I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 856 

To reauthorize the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to provide assistance 

to small businesses owned by veterans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2017 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, 

Mr. WELCH, and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to 

the Committees on Armed Services, Oversight and Government Reform, 

the Judiciary, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to 

provide assistance to small businesses owned by veterans, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Putting Our Veterans Back to Work Act of 2017’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—RENEWING OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES 

Sec. 101. Reauthorization of veterans retraining assistance program. 

Sec. 102. Extension of authority of Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide rehabilitation and vocational benefits to members of Armed 

Forces with severe injuries or illnesses. 

Sec. 103. Extension of additional rehabilitation programs for persons who have 

exhausted rights to unemployment benefits under State law. 

Sec. 104. Reauthorization of collaborative veterans’ training, mentoring, and 

placement program. 

TITLE II—BUILDING ON OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES 

Sec. 201. Unified employment portal for veterans. 

Sec. 202. Grants to hire veterans as first responders. 

Sec. 203. Employment of veterans as evaluation factor in the awarding of Federal contracts. 

3 TITLE I—RENEWING OUR VOW 

4 TO HIRE HEROES 

5 SEC. 101. REAUTHORIZATION OF VETERANS RETRAINING 

6 ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

7 (a) EXTENSION.—Subsection (k) of section 211 of 

8 the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 (Public Law 112– 

9 56; 38 U.S.C. 4100 note) is amended by striking ‘‘March 

10 31, 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2020’’. 

11 (b) NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE VETERANS.—Subsection 

12 (a)(2) of such section is amended— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

14 the end; 

15 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

16 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 


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1 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub2 paragraphs: 

3 ‘‘(C) 50,000 during fiscal year 2017; 

4 ‘‘(D) 50,000 during fiscal year 2018; 

5 ‘‘(E) 50,000 during fiscal year 2019; and 

6 ‘‘(F) 50,000 during the period beginning 

7 October 1, 2019, and ending December 31, 

8 2020.’’. 

9 (c) CLARIFICATION OF LIMITATION ON AGGREGATE

10 AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—Subsection (b) of such section 

11 is amended by striking ‘‘up to 12 months of retraining 

12 assistance provided by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘an aggregate of not more than 12 months 

14 of retraining assistance provided by the Secretary of Vet15 erans Affairs under this section’’. 

16 (d) UPDATED REPORT.—Subsection (i) of such sec17 tion is amended by adding at the end the following new 

18 paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(3) UPDATE.—Not later than December 31, 

20 2021, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in collabo21 ration with the Secretary of Labor, shall submit to 

22 the appropriate committees of Congress an update 

23 to the report described in paragraph (1).’’. 


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1 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection 

2 (e)(1)(G) of such section is amended by striking ‘‘by not 

3 later than October 1, 2013,’’. 

4 SEC. 102. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF 

5 VETERANS AFFAIRS TO PROVIDE REHABILI6 TATION AND VOCATIONAL BENEFITS TO 

7 MEMBERS OF ARMED FORCES WITH SEVERE 

8 INJURIES OR ILLNESSES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1631(b)(2) of the Wound10 ed Warrior Act (title XVI of Public Law 110–181; 10 

11 U.S.C. 1071 note) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 

12 2017’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2020’’. 

13 (b) REPORT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec16 retary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the appro17 priate committees of Congress a report on the bene18 fits provided by the Secretary under section 1631(b) 

19 of such Act. 

20 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON21 GRESS.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appropriate 

22 committees of Congress’’ means— 

23 (A) the Committee on Armed Services and 

24 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen25 ate; and 


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1 (B) the Committee on Armed Services and 

2 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

3 House of Representatives. 

4 SEC. 103. EXTENSION OF ADDITIONAL REHABILITATION 

5 PROGRAMS FOR PERSONS WHO HAVE EX6 HAUSTED RIGHTS TO UNEMPLOYMENT BENE7 FITS UNDER STATE LAW. 

8 Section 3102(b)(4) of title 38, United States Code, 

9 is amended by striking ‘‘March 31, 2014’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘March 31, 2020’’. 

