Congresswoman Lois Frankel spoke on April 11 at Palm Beach State College to kick off the National Disabled Veteran Business Council’s Business Conference.  The event was a small business workshop for veterans, designed to help veteran entrepreneurs by connecting them with government agencies and commercial companies. 

Congresswoman Frankel is the mother of an Iraq and Afghanistan US Marine war veteran, and has made helping returning veterans transition into the workforce one of her top priorities.

“Our veterans risked their lives to protect our freedoms and the opportunity for each of us to pursue our own American Dream. When they return home from service, they should also have a fair chance to build a career, support a family, and follow their passions,” said Frankel.

There are over 80,000 unemployed veterans living in Florida. Florida's veteran unemployment rate sits at 7.3 percent, well over the national 6.2 percent for returning persons in uniform.

While in Congress, Representative Frankel has joined colleagues in supporting legislation aimed at helping to get our returning service men and women back to work. This includes establishing a Veterans Conservation Corps, aimed at linking vets with jobs restoring and protecting America’s public land and water; and, the Veterans’ Entry to Apprenticeship Act allowing vets to use their education benefits to enroll in pre-apprenticeship programs.

Congresswoman Frankel also voted for H.R. 2216, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2014.  It would create on integrated electronic system to make records transfers for vets easier, require more frequent reporting to Congress on the claims processing, and boost funding for the Veterans Administration (VA) for more staff.  Nationally, there are more than 350,000 veterans waiting to receive benefits due to the VA disability claims backlog.

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