cnn | Be a Seed for Change

“Veterans Day is a time to honor and celebrate the courage and commitment of our nation’s heroes.

“When these brave men and women signed up to serve our country, we agreed to take care of them. They kept their part of the bargain. Now we need to keep ours.

“With the President’s recent announcement of a complete troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of this year, and the thousands of troops returning from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, it is as critical as ever to support veterans’ programs and services.

“That’s why I am fighting to pass a bipartisan and comprehensive approach to getting our nation’s veterans back to work.

“The “VOW to Hire Heroes Act” includes Republican and Democratic ideas because getting our veterans the financial security and dignity a job provides should never be partisan.

“For too long in this country we have patted our veterans on the back for their service and then pushed them out into the job market alone.

“With this bill we are giving our veterans the job skills to get their foot in the door and incentivizing employers to make sure that door is open to them.

“Day after day our men and women in uniform have responded to the call of duty with honor and integrity.

“They are our family, our friends,our neighbors and our heroes.

“And for this, we must show our gratitude – not just on Veterans Day, but every day.

“As Chairman of the SenateVeterans Affairs Committee, I will continue to fight on their behalf to ensure that America’s veterans are cared for both on and off the battlefield.”

Yesterday, by a vote of 95-0, the Senate passed landmark legislation I helped author to put America’s veterans back to work. I introduced the basis of this comprehensive bill in May of this year after traveling throughout Washington state to talk to veterans, employers, and experts about the barriers veterans face in finding employment. The legislation is designed to help put veterans back to work by providing job skills training as they leave the military and by easing the training and certification process veterans face. After serving our country honorably, all veterans deserve the chance to earn a paycheck and support their families.Unfortunately, the unemployment rate for veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan remains stubbornly high.Borrowing from the American Jobs Act proposed by the President, the bill will offer a tax credit for companies that hire unemployed veterans, and will increase existing tax credits for companies that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities.

This is a huge victory for our veterans who have returned home only to have to fight to find work to support themselves and their families . Our veterans have the drive,discipline, and self confidence to succeed in any workplace. But for too long at the end of their career we’ve patted them on the back for their service and pushed them out into the job market alone. This bill takes a huge step forward in rethinking the way we treat our men and women in uniform after they leave the military by helping them to translate the skills they learned in the military into careers and by giving employers even more incentive to hire veterans. Veterans across Washington state were instrumental in crafting this bill and deserve tremendous credit today.