To combat ongoing high unemployment among American veterans, U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, introduced bipartisan legislation to create transportation jobs for American veterans.

“The brave men and women who have put their lives on the line in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere deserve to be at the front of the line rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges here in America when they return home,” said Rahall.

“Our veterans are highly skilled, have demonstrated enormous leadership, and the best way we can support our troops and veterans is by creating jobs for them when they come home. This bill would help veterans transition from the war zone by creating job opportunities for them in the work zone.”

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, more than 2.2 million Americans have served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 40,000 have been wounded, and nearly 6,000 service members have died in service to our country. Thousands more have been deployed to serve our nation overseas. Despite the incredible sacrifice of these brave Americans and their families, many are confronted with the difficult reality of our struggling economy when they return home.

“Our war veterans are a small part of the population who have taken on a heavy burden for all of us. We owe them a tremendous debt,” said Petri. “By providing them job preference in highway and transportation projects, we are affirming that we are honoring that debt. It is important to thank veterans for their service, but we need to thank them with deeds as well as words.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released data showing that the unemployment rate for veterans who served in the military at any time since September 2001 — a group referred to as Gulf War-era II veterans — is higher than that of the general civilian population. To address the crisis facing many of those who sacrificed so much for our nation, legislation unveiled by Rahall, the “Mobilizing Opportunities for Veterans Employment Act” (H.R. 3473 - The MOVE Act), would provide veterans the opportunity to continue to serve our nation by rebuilding our deficient transportation infrastructure.

Specifically, the MOVE Act would:

- Require state departments of transportation and other recipients of federal highway funds to ensure that the contractors they use for capital projects give hiring preference to veterans to perform any construction work under the federally funded contract.

- Require public transit agencies and other recipients and subrecipients of federal transit funds to ensure that the contractors they use for capital projects give hiring preference to veterans to perform any construction work under the federally funded contract.