veterans' benefits.

Before I close, I thank the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Pappas) for being my bipartisan co-lead on the bill and Senators Fischer and Padilla for leading this effort in the Senate.

Ultimately, this is a commonsense reform with wide organizational support that will reduce unnecessary roadblocks to veteran training and workforce opportunities.

I am grateful for its inclusion in the VETT Act, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5914.

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