{"id":47474,"date":"2025-11-21T16:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/47474\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T16:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:29:09","slug":"queens-veteran-speaks-on-bill-gov-hochul-signed-on-veterans-day-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/47474\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens veteran speaks on bill Gov. Hochul signed on Veterans Day \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"veterans\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Onlookers watch as participants in the Veterans of Foreign Wars 551 Post Auxiliary\u2019s Veteran\u2019s Day parade march toward Christ the King High School.<\/p>\n

Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

On Veterans Day, as thousands attended parades across in both Manhattan and Queens, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a \u201clandmark\u201d bill that will help veterans with disabilities who are seeking employment trudge through the mire of bureaucracy that comes with the job hunt. <\/p>\n

Bill\u00a0 A4751A, sponsored by Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar of District 38 in Brooklyn\/Queens, will create an online portal linking to several assistance programs, and expand aid provided by both the state and local veterans\u2019 services organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur veterans and service members made the selfless choice to step up to protect our Nation and our liberties. Signing this [bill]\u2026ensures that those who served our country face fewer barriers to employment and benefits and are properly honored for their commitment to our country,\u201d Gov. Kathy Hochul said.<\/p>\n

The bill will serve the around 120,000 veterans with service-connected disabilities who live in New York, as 60% of them have only been recently discharged and are actively integrating back into the work-force. However, despite the legislative victory helping veterans with disabilities better access the government programs designed to assist them, there remains a pile of close to 50 bills dedicated to helping them and all veterans that have slowly piled up \u201ctowards the bottom\u201d of Hochul\u2019s to-do list.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI saw she signed just three bills\u2026 and said \u2018Are you f****** kidding me?\u2019\u201d said Ryan Graham, vice chairman of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and a veteran of the Iraq war. \u201cBut it\u2019s nothing new, because I\u2019ve been doing legislative work for so long and whether on the state side or the city\u2026 I would always have my hopes up [and be] optimistic, but unfortunately, I get pulled really quickly back down to reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham provides similar services as the bill helping veterans navigate and apply for different government programs. While happy that legislation dedicated to veterans was passed, Graham says there are several bills still currently on Hochul\u2019s desk waiting to be signed or vetoed that he believes would better serve the veterans in his community.\u00a0 One of them is bill S2028A<\/a>, which could give veterans with 100% disability status full exemption of property taxes, depending on their county. Graham was critical of Hochul for being in the Dominican Republic on Veteran\u2019s Day, working on a trade mission instead of in Albany passing more legislation to help veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s celebrate, but let\u2019s honor people who serve more than those two days a year Memorial Day and Veterans Day,\u201d Graham said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have to wait till those two days a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr., who co-sponsored the state Senate\u2019s version of the signed bill and sponsors the 100% disability tax exemption bill, expressed gratitude to Hochul for signing the bills on the holiday. According to Addabbo, a member of the Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee, veterans are often not informed of the different programs that exist, the extra outreach from the signed bill will help them receive more state and federal benefits for their service.<\/p>\n

The new bill\u2019s online portal will help veterans connect with jobs dedicated for them under New York State Civil Service Law \u00a7 55-c and resources from the federal Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E), which includes vocational counseling, rehabilitation planning, job training and more. Any veteran designated as having over a 10% disability is eligible for the above programs, but the state \u201cExperience Counts\u201d program that helps veterans gain certifications and licenses based on their experience within the military, is open to all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing I respect more than the courage of those who put their lives on the line for our country. That is why I fought for my bill\u2014today signed into law\u2014to open the door of opportunity for veterans with disabilities who defended our freedom,\u201d Rajkumar said. \u201cOn this Veterans Day, we renew our commitment to ensuring that every veteran has the opportunity, dignity, and support they have earned through their service.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Onlookers watch as participants in the Veterans of Foreign Wars 551 Post Auxiliary\u2019s Veteran\u2019s Day parade march toward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[26926,26927,3932,16021,2607,9,24,63,122,124,123,1979],"class_list":["post-47474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-disabled-veterans","tag-disabled-veterans-benefits","tag-gov-kathy-hochul","tag-jenifer-rajkumar","tag-joe-addabbo","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}