Obama to Unveil New Job Help for Veterans

President Barack Obama will announce three more executive actions Monday to help veterans find work as he pushes Congress to pass tax credits for veterans to spur hiring, a White House official said.

Obama will make the announcement at noon in the White House Rose Garden, where he will be joined by leading veterans' associations to pressure lawmakers to pass two tax credits the president proposed in his jobs bill.

Unemployment among veterans is well above the national average of 9 percent and more are expected to enter the labor force after Obama decided to pull out the remaining 40,000 U.S. troops in Iraq by the end of the year.

The Returning Heroes Tax Credit provides firms that hire unemployed veterans with a maximum credit of $5,600 per veteran. The Wounded Warriors Tax Credit offers firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities with a maximum credit of $9,600 per veteran.

Congressional Republicans have balked at passing Democrat Obama's $447 billion jobs package in its entirety because it is paid for by raising taxes on wealthier Americans.

But parts of the package are expected to gain bipartisan support eventually and become law.The three executive announcements that Obama will make include a new online service to help veterans find work; creating a veterans job bank; and a veterans "gold card" granting them special services and care at career centers, the White House official said.

Unemployment among veterans who have served since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States stands at 235,000, or 11.7 percent, versus a national jobless rate in September of 9.1 percent.