Veterans Economic Recovery Act of 2020
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Veterans Economic Recovery Act of 2020
This bill addresses the employment and retraining of veterans, specifically during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency.
The bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement a program under which the VA must provide up to 12 months of nontransferable retraining assistance to up to 35,000 eligible veterans for the pursuit of a specified program of education. Under the bill, an eligible veteran is an individual who, among other requirements, is unemployed due to COVID-19. Veterans who receive retraining assistance may only use such assistance to pursue specified programs, including those designed to provide training for high-demand occupations.
The Government Accountability Office must report on the outcomes and effectiveness of the retraining assistance program.
The bill provides access to the National Directory of New Hires to the VA and the Department of Labor for the purpose of tracking the employment of veterans.
The bill makes updates to the VA's High Technology Pilot Program, including by expanding the class of providers of high technology education programs.
The bill reauthorizes and expands the program for the provision of off-base transition training for veterans and their spouses, including by requiring a preference for participation by states with economies significantly impacted by COVID-19.
Finally, the bill implements a five-year grant program requiring the VA to make grants to organizations for the provision of transition assistance to members of the Armed Forces who are separated, retired, or discharged from the Armed Forces, and spouses of such members.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on June 4, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 4, 2020: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced it on June 4, 2020, and 9 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 7 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 4, 2020, 2289 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2289 days ago, on June 4, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers