[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12] [House] [Pages 16771-16773] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]REQUIRING HYPERLINK TO VETSUCCESS WEBSITE Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3685) to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include on the main page of the Internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs a hyperlink to the VetSuccess Internet website and to publicize such Internet website. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3685 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. PROMOTION OF THE VETSUCCESS INTERNET WEBSITE. (a) Inclusion of Hyperlink.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall include on the main page of the Internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs a new hyperlink with a drop-down menu entitled ``Veterans Employment''. The drop-down menu shall include a direct hyperlink to the VetSuccess Internet website, the USA Jobs Internet website, the Job Central website, and any other appropriate employment Internet websites, as determined by the Secretary, especially such websites that focus on jobs for veterans. (b) Advertisement of Internet Website.--Subject to the availability of appropriations for such purpose, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, in accordance with section 532 of title 38, United States Code, purchase advertising in national media outlets for the purpose of promoting awareness of the VetSuccess Internet website to veterans. (c) Outreach to Veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct outreach to veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom to inform such veterans of the VetSuccess Internet website. (d) VetSuccess Internet Website Defined.--In this section, the term ``VetSuccess Internet website'' means www.vetsuccess.gov or any successor Internet website maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California. General Leave Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from California? There was no objection. Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Congressman Cliff Stearns of Florida for introducing this bill, which seeks to include an important link to the VetSuccess program on the home page of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Web site. Like the other two bills before us today, it helps those veterans seeking employment. I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3685, which was introduced by my good friend, the deputy ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Cliff Stearns of Florida. This bill would make it easier to find employment opportunities in their area and promote the VetSuccess Web site. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) to discuss his legislation. Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished ranking member, and I also thank Chairman Filner for allowing this bill to come to the floor. [[Page 16772]] My colleagues, today unemployment continues to be record high, particularly in my congressional district. In my hometown, it is 14.5 percent, and the unemployment rate in the veterans community is even higher. It is higher than I think many of us can ever remember. So my bill, H.R. 3685, would simply require the Department of Veterans Affairs to have a drop-down menu entitled ``Veterans Employment'' on its home page. This drop menu would have links to VetSuccess, USA Jobs, Job Central and other appropriate employment Web sites. It also would require the Secretary of VA to advertise and promote the VetSuccess Web site and require direct outreach to veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. This bill comes out of many discussions I have had with the VA over the past couple of years. And while the VA has addressed some of my concerns, they continue to miss what I believe is the underlying reason for the bill--consumer service and usability. {time} 1310 The VA should have a clear link that will take veterans to a listing of jobs based simply on zip code. Today, if you're a veteran and you're looking for a job, whether it is in the private sector or within the United States Government, it can be a daunting task. The VA should not make it harder to use their job searching services to help find a job, but make it easier. For example, when you go to the VA home page under quick links, under ``Federal Jobs for Veterans,'' this is close to what I want, but private sector jobs are not listed since it only lists Federal jobs and completely omits private sector jobs. To find private sector jobs on this site, you have to click on the Veteran Service drop-down menu and navigate 28 possible links and somehow know that VetSuccess is the proper link while you're doing all these 28 links. There's no simple link for Veteran Employment or Veteran Jobs. Instead, you need to know that the VetSuccess program is what you're looking for. If you're unfamiliar with veterans programs, you may not know that VetSuccess is the web portal for private sector jobs. The title, VetSuccess, isn't even clear in this title. VetSuccess might be the link for successful navigation of the Veterans Affairs bureaucracy. The title should clearly mention jobs or employment to make it easier for our veterans. Then, my colleagues, once you get to the VetSuccess web page, you must register to look up jobs. You can't just type in your zip code and get a list of jobs. My office had to fill out an excessively long form and then monitor our spam filter to catch the authentication e-mail verifying that we signed up. And then we waited for a follow-up e-mail to get our password to finally access the VetSuccess job portal. Can you imagine the frustration that must occur? This is too high a hurdle for something so simple as a job listing for veterans. You should be able to simply go to this one site, type your zip code in, and simply get a list of the job listings. When I was finally able to type in my zip code and found jobs in my hometown of Ocala, Florida, I got a list of about 60 jobs, mostly menial jobs driving as a chauffeur and lawn care jobs. But when I went to Monster.com, the private side, I don't need to register to do a quick lookup for the 240 jobs that were listed within 20 miles of my hometown. VetSuccess needs to be more like Monster.com--immediate access to job listings by zip code without hiding behind vague titles and a crowded drop menu with excessive registration requirement. The purpose of my bill, my colleagues, is to get