{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://issa.house.gov/district-blog/2013/11/supporting-veteran-owned-businesses/", "Supporting Veteran-Owned Businesses", "2013-11-22", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Darrell Issa", "I000056", "issa.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Each year, the federal government offers billions of dollars\u00a0in small-businesses contracts to service-disabled veterans so that they can grow their company while providing the government with needed services and goods.\nUnfortunately, sometimes unscrupulous individuals seek to take advantage of veterans\u2019 initiatives.\nEarlier this year, my Committee \u2013 the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee \u2013 learned of a flaw in the current system that allowed a contractor to secure a \u201cservice-disabled veteran\u201d designation and, as a result, receive millions in government awards, despite never having served one day in the military.\nWhile attending a military preparatory school, Braulio Castillo injured his ankle and, shortly after went on to play quarterback and linebacker at a civilian college. Twenty-seven years later, Castillo applied for service-disabled veteran status \u2013 conveniently, just months before he started his business and sought out lucrative federal contracts worth over $500 million.\u00a0\u00a0Despite never serving\u00a0a day in the military, Castillo secured this designation for contracting purposes.\nThose who have never actually served our country should not be entitled to receive the special status of service-disabled veteran in order to secure advantages\u00a0in receiving contracts. This loophole must be closed so that future service-disabled veteran businesses can fairly compete for government contracts.\nThat\u2019s why I have worked with fellow Congresswoman \u2013 and disabled veteran \u2013 Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to introduce the SERV (Support Earned Recognition for Veterans) Act. This bill will prevent future abuses of the veterans-preference contract system so that those whom never served in the actual armed forces will not be eligible for this status.\nTo read more about the case of Braulio Castillo, please click here.  \nTo watch Congresswoman Duckworth question Castillo during the Oversight hearing, please click here.  \nTo become a citizen cosponsor of the SERV Act, please click here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://issa.house.gov/district-blog/2013/11/supporting-veteran-owned-businesses/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.856457045301795, "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"}