CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

May 15, 1968

Page 13359

S. 3496 – INTRODUCTION OF BILL TO REMOVE 2-YEAR LIMIT APPLICABLE TO ON-THE-JOB TRAINING COURSES FOR ELIGIBLE VETERANS

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I introduce today a bill to amend section 1777(c) of title 38, United States Code, to remove the 2-year time limit applicable to on-the-job training courses for eligible veterans.

Under existing law no on-the-job training program is eligible for Veterans' Administration approval unless it can be completed within 2 years. Several Navy Department training programs, particularly the engineering draftsman technician training program and the mechanical skills progression program, cannot meet their educational objectives within 2 years. Because of their highly technical nature, these courses require from 3½ to 5 years for completion.

Veterans who enroll in apprenticeship training programs are covered under the present law, but trainees enrolled in on-the-job training programs dealing with the same skills are not eligible because of the 2-year time limit. Consequently, many qualified and otherwise eligible veterans are being denied educational assistance under the GI bill. Because of the discriminatory 2-year time limit of the present law, veterans enrolled in these technical training programs are denied the benefit of educational assistance even for the first 2 years of the training program.

The bill I introduce today would amend the present law to permit flexibility in determining the length of eligible programs. My amendment would allow the Administrator to evaluate the eligibility of each program upon the nature of the skill involved and the time necessary for students to attain the skill required in the job objective.

I ask unanimous consent to have the text of this bill printed in the RECORD at this point.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill will be received and appropriately referred; and, without objection, the bill will be printed in the RECORD.

The bill (S. 3496) to amend section 1777(c) of title 88, United States Code, so as to remove the 2-year time limit applicable to on-the-job training courses for eligible veterans, introduced by Mr. MUSKIE, was received, read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, and ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 3496

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That paragraph (2) of section 1777(c) of title 38. United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

"(2) The job customarily requires full-time training for a period of not less than six months and not longer than such period as may be prescribed by the Administrator, taking into consideration the time necessary to attain the skill required for the job objective, and after consulting with the Secretary of Labor, or his designee, regarding the length of the training period which should be prescribed for the job objective."