WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) program provides the services and assistance to enable veterans with service-connected disabilities to achieve maximum independence in daily living and to prepare them to obtain and maintain meaningful jobs.
The initiative provides vets with resources like counseling, rehabilitation, job search, self-employment development, skills assessment, and career guidance.
Under it, 297,0000 veterans were served in fiscal year 2024, and $2.1 billion in benefits were paid out.
But members of the House Veterans Committee's Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity are unhappy.
"We are at a crossroads, and I believe right now that the VR& E program is going in the wrong direction," said Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin), the panel's chairman.
There's been a 44% increase in applicants since the PACT Act went into effect. The program only has one counselor per every 125 veterans, and wait times can be excruciatingly long.
"The current San Diego average wait time is 155 days, which is still well above the 60-day target," said Nick Pamperin, executive director of VR&E.
Rep. Mike Levin (D-California) then asked: "Do you think that's acceptable? A 155-day wait time?"
Pamperin replied: "I do not."
To which Levin said: "155 days is unacceptable and it is leading to veterans in San Diego who are giving up on VR&E. Wouldn't you? That's not serving veterans as well as they've served us."
The VR&E program actually predates the modern-day VA, with the signing of the Soldier's Act of 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson.