Kaine Cosponsors Bipartisan Bill to Increase Access to Job Counseling Services for Surviving Spouses of Servicemembers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, cosponsored a bipartisan bill to increase access to job counseling services for spouses of members of the Armed Forces who died while on active duty through the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program. The program, which is housed within the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service at the Department of Labor, currently provides every state with funding to hire specialists who provide individualized career counseling services to eligible veterans. The Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act would expand the program to include surviving spouses.

“Gold Star families have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” said Kaine, a member of Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel. “We have a responsibility to provide surviving spouses with crucial support, including access to high-quality career counseling services. This bipartisan bill would help us do that, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join us in standing with Gold Star families by getting this legislation signed into law.”

Kaine has long supported efforts to support military families. He introduced the Protecting our Gold Star Families’ Education Act that would expand the Pell Grant program to include the children and dependents of those killed in action in Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001. He also introduced the Military Spouse Hiring Act to help boost hiring of military spouses and he introduced the Child Care Affordability and Accessibility for Military Families Act to make child care more affordable and accessible for military families.

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