Obama to Unveil Veterans Jobs Proposal With Hefty Price Tag
As the wars wind down and our troops come home this is entirely necessary.
President Barack Obama is unveiling a new jobs initiative geared toward veterans Friday that the administration says will put thousands of former men and women in uniform back to work.
The new so-called Veterans Jobs Corps initiative, first mentioned in the president’s State of the Union address last week, involves partnerships with the Veterans Administration and the Interior Department, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies.
The president is scheduled to announce the new proposals during a speech at an Arlington, Virginia, firehouse.
But with a price tag of at least $5 billion, it’s likely the new initiative will be met with stiff opposition in Congress.
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Specifically, the administration will award $166 million in grant money to communities that show a preference of hiring post-9/11 veterans for new law enforcement positions. Meanwhile, $320 million in grant money will be awarded to various fire departments who pledge to hire and train new veterans.
The money for those grants has already been appropriated by Congress. But the president will seek an additional $4 billion in his upcoming budget to expand both programs. Congress rejected a similar proposal last fall that was part of the president’s broader jobs initiative.