{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/10/wicker-leads-armed-services-republicans-in-hearing-supporting-veterans", "Wicker Leads Armed Services Republicans in Hearing Supporting Veterans", "2023-10-18", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Roger F. Wicker", "W000437", "www.wicker.senate.gov", "wicker", "https://www.wicker.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Roger F. Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today participated in a joint committee hearing with the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee examining military to civilian transitions for service members.\n\nIn his opening remarks, Wicker noted that successful outcomes continue to be significant for veterans after their military careers as they acquire key skills during their service.\n\n\u201cThere are improvements that need to be made in our veterans\u2019 experience and our military experience, but the truth is that the vast majority of our military veterans are highly successful in their post-military careers and personal lives,\u201d Wicker said.\n\nWicker also discussed how Congress can maintain support effective veteran transition programming through legislation.\n\n\u201cCongress has capitalized on that momentum. We have identified the success of these transition programs and expanded these opportunities,\u201d Wicker said. \u201cThe Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act required broad reforms to make the Transition Assistance Program even stronger. Today, we will find out if we can improve on that. Congress must keep faith with our veterans through these initiatives, which I will continue to support.\u201d\n\nRead Senator Wicker\u2019s full opening statement below or watch it here.\n\nThank you, Mr. Chairman. And I\u2019m glad to be here today joining with three of my distinguished colleagues. I\u2019m particularly proud that I share a leadership role on the Armed Services Committee with a fellow veteran, Senator Jack Reed. His career in the military is far more distinguished than mine, but I\u2019m proud to be a veteran, proud to have served, and proud to be here with three very distinguished supporters of our military and our veterans\u2019 community.\n\nThere are improvements that need to be made in our veterans\u2019 experience and our military experience, but the truth is that the vast majority of our military veterans are highly successful in their post-military careers and personal lives. And I do appreciate Chairman Reed making that point and making the very positive point about military service during the active duty time and as a veteran.\n\nAs our economy struggles with inflation and rising interest rates, reporting from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that veterans and their families have consistently achieved higher standards of living than non-veterans. This is over the past 40 years.\n\nThe veteran unemployment rate is lower than the non-veteran unemployment rate. Both can be improved, but that is a significant statistic. This has been true nearly every month since January 2003, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking this information. This impressive fact is no surprise to those of us who understand how valuable veterans are to civilian employers.\n\nBetween 2005 and 2015, a recent study from the University of Akron found that military veterans earned higher average wages than non-veterans.\n\nThese facts demonstrate what those of us in the military community have known for years: Most veterans are doing well. The skills and character we developed during our time in service lead to desirable outcomes. Our witnesses should be congratulated for the superb work that they and their Departments have been doing in this area over the past decades.\n\nOur veterans show that joining the military is a great way to improve future career and life prospects. This is true regardless of sex, race, or national origin. As I have said, and echoing others, the United States military is the greatest civil rights program in history.\n\nThe success of veterans from minority communities proves this. Researchers studied households headed by racial or ethnic minorities with low education experience. In that study, researchers found that households headed by veterans had significantly higher standards of living than those headed by non-veterans. And in 2017, the median annual incomes of black and Hispanic veteran households were more than $20,000 higher than those of minority non-veteran households.\n\nSo as you can see, I am not only proud to be a veteran, I support military service and encourage many young Americans to follow this type of service. We have also learned that effective pre-separation transition programs are helping to prepare service members for life after their military careers.\n\nThe programs set these veterans up for civilian life, and their communities notice their success. In particular, young Americans see that military service can have very positive effects. This helps recruiting efforts. In this way, these transition programs act as a force multiplier.\n\nThe Transition Assistance Program has been operating for just over thirty years. But it has a lot to show from that relatively brief tenure. Today, it supports around 200,000 service members every year.\n\nCongress has capitalized on that momentum. We have identified the success of these transition programs and expanded these opportunities. The Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act required broad reforms to make the Transition Assistance Program even stronger. Today, we will find out if we can improve on that.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/10/wicker-leads-armed-services-republicans-in-hearing-supporting-veterans"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9419522248208523, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}