11 SEC. 104. REAUTHORIZATION OF COLLABORATIVE VET12 ERANS’ TRAINING, MENTORING, AND PLACE13 MENT PROGRAM. 

14 Subsection (e) of section 4104A of title 38, United 

15 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

18 amounts as follows: 

19 ‘‘(1) $4,500,000 for the period consisting of fis20 cal years 2018 and 2019. 

21 ‘‘(2) $4,500,000 for the period consisting of fis22 cal years 2020 and 2021.’’. 


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1 TITLE II—BUILDING ON OUR 

2 VOW TO HIRE HEROES 

3 SEC. 201. UNIFIED EMPLOYMENT PORTAL FOR VETERANS. 

4 Section 4105 of title 38, United States Code, is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(c)(1) The Secretary shall develop a single, unified 

7 Federal web-based employment portal, for use by veterans, 

8 containing information regarding all Federal programs 

9 and activities concerning employment, unemployment, and 

10 training to the extent the programs and activities affect 

11 veterans. 

12 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall work with representatives 

13 from the Department of Defense, the Department of Vet14 erans Affairs, the Small Business Administration, and 

15 other Federal agencies and organizations concerned with 

16 veterans’ issues, to determine an appropriate platform and 

17 implementing agency for the portal. The Secretary shall 

18 enter into an agreement with the other Federal agencies 

19 for the implementation of the portal.’’. 

20 SEC. 202. GRANTS TO HIRE VETERANS AS FIRST RESPOND21 ERS. 

22 (a) GRANTS FOR FIREFIGHTERS.—The Secretary of 

23 Homeland Security shall award grants under section 34 

24 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 

25 (15 U.S.C. 2229a) to hire veterans as firefighters. 


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1 (b) GRANTS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.— 

2 The Attorney General shall award grants under part Q 

3 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

4 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796dd et seq.) to hire veterans 

5 as law enforcement officers. 

6 (c) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec7 tion to hire veterans, the Secretary of Homeland Security 

8 and the Attorney General shall give priority to the hiring 

9 of veterans who served on active duty in the Armed Forces 

10 on or after September 11, 2001. 

11 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $250,000,000. 

14 SEC. 203. EMPLOYMENT OF VETERANS AS EVALUATION 

15 FACTOR IN THE AWARDING OF FEDERAL 

16 CONTRACTS. 

17 (a) CIVILIAN CONTRACTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 41, 

19 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

20 end the following new section: 

21 ‘‘§ 3313. Employment of veterans as evaluation factor 

22 ‘‘The head of each executive agency shall consider fa23 vorably as an evaluation factor in solicitations for con24 tracts and task or delivery order valued at or above 

25 $25,000,000 the employment by a prospective contractor 


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1 of veterans constituting at least 5 percent of the contrac2 tor’s workforce.’’. 

3 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec4 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

5 by adding after the item relating to section 3312 the 

6 following new item: 

‘‘3313. Employment of veterans as evaluation factor.’’. 

7 (b) DEFENSE CONTRACTS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 137 of title 10, 

9 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

10 end the following new section: 

11 ‘‘§ 2338. Employment of veterans as evaluation factor 

12 ‘‘The head of each agency shall consider favorably as 

13 an evaluation factor in solicitations for contracts and task 

14 or delivery order valued at or above $25,000,000 the em15 ployment by a prospective contractor of veterans consti16 tuting at least five percent of the contractor’s workforce.’’. 

17 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec18 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

19 by adding after the item relating to section 2337 the 

20 following new item: 

‘‘2338. Employment of veterans as evaluation factor.’’. 

21 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisi23 tion Regulatory Council shall amend the Federal Acquisi24 tion Regulation to carry out the provisions of section 3313 


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1 of title 41, United States Code, and section 2338 of title 

2 10, United States Code, as added by subsections (a) and 

3 (b), respectively. 

Æ 


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