the VA thinking about how they should properly address the need for veterans, provide good customer service, and lower the barriers to get this information. This type of employment information should be easily accessible in plain, simple language on the VA's home page and the VetSuccess program should provide these job listings without making veterans jump through so many hoops. So, with that in mind, Mr. Buyer, I want to thank you and thank Mr. Filner, the chairman, for allowing this bill to come forward. I hope my colleagues will vote in the affirmative. Today, unemployment continues to be a record high. In the State of Florida the unemployment rate is over 10 percent. In my hometown of Ocala, it is over 14 percent. It can be a daunting task finding a job for a civilian. It can be even harder to find a job if you are a Guard or Reservist returning from deployment or a veteran just exiting the service. The unemployment rate in the veteran's community is higher than at any time that I remember. The VA has created a job portal to help veterans develop their resume and hunt for jobs. Unfortunately, like many government run programs, they built a program without thinking about the customer, our veterans. My bill, HR 3685, would require that the Department of Veterans Affairs would have a drop-down menu titled ``Veterans Employment'' on its homepage. This drop menu would have links to VetSuccess, USA Jobs, Job Central and other appropriate employment websites. It would also require the Secretary of VA to advertise and promote the VetSuccess website and require direct outreach to veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. This bill comes out of discussions I had with the VA over the past couple of years and while the VA has addressed some of my concerns, they continue to miss the underlying reason for my bill: customer service and usability. The VA should have a clear link that will take veterans to a listing of jobs based on zip code. Today, if you are a veteran and are looking for a job, whether it is in the private sector or within the government, it can be a difficult task. The VA should not make it harder to use their job searching services to help find a job. For example, when you go to the VA homepage under quick links there is ``Federal Jobs for Veterans.'' This is close to what I want, but private sector jobs are not listed since it only lists federal jobs. To find private sector jobs, you have to click on the Veteran Service dropdown menu and navigate 28 possible links and somehow know that VetSuccess is the proper link. There is no simple link for Veteran Employment or Veteran Jobs. Instead you need to know that the VetSuccess program is what you're looking for. If you're unfamiliar with veteran programs, you may not know that VetSuccess is the web portal for private sector jobs. The title, VetSuccess, isn't clear. VetSuccess might be the link for successful navigation of the VA bureaucracy. The title should clearly mention jobs or employment. Then, once you get to the VetSuccess webpage you must register to look up jobs. You can't just type in your zip code and get a list of jobs. My office had to fill out an excessively long form, and then monitor our spam filter to catch the authentication e-mail verifying that we signed up and then we waited for a follow up e-mail to get our password to finally access the VetSuccess job portal. This is too high a hurdle for something so simple as a job listing for veterans. You should be able to go to this site, type your zip code and get the job listings. When I was finally able to type in my zip code and found jobs in my hometown of Ocala, I got a list of 64 jobs, mostly menial, Driving and Lawncare jobs. When I go to Monster.com, I don't need to register to do a quick lookup for the 237 jobs listed within 20 miles of Ocala. VetSuccess needs to be more like Monster: immediate access to job listings by zip code without hiding behind vague titles in a crowded drop menu with excessive registration requirements. The purpose of my bill is to get the VA thinking about how they should properly address the needs of Veterans, provide good customer service and lower the barriers to information. This type of employment information should be easily accessible in plan language on the VA's homepage and the VetSuccess program should provide these job listings without making veterans jump through more hoops. A March 13, 2010 Washington Post article stated that 21.1 percent of veterans age 18-24 are unemployed in this nation. These numbers are far above the standard unemployment rate for the nation or for individuals of similar ages. Many of these veterans are members of the National Guard and reserves who have deployed multiple times. In 2008, the unemployment rate among veterans in that age group was 14 percent, lower than today's veteran unemployment but still above the national average. According to the Bureau of Labor & Statistics March 2010 report, the average unemployment rate for veterans over all eras is 8.1 [[Page 16773]] percent. The unemployment rate for all veterans in 2009 was 10.2 percent. Mr. BUYER. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the gentleman from Florida on his legislation. He's worked hard on it. As you can tell, he has put a lot of time and effort into this. The only thing I would add is that it's not just veterans--those whom have been recently discharged from the military. We also have guardsmen and reservists who are returning. We just had a brigade return from Tennessee. Of this brigade that has just returned from a theater of war, 40 percent do not have jobs waiting on them. Think about that. Forty percent of those just now coming back from a theater of war don't have a job waiting on them. So it is not just the veterans who may have served the Nation many years ago. It is those who are returning who are still active guardsmen and reservists, yet now they don't have that job to come back to. We had better be leaning forward on this one. Mr. Stearns, I want to thank you for your legislation. I want to thank the chairman for supporting the legislation. I urge all Members to support H.R. 3685. I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. FILNER. I urge my colleagues to unanimously support H.R. 3685, and I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3685. The question was taken. The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it. Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. ____________________