For Veteran's Day: Tax Breaks for Hiring Vets

Just days before Veteran's Day, President Obama has unveiled three new programs to help with veterans' job searches.

The new programs come as Congress is set to vote on giving businesses tax breaks for hiring veterans. Due to a scheduling issue, that bill probably won't be passed until after Veteran's Day, the Navy Times reports.

Tired of taking fire for a stalled economy, President Obama made his veterans' jobs push part of his "We Can't Wait" economic recovery tour. The three new programs announced today are:

• A new "Veterans Gold Card" that gives every post-9/11 veteran access to six months of job-search and counseling services at labor department career centers. There are 3,000 career centers across the country;
• A new website, "My Next Move for Veterans," that matches a vet's military skills with jobs in the civilian world. It's also run by the labor department; and
• Another new service, the "Veterans Job Bank," which singles out job ads tagged as veteran-friendly. More than 500,000 job openings are already on the site, President Obama noted.

All three programs can be accessed via the White House website.

Though the programs do not directly create new jobs, they should open new doors for the nation's 850,000 unemployed veterans.

So too should President Obama's tax-break bill, which has languished in Congress for months. The bill gives a $5,600 tax credit to companies hiring a veteran, and a $9,600 credit for hiring a disabled vet.

Both chambers must approve the bill, which likely won't happen until the week after Veteran's Day at the earliest. Until then, vets on the front lines of the nation's economic recovery may find some new hope online.

Related Resources:

• Transcript: President Delivers Remarks on Veterans Jobs Measures in the Rose Garden (Time)
• Veterans Court: Justice Tailored to War Vets (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
• Employer Obligations to Employees Serving in the Armed Forces: How the USERRA Affects You (FindLaw)