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KENNEWICK -- Sen. Patty Murray visited WorkSource Columbia Basin in Kennewick on Wednesday to hear from veterans and employers about obstacles local veterans face when seeking work.
Murray said the high unemployment rate among veterans is "of deep concern" to her, and she is working on legislation to help veterans start small businesses, get better access to education benefits and more information about how to find jobs.
A few local veterans told her their stories of having trouble finding work or connecting to services that are supposed to be available for veterans.
Devin Mitchell, who spent time in the Navy, said he is having trouble explaining to employers the work he did in Navy supply and how it can adapt to a civilian business.
"People think warehouse work, and it's not the same thing," he said. "It doesn't transfer on a rsum."
Jacob Henriksen was a human resources specialist during his military service, but said he isn't getting responses when he applies for human resources jobs in the private sector.
Instead, he went back to school, but then had trouble getting reimbursed for the tuition he paid, which is supposed to be covered by the G.I. Bill.
"The process is really elongated," he said.
Murray said she hears across the country that employers are reluctant to hire veterans because they're afraid they'll be called back to duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"I don't have a magic solution on that one, but it's worth figuring out," she said.
She also said she is frustrated that veterans aren't getting the information they should when they separate from their military unit.
In particular, she said a program designed to help veterans find jobs doesn't provide localized information -- so if a veteran's last point of contact is in Virginia, but then he or she comes home to the Tri-Cities, the veteran doesn't hear about jobs here.
That's something she would like to fix with the bill now working its way through the Senate.
She also recommended local veterans get in touch with WorkSource, which created its own program to help veterans acquire job-seeking skills, connect with employers and find other benefits available to them.
Kelly Snell, WorkSource's veterans employment representative, said all a veteran has to do is come to the office at 815 N. Kellogg St., and ask for him.
"We'll do absolutely anything we can to meet their needs," Snell said.
"If we don't offer the service in-house, we know who can."
Another resource for veterans is the Columbia Basin Veterans Coalition. Coalition representative Steve Prince said the organization knows all of the ins and outs of veterans benefits and can help local veterans find whatever they need.
"I hear veterans saying, 'We have no help. We don't qualify,' " Prince said. "Our job is to get you qualified."
Murray said the federal government has an obligation to invest money in benefits for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The price of war never stops at the battlefield," Murray said. "The price of war is huge, and we have a responsibility as a nation to take care of them."
Murray, a Democrat, is running for a fourth term in the U.S. Senate. She is opposed in the Nov. 2 general election by Republican Dino Rossi.
The two candidates traded barbs over funding for the federal Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday as Murray's camp blasted Rossi after a Seattle TV station paraphrased his campaign as saying the federal government was spending recklessly on the VA.
In turn, Rossi accused Murray of taking money away from veterans' programs with her votes on the 2008 bank bailout and 2009 stimulus bill.
-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com
