The Presidential Planner: Getting Veterans Back To Work
EmailFollowing up on a proposal in his State of the Union address, this morning President Obama will outline an initiative intended to help returning veterans find work by leveraging the skills developed in the military.
Speaking at a fire station where firefighters were among the first to respond on 9/11, the president will detail his plan for a “Veterans Job Corps” to help veterans find work as first responders and law enforcement officers and propose a conservation program that will put up to 20,000 veterans back to work restoring the nation’s public lands.
“We want to encourage police and fire departments around the country to take advantage of the training, skills, dedication, discipline and competence that our veterans have gained through their selfless military service,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki told reporters Wednesday in a preview of the president’s announcement.
At Fire Station #5 in Arlington, Va., the president will announce that his 2013 budget will include $4 billion in funding for grants to spur police officer hiring and $1 billion for grants to encourage firefighter hiring. This funding was first proposed in the president’s $447 billion American Jobs Act.
Preference for these grants would be given to communities that recruit and hire post-9/11 veterans to service as police officers and firefighters.
The president’s latest initiative to get veterans back to work also includes plans to expand entrepreneurship training so veterans can gain the skills they need to start new businesses.
This afternoon, the president will attend a closed-press campaign event in Washington, D.C.
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It looks like the President is getting everybody back to work-8.3%.Thank you President Obama and congratulations for your reelection
Posted by: gobama | February 3, 2012, 8:44 am 8:44 am
Gobama; He’s campaigning. Nothing more. Since he’s from Hawaii, it’s something he’s decided would be good to support. Actually, he doesn’t really care too very much. Is that Obama tattoo healing ok? Don’t drink any purple Kool aid.
Posted by: newcountryman | February 3, 2012, 8:56 am 8:56 am
Yeah, since they decided how to “re-figure” it. First time in my lifetime unemployment has gone down after the season.
Posted by: newcountryman | February 3, 2012, 9:25 am 9:25 am
It was reported today that the economy added 243,000 jobs, mostly private sector. It’s the second straight month of more jobs than expected. Stock-index futures are up sharply today.
Right wingers are sounding like “get off my lawn” grumpy old men. The economy is healing because President Obama is proactively working in directions to benefit us all, including all those men and women returning from war who need jobs. Why would Republicans object to that?
Posted by: green.goddess | February 3, 2012, 9:34 am 9:34 am
Posted by: green.goddess | February 3, 2012, 9:34 am 9:34 am
No, Green Pollyana, what it means is the private sector is resilient and trying to recover IN SPITE of Obama. We were told the recession was over in 2009, remember? In a normal recovery the job creation rate would be much, much higher than 243,000 jobs a month at this point. We saw that in the past WITHOUT any stimulus bills. The private sector is operating very cautiously because of unknowns like Obamacare, upcoming tax changes, thousands of new regulations, etc.
Incidentally, the 3.5 million green jobs Obama promised us back in 2009 never materialized. The high-profile bankruptcies of Solyndra and Ener1, however, did.
Posted by: Susan | February 3, 2012, 10:07 am 10:07 am
“The economy is healing because President Obama is proactively working in directions to benefit us all, including all those men and women returning from war who need jobs.”
Posted by: green.goddess | February 3, 2012, 9:34 am 9:34 am
Accelerating poverty is not a key feature of a healing economy. Obama doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. His shills are delusional. As for war, let’s remember that Obama is responsible for two-thirds of all American casualties in Afghanistan in addition to scores of injuries that make working normal jobs very difficult.
Posted by: Bill | February 3, 2012, 10:21 am 10:21 am
Obama doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing
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He knows exactly what he is doing. Since the Republicans are stonewalling recovery for political reasons he is taking his case directly to the voters.
Posted by: Jumbo Shrimp | February 3, 2012, 10:45 am 10:45 am
The private sector is operating very cautiously because of unknowns like Obamacare, upcoming tax changes, thousands of new regulations, etc
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That’s only an already debunked right-wing talking point. Private sector growth is slow because of lack of consumer demand, and because the private sector is in the process of deleveraging.
Without further stimulus we’re not expected to hit full employment again till 2025
Posted by: jumbo shrimp | February 3, 2012, 10:51 am 10:51 am
Things are actually worse. Because Obama’s shills can’t do math and can’t read charts, they were fooled yet again by Obama’s barrage of propaganda.
From Karl Denninger (who is NO friend of Republicans):
The total number of employed persons fell [last month]. A lot. To put a number on it, the total number of employed persons fell by 737,000 by actual count.
Now the cheerleaders will state that this is a common thing in January, and indeed it is. But the correct adjustment is to look at the population increase and subtract that back off as well. In other words, we take the loss of employment and add the population growth. When we do this we get a whopping 2.422 million in the wrong direction which was bested only by the -2.618 million in January of 2009 through the process of this downturn!
Posted by: Bill | February 3, 2012, 10:53 am 10:53 am
Susan and Bill, I’m no Pollyanna, nor am I a “delusional shill”. Everyone knows our economy isn’t back yet and the global picture of austerity is gloomy. Underemployment is still a huge problem. All it takes is a google for charts depicting the depth and length of historic recessions – this severe downturn will take much longer than any in most Americans’ memories.
Yet, Republicans like Eric Cantor still believe all the economy needs are “policies that reduce red tape.”
Right. No word from the grumpy Right Wingers about how “reducing red tape” would have saved millions of jobs in the auto industry or helped GM to grow into the world’s leading car manufacturer. Only more complaints that stimulus was completely wasted. And instead of supporting ideas to create jobs for our returning military, we read more Right Wing hand wringing and negativity.
The GOP has hung its election fortunes on slamming this President no matter what he does, and continuing poor fortunes for everyone except the rich. The rest of us want our country to move ahead in a way that benefits ALL Americans, especially those who sacrificed the most over the past decade of war – returning vets and their families.
Posted by: green.goddess | February 3, 2012, 10:58 am 10:58 am
Excellent news. I’ll take the steady and substantial gains of President Obama over the hollow promises of the Republicans any day. We saw the great business expertise of the Republicans last time around – huge deficits, huge debt, a phony war and a massive economic collapse. Get out of the way!
Posted by: Judd | February 3, 2012, 1:32 pm 1:32 pm