Live from Capitol Hill: AMVETS Testifies on VA's Center of Veteran Enterprise

This afternoon, AMVETS Deputy National Legislative Director Christina Roof appeared before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Development to discuss the VA's Center for Veteran Enterprise, or CVE, which handles vetting and certification for veteran-owned and service disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

To view a Web cast of this morning's hearing, Click Here.

Roof has been a leading voice before Congress on veterans' small businesses, commonly referred to as VOSBs and SDVOSBs, calling attention to critical oversight issues within VA.

In this morning's hearing, Roof applauded VA's efforts to address oversight issues in recent months, but cited several issues within VA's newly-established guidelines for VOSBs ownership and operation.

Roof said that the current verification process focuses solely on ownership, still leaving the door open for fraud, and that the new guideline that veterans can only register one VOSB stifles entrepreneurship.

Roof also reiterated the call from the Independent Budget partners for all federal agencies to use VA's VIP program as its sole source to verify veterans' status for small business owners.