Benjamin Collins
Analyst in Labor Policy
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment for veterans (VR&E) is an
entitlement program that provides job training and related services to
veterans with service-connected disabilities. In cases where a disabled
veteran is not able to work, the VR&E program provides independent living
(IL) services to help the veteran achieve the highest possible quality of
life. The VR&E program is administered by the Veterans Benefit
Administration (VBA), part of the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA).
To be entitled to VR&E services, a veteran must have been discharged under
conditions other than dishonorable and be found to have either (1) a 20%
service-connected disability and an employment handicap, or (2) a 10%
service-connected disability and a serious employment handicap. After a
veteran is found to be entitled to VR&E, a counselor helps the veteran
identify a suitable employment goal and determine what services will be necessary
to achieve that goal. The veteran is then assigned to one of five
reemployment tracks:
• Reemployment for veterans who wish to return to work they held prior
to their military service;
• Rapid Access to Employment for veterans who already have the skills
necessary to compete in the job market and only need short-term services
such as job search assistance;
• Employment through Long-Term Services for veterans who require
postsecondary or vocational training to reach their employment
goals;
• Self-employment for veterans who have the skills to start businesses;
or
• Independent Living for veterans for whom employment is not a viable
goal. The most common track is Employment through Long-Term Services, and
the most common form of training is undergraduate education.
In most cases, veterans are entitled to a subsistence allowance while they are
enrolled in training. In instances where a veteran is entitled to both
VR&E benefits and the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the veteran may forego the
VR&E subsistence allowance and couple VR&E training benefits with
the typically higher housing allowance available under the Post-9/11 GI
Bill.
In FY2012, approximately 30,800 veterans developed a new plan of service with
VR&E and almost 10,000 veterans completed rehabilitation. In FY2013,
the VA estimates that mandatory VR&E benefits will cost approximately
$921 million. Discretionary support services and other administrative
costs will total approximately $234 million.
Date of Report: November 15, 2013
Number of Pages: 16
Order Number: RL34627
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Catherine Dale
Specialist in International Security
Chairman McKeon,
Ranking Member Smith, Distinguished Members of the House Armed Services
Committee,
It is an honor to be invited to testify before this Committee about
transitionin Afghanistan.It is a particular privilegeto appear with my three
fellow panelists –LieutenantGeneral Barno, Dr. Cordesman, and General Keane
–all of whom have sharpened my own thinking on these important issues.
I appear here today in my capacityas an analyst with the Congressional Research
Service. But I have also had the honorof
serving as an advisor to a number of ourmilitary commandersin Afghanistan, as
part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and also on
extended visits as an outside expert, most recently late last year. I am profoundly grateful for theprivilege of
having servedalongside our first-rate men and women in uniformand ourcivilian
officials. In them, the nation has much to be proud of.
Date of Report: February 27, 2013
Number of Pages: 12
Order Number: T-022713
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Charles Doyle
Senior Specialist in American Public Law
Defendants convicted of violating any certain federal criminal laws face
the prospect of mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment. Bills offered
during the 113th Congress would supplement, enhance, or eliminate some of these. In
the most all-encompassing, H.R. 1695 (Representative Scott (Va.)) and S.
619 (Senator Paul) would permit federal courts to impose a sentence below
an otherwise applicable mandatory minimum when necessary to avoid violating certain
statutory directives.
Federal drug statutes feature a series of mandatory minimums. S. 1410 (Senator
Durbin) would reduce several of the most severe of these. H.R. 3088
(Representative Waters) would eliminate virtually all of them. The Durbin
bill would also enlarge the safety valve exception. The safety valve
provision allows a federal court to sentence qualified defendants below the
statutory mandatory minimum in drug cases, if the defendant has a
virtually spotless criminal record, that is, not more than one criminal
history point. S. 1410 would expand safety valve eligibility to defendants
with a slightly more extensive criminal record. Elsewhere, H.R. 2372
(Representative Scott (Va.)) would drop the sentencing distinction between
powder and crack cocaine by striking the cocaine base specific references.
Two proposals address the Fair Sentencing Act’s retroactive application.
One, H.R. 2369 (Representative Scott (Va.)) would permit a court to
reduce, consistent with the act, a previously imposed sentence for crack
cocaine possession or trafficking. The second, S. 1410 (Senator Durbin),
would also permit a court to reduce such sentences, but would limit the
authority to instances in which the defendant had not been previously granted
or denied a similar reduction.
The firearms bills are mixed. H.R. 2405 (Representative Scott (Va.)) would
strip the mandatory minimums from §924(c) that outlaws possession of a
firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence or serious drug offense. On
the other hand, H.R. 722 (Representative King (N.Y.)) would add two years
to each of §924(c)’s mandatory minimums, if the firearm were stolen or had had
its serial number defaced. H.R. 404 (Representative Schiff) would
establish a two-year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for violation
of either of the two firearm acquisition false statement (straw purchaser)
proscriptions, if the offense involved two or more firearms and an intent
to subsequently transfer them to an ineligible person. H.R. 117 (Representative
Holt) would require the Attorney General to establish a system of handgun
registration and licensing. Possession without a federal license or of an
unregistered handgun would be punishable by imprisonment for not less than
15 years.
Several proposals add or enhance the mandatory minimums associated with
individual offenses. For instance, H.R. 1468 (Representative Blackburn)
would create a separate crime for anyone who, during and in relation to a
computer fraud or abuse violation, substantially impaired or attempted to
impair the operation of a critical infrastructure computer system or an
associated critical infrastructure. H.R. 457 (Representative Issa) would
establish mandatory minimum penalties for an alien previously removed from
the U.S. for his criminal activities. H.R. 1577 (Representative Poe) and
S. 698 (Senator Cornyn) would expand the class of protected
public servants; increase the penalties associated with homicides
committed against them; establish mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment
for killing or assaulting them; and create a
new flight-to-avoid-prosecution offense for fugitives accused of such
crimes, punishable by a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment.
Date of Report: November 5, 2013
Number of Pages: 18
Order Number: R43296
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