Friday, September 19, 2014

The Protect VETS Act



Sen. Joe Manchin is once again teaming up with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., on proposed legislation, this time to protect veterans.
The Protect VETS Act seeks to restore federal employment and training assistance to military veterans. The bill specifically aims to ensure veterans have access to job assistance specialists working with businesses to develop job opportunities for veterans and help those veterans, especially disabled ones, find work.
“We must do everything we can to ensure that our brave veterans, who have sacrificed so much in defense of our country, receive the best care and services when they return home, and that starts by helping them find secure, good-paying jobs,” said Manchin, D-W.Va.
“By reducing employment assistance to our veterans, we are not only ignoring our obligation to our heroes, but we are also ignoring the fact that the unemployment rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan significantly exceeds the national average. This legislation will reverse the Labor Department’s latest cuts and restore the critical job services our veterans rightly deserve.”
Congress created Local Veterans Employment Representatives and Disabled Veterans Outreach Specialists in 1944 under the GI Bill. They were trained in helping veterans leverage their unique skills sets into marketable skills. In April, the Labor Department issued a memo forbidding job specialists from assisting 70 percent of veterans, including disabled veterans. Congress fully funded the job specialists last year despite budget cuts under sequestration.
Manchin and Toomey co-sponsored an amendment on legislation last year to expand background checks for gun purchases made online or at gun shows. The amendment was defeated.
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Rep. Nick Rahall wants to make sure West Virginians still have access to Amtrak services.
The top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee worked to advance legislation that would ensure Amtrak’s long-distance network would continue, including the Cardinal Route that provides service to the Mountain State.
“This bill provides much-needed investments in the long distance network and ensures continuation of all long distance trains, including the Cardinal that runs through southern West Virginia,” Rahall said. “Reliable passenger rail service helps move our economy forward and is critical to communities across our nation. I appreciate the bipartisan work that went into drafting this bill, and I am sure it will serve as a model for future legislation that moves through our committee.”
Amtrak’s long-distance services were last reauthorized in 2008 and expired at the end of the 2013 fiscal year. That law resulted in previously unseen successes for the railway, including increased ridership and less debt. The current legislation seeks to build up on that success and “represents a careful balance of efforts to reform Amtrak with the need to ensure the national passenger rail system continues to thrive in its mission to connect communities across the country,” according to information from Rahall’s office.
The committee voted unanimously to advance the legislation to the full House of Representatives.
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A possible data breach at home improvement retailer Home Depot has many consumers on edge. But West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is urging customers to take steps to monitor their own credit to ensure they don’t become victims.
“Our office is very concerned any time a business reports it may have been the victim of a data breach, and we will do all we can to ensure West Virginia consumers are protected,” Morrisey said.
To help protect themselves, Morrisey suggests consumers:
Monitor their bank account and credit card statements for unauthorized charges.
Immediately report unauthorized transactions to local law enforcement and the financial institution, and then contact the Consumer Protection Division of Morrisey’s office. Consumers also should report the crime to the Federal Trade Commission.
Place a fraud alert on their credit report. This free alert lasts for 90 days and makes it harder for someone to open a line of credit in the consumer’s name. To place the alert, call one of the three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax at 1-800-525-6285, Experian at 1-888-397-3742 and TransUnion at 1-800-680-7289.
Place a security freeze on their credit report by sending a letter requesting the freeze to the three credit agencies by using certified mail, return receipt requested. This freeze puts a lock on credit so third parties cannot access the consumer’s information. The freeze costs $5 plus postal fees for each credit agency and lasts until the card holder lifts them. The fees must be paid again if the consumer lifts the freeze for a credit check, to open a new credit card, to take out a loan or to make a large purchase such as a home or car and wishes to reinstate the freeze.
Consumers are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit reporting agencies.
- See more at: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20140917/DM0104/140919296/1276#sthash.SWUA6I8a.dpuf

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