The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs advanced two bills this week to strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC) program, which supports veterans training to work in high-tech fields.
The VET TEC program provides financial support to veterans enrolled in high-tech programs through eligible training providers. It helps veterans learn skills in fields such as computer programming, computer software, data processing, and information sciences.
More than 20,300 veterans enrolled in the five-year VET TEC pilot, which began in April 2019, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from September 2025. The pilot ended in 2024, but in January 2025, Congress enacted legislation to extend the VET TEC program through September 2027.
Veteran Technology Employment Success Act
The first bill the committee advanced is the Veteran Technology Employment Success Act, which Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., introduced in February.
The bill would require the VA to publicly report VET TEC participants’ employment outcomes, standardize how job outcomes are calculated to ensure accuracy, and expand the VA’s reporting to cover full-time, part-time, and self-employment outcomes. The bill would also task the VA secretary with analyzing feedback from program participants and using that feedback to improve the program.
“Making the transition from military service to civilian life isn’t easy, and our veterans deserve every advantage we can give them. This bill is about building on what VET TEC is already doing well and making sure we are squeezing every last opportunity out of it so veterans can thrive in good-paying tech careers,” Walkinshaw said in a May 15 press release.
“By strengthening transparency and holding providers accountable, we can make a strong program even stronger for those who have already given so much to our country,” he added.
Reps. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., and Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., are cosponsors of the legislation.
Walkinshaw’s office said the legislation addresses gaps identified by the GAO in how employment outcomes and participant feedback are collected and reported, which make it difficult to evaluate and improve the VET TEC program.
For instance, the September GAO report found that veterans reported multiple challenges with training providers, but the VA did not explicitly collect or analyze ongoing feedback.
Improving Emerging Tech Opportunities for Veterans Act
The second bill, the Improving Emerging Tech Opportunities for Veterans Act, would make training in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence eligible for the VET TEC program.
Rep. Hamadeh introduced the bill in January, and Reps. Walkinshaw, Jennifer Kiggans, R-Va., August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., are cosponsors.
The bill would require the VA secretary to identify emerging technology career fields and allow veterans to enter them using their VA education benefits. Additionally, it would require the VA to develop an expedited process for approving training programs in emerging technologies.
In a January press release, Hamadeh said the bill would “open the routes to get veterans in these critical career paths to help boost the American workforce and allow veterans to be informed on career opportunities.”
The two bills will now head to the full House for consideration.