I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3355 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a grant program 

to assist veterans find employment, to make permanent and modify 

the work opportunity tax credit with respect to unemployed veterans, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2011 

Mr. LUJA ́N (for himself and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 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 direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 

grant program to assist veterans find employment, to 

make permanent and modify the work opportunity tax 

credit with respect to unemployed 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heroes Hiring Heroes 

5 Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VETERAN EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE GRANT PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subject to the availability of 

4 appropriations for such purpose, the Secretary of Veterans 

5 Affairs shall establish a program to award grants to 

6 States to assist the employment of veterans. 

7 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—The Secretary may award a grant 

8 under this section to a State that— 

9 (1) is carrying out a program to assist the em10 ployment of veterans; or 

11 (2) was carrying out such a program but does 

12 not have sufficient funding to continue the program. 

13 (c) USE OF GRANT.—A State may use a grant award14 ed under this section to provide veterans with— 

15 (1) quarterly job fairs or other similar forums 

16 in which the State assists veterans in meeting poten17 tial employers; 

18 (2) employment resources on an Internet Web 

19 site, including through maintaining or establishing a 

20 Web site containing job listings, a resume bank, or 

21 employment advice or other information; 

22 (3) in-person employment assistance, including 

23 resume-building and job-placement services; 

24 (4) workshops or seminars that cover business 

25 or office conduct, the job interview process, how to 

26 apply for a job, and other similar information; and 


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1 (5) training of technology skills, including train2 ing with respect to the Internet and widely used 

3 word-processing, spreadsheet, and presentation soft4 ware. 

5 (d) NUMBER AND AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

6 (1) NUMBER.—The Secretary may award more 

7 than one grant under this section to a State. 

8 (2) AMOUNT.—A grant awarded under this sec9 tion may not exceed $100,000. 

10 (e) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 

11 this section, a State shall submit to the Secretary an appli12 cation at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

13 information as the Secretary may require. 

14 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

15 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

16 out this section a total of $5,000,000. 

17 SEC. 3. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF WORK OPPOR18 TUNITY TAX CREDIT FOR CERTAIN VET19 ERANS. 

20 (a) TEMPORARY EXTENSION AND INCREASE.—Sub21 paragraph (A) of section 51(d)(14) of the Internal Rev22 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 

23 (1) by striking ‘‘unemployed veteran or’’, 

24 (2) by inserting ‘‘, or any unemployed veteran 

25 who begins work for the employer after December 


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1 31, 2011, and before January 1, 2017,’’ after ‘‘or 

2 2010’’, and 

3 (3) by inserting before the period at the end the 

4 following: ‘‘, and subsection (b)(3) shall be applied 

5 with respect to any such unemployed veteran by sub6 stituting ‘$14,000’ for ‘$6,000’ ’’. 

7 (b) PERMANENT RULE FOR VETERAN-OWNED BUSI8 NESS.—Paragraph (14) of section 51(d) of such Code is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara10 graph: 

11 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR VETERAN-OWNED

12 EMPLOYER.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an 

14 unemployed veteran who begins work for a 

15 veteran-owned employer after December 

16 31, 2016, and was hired through a State 

17 job fair or forum described in section 

18 2(c)(1) of the Heroes Hiring Heroes Act of 

19 2011— 

20 ‘‘(I) such unemployed veteran 

21 shall be treated as a member of a tar22 geted group for purposes of this sub23 part, and 

24 ‘‘(II) subsection (a) shall be ap25 plied by increasing by 20 percent the 


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1 percentage applicable to the qualified 

2 first-year wages of such employee. 

3 ‘‘(ii) VETERAN-OWNED EMPLOYER.— 

4 The term ‘veteran-owned employer’ means 

5 any employer who is a person listed in the 

6 database maintained by the Secretary of 

7 Defense under section 8127(f) of title 38, 

8 United States Code, as a small business 

9 concern which is owned and controlled by 

10 veterans.’’. 

11 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (4) of 

12 section 51(c) of such Code is amended by adding at the 

13 end the following new flush sentence: 

14 ‘‘The preceding sentence shall not apply to wages paid or 

15 incurred to an unemployed veteran.’’. 

16 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 

18 the employer after December 31, 2011. 

Æ 


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