WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Angus King (I-ME), and John Boozman (R-AR) today reintroduced bipartisan legislation to better connect the nation’s new veterans with services, resources, and benefits that are available in their communities to help them transition back to civilian life.

Heitkamp’s Connect with Veterans Act aims to address the challenges newly returning veterans in North Dakota face in obtaining needed services and benefits, including employment opportunities, education assistance, and health care like mental health services. As transitioning servicemembers are likely to cluster around military bases after concluding their military service, this issue is particularly pronounced in North Dakota – which has a post-9/11 veteran population of more than 7,000 – with the majority of these new veterans settling near U.S. Air Force Bases in Minot and Grand Forks. Heitkamp first introduced the bill last Congress.

As servicemembers transition from the military to civilian life, it is critical for newly-separated veterans and their families to feel connected and supported by their local communities as they begin to settle into life after service to our country.  With nearly 250,000 servicemembers expected to separate from military service over the next five years, the Senators’ bipartisan Connect with Veterans Act would give veterans the ability to access information they choose to receive regarding services and benefits from local, state, and federal entities or programs by creating a voluntary directory of contact information connecting the veteran to their local communities.

According to Association of Defense Communities, the most important part of the transition from servicemember to civilian life occurs during the short time period after a servicemember leaves the military. But according to a study from 2014, half of veterans polled from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan said they had a difficult time readjusting to civilian life. Currently, no mechanism exists for local governments and communities to interact directly with the 550 servicemembers who are transitioning daily nationwide and the Senators’ bill aims to bridge these divides by helping servicemembers quickly access the resources they need to effectively and successfully transition in their communities – especially for those living in rural communities as they often have fewer access to resources and services.

“Too often, our soldiers and servicemembers returning home – battle-scarred physically and emotionally – are unable to access the resources and services they need in their communities,” said Heitkamp, co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Defense Communities Caucus who first introduced the bill last Congress. “These hometown heroes aren’t just transitioning jobs, but their entire worlds change when they move on from the military. By implementing bipartisan solutions like our bill, we can make sure local communities and the VA are helping with that transition by connecting new veterans with the job opportunities and the health care they need to succeed, and effectively bridging information gaps about services and benefits that exist.”

“I am committed to making certain our heroes can seamlessly transition back into civilian life when they choose to separate from the military after serving our nation,” said Moran. “The Connect with Veterans Act would give veterans the opportunity to access information from organizations in their local community that offer services to enhance their quality of life. This important legislation would connect communities with the more than 500 veterans transitioning from the military every day who deserve access to tailored services and would benefit from their support.”

“Our veterans have served our country bravely, and as they return to civilian life, they shouldn’t have to fight to find the basic information and resources they deserve,” said King. “By creating a voluntary network that connects our veterans to vital resources within their communities, like job opportunities or benefits, this bill makes information more accessible to our veterans, eases what can often be a difficult transition back to civilian life, and brings us another step closer to fulfilling our enduring promise of supporting the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our nation.”

“As a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I’m always working to create solutions to improve our veterans’ transition to civilian life and the integration back into their local communities,” said Boozman. “This bill provides more opportunities for our veterans to plug into the programs in their communities that help those brave men and women leaving military service.”

"The National Association of Counties (NACo) and the nation’s 3,069 counties support the ‘Connect with Veterans Act,’” said Sallie Clark, President of the National Association of Counties. “This bill would enable counties to more successfully reintegrate veterans, allow them to connect with their communities and provide benefits and services to facilitate the transition from military to civilian life and into the local workforce. We appreciate Senator Heitkamp's leadership on this important issue and efforts to help counties support to our nation’s transitioning service members."

“Our brave veterans who are coming home to North Dakota after serving their country often have difficulty transitioning back into the communities they call home – but we can and we must do more to change that,” said Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney. “For years I’ve worked with Senator Heitkamp and know how deep her commitment is to making sure our returning servicemembers have access to the employment opportunities, and the health services they need as they return to civilian life. That’s why I’m proud to support her bipartisan effort to connect our local communities and VA with our newest veterans – together and with the help of Senator Heitkamp’s Connect with Veterans Act, we can help make sure our veterans always have a supportive, embracing home community in the Fargo area and across North Dakota.”

For other reactions to the bill from community leaders and organizations working to assist veterans, click here.

The Senators’ bipartisan bill would create a directory of local veterans to:

• Help towns, cities, and counties in North Dakota, and across the country, interact more with new veterans moving to these communities;
• Make it easier for communities to contact veterans with useful information about local resources, such as the hours health care facilities are open, or if the community has a unique family support program; and
• Enable communities to improve their partnerships with employers that are specifically looking to hire veterans, while helping veterans find good jobs that match the skills they developed while serving.

Participation in the program is voluntary and a veteran’s contact information would only be shared with his or her permission. Veterans’ personal information will be kept safe and secure. For a one-page summary of the bill, click here.

Background

As co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Defense Communities Caucus, Heitkamp has long stood up for veterans and servicemembers in North Dakota and throughout the country. Shortly after joining the Senate, she conducted a statewide listening tour, meeting with veterans across the state and discussing their concerns to better understand the challenges many of them face. Since then, she has worked to:

• Connect Native American Veterans with Benefits and Services: In June 2014, Heitkamp hosted her first Native American Veterans Summit in Bismarck. She brought together about 140 Native veterans, officials from the VA and Indian Health Service (IHS), and other advocates to give veterans a chance to be heard. It was also an opportunity for Native veterans to learn more about ongoing initiatives to connect them with services and benefits. Last summer, she fought for and helped pass legislation to help veterans living in rural and areas and Native American veterans more easily get care. Also last summer, following her Native Veterans Summit, Heitkamp launched a new one-stop-shop webpage for Native American veterans, aiming to more easily connect these veterans with information about benefits and services available to them.

• Improve the Quality of Life at Minot Air Force Base: Just three months after Heitkamp brought then-head of U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to Minot Air Force Base to hear firsthand about the challenges facing civilian employees on the base, Heitkamp announced that OPM approved pay rate increases of 33 to 37 percent for more than 150 civilian employees at Minot Air Force Base to help them afford the high cost of living in the area and help the base retain and recruit workers. In March, Heitkamp announced that OPM approved pay rate increases of about 34 percent for 160 additional federal employees at Minot Air Force Base and at other locations in western North Dakota.

• Honor North Dakota Vietnam War Veterans: As our nation remembers the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, Heitkamp is completing a series of weekly speeches on the floor of the U.S. Senate that she began in March to honor and recognize North Dakota’s 198 KIA and MIA Vietnam veterans.

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