I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 344 

To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to encourage the 

employment of veterans in manufacturing positions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 14, 2015 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. LEE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. NORTON, 

Mr. VARGAS, Mr. KILMER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

CA ́RDENAS, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. ESTY, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. 

KUSTER, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. BEN RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. POCAN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. HECK of Washington, Mr. COHEN, Mr. HONDA, Ms. BASS, 

and Ms. BONAMICI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to encourage the employment of veterans in manufacturing 

positions. 

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. 

4 This Act may be referred to as the ‘‘Manufacturing 

5 Jobs for Veterans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VETERANS MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.—To en4 courage the employment of eligible veterans in manufac5 turing, the Secretary of Labor, as part of the Veteran’s 

6 Workforce Investment Program, shall carry out a pilot 

7 program to be known as the ‘‘Veterans Manufacturing 

8 Employment Program’’. Under the pilot program, the Sec9 retary shall award competitive grants to three States for 

10 the establishment and administration of a State program 

11 to make grants to manufacturing employers and labor12 management organizations that provide covered training, 

13 on-job training, apprenticeships, and certification classes 

14 to eligible veterans. Such a program shall be known as 

15 a ‘‘State Manufacturing Employment Program’’. 

16 (b) ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.—To be eligible to re17 ceive a grant under the pilot program, a State shall submit 

18 to the Secretary an application that includes each of the 

19 following: 

20 (1) A proposal for the expenditure of grant 

21 funds to establish and administer a public-private 

22 partnership program designed to provide covered 

23 training, on-job training, apprenticeships, and cer24 tification classes to a significant number of eligible 

25 veterans and ensure lasting and sustainable employ26 ment in well-paying jobs in manufacturing. 


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1 (2) Evidence that the State has— 

2 (A) a population of eligible veterans of an 

3 appropriate size to carry out the State program; 

4 (B) a robust and diverse manufacturing in5 dustry; and 

6 (C) the ability to carry out the State pro7 gram described in the proposal under para8 graph (1). 

9 (3) Such other information and assurances as 

10 the Secretary may require. 

11 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A State that is the recipient 

12 of a grant under this section shall use the grant for the 

13 following purposes: 

14 (1) Making grants to manufacturing employers 

15 and labor-management organizations to reimburse 

16 such employers and organizations for the cost of 

17 providing covered training, on-job training, appren18 ticeships, and certification classes to eligible vet19 erans. 

20 (2) Conducting outreach to inform manufac21 turing employers, labor-management organizations, 

22 and veterans, including veterans in rural areas, of 

23 their eligibility or potential eligibility for participa24 tion in the State program. 


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1 (d) CONDITIONS.—Under the pilot program, each 

2 grant to a State shall be subject to the following condi3 tions: 

4 (1) The State shall repay to the Secretary, on 

5 such date as shall be determined by the Secretary, 

6 any amount received under the pilot program that is 

7 not used for the purposes described in subsection 

8 (c). 

9 (2) The State shall submit to the Secretary, at 

10 such times and containing such information as the 

11 Secretary shall require, reports on the use of grant 

12 funds. 

13 (e) EMPLOYER REQUIREMENTS.—In order to receive 

14 a grant made by a State under the pilot program, a manu15 facturing employer shall— 

16 (1) submit to the administrator of the State 

17 Manufacturing Employment Program an application 

18 that includes— 

19 (A) the rate of pay for each eligible vet20 eran proposed to be trained using grant funds; 

21 (B) the average rate of pay for an indi22 vidual employed by the manufacturing employer 

23 in a similar position who is not an eligible vet24 eran; and 


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1 (C) such other information and assurances 

2 as the administrator may require; and 

3 (2) agree to submit to the administrator, for 

4 each quarter, a report containing such information 

5 as the Secretary may specify. 

6 (f) LIMITATION.—None of the funds made available 

7 to a manufacturing employer through a grant under the 

8 pilot program may be used to provide training of any kind 

9 to a person who is not an eligible veteran. 

10 (g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Together with the re11 port required to be submitted annually under section 

12 4107(c) of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary 

13 shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot program 

14 for the year covered by such report. The report on the 

15 pilot program shall include a detailed description of activi16 ties carried out under this section and an evaluation of 

17 the program. 

18 (h) ADMINISTRATIVE AND REPORTING COSTS.—Of 

19 the amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization 

20 of appropriations under subsection (j), 2 percent shall be 

21 made available to the Secretary for administrative costs 

22 associated with implementing and evaluating the pilot pro23 gram under this section and for preparing and submitting 

24 the report required under subsection (f). The Secretary 

25 shall determine the appropriate maximum amount of each 


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1 grant awarded under this section that may be used by the 

2 recipient for administrative and reporting costs. 

3 (i) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

4 (1) The term ‘‘covered training, on-job training, 

5 apprenticeships, and certification classes’’ means 

6 training, on-job training, apprenticeships, and cer7 tification classes that are— 

8 (A) designed to provide the veteran with 

9 skills that are particular to manufacturing and 

10 not directly transferable to employment in an11 other industry; and 

12 (B) approved as provided in paragraph (1) 

13 or (2), as appropriate, of subsection (a) of sec14 tion 3687 of title 38, United States Code. 

15 (2) The term ‘‘eligible veteran’’ means a vet16 eran, as that term is defined in section 101(3) of 

17 title 38, United States Code, who is employed by a 

18 manufacturing employer and enrolled or partici19 pating in a covered training, on-job training, appren20 ticeship, or certification class. 

21 (3) The term ‘‘manufacturing employer’’ means 

22 a business concern— 

23 (A) that employs individuals in a trade or 

24 business in manufacturing; 


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1 (B) the production facilities of which are 

2 located in the United States; and 

3 (C) the primary business of which is classi4 fied in sector 31, 32, or 33 of the North Amer5 ican Industrial Classification System. 

6 (j) APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be ap7 propriated to the Secretary $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 

8 years 2016 through 2020, for the purpose of carrying out 

9 the pilot program. 

Æ 


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