Today, Rep. Pete Aguilar announced that H.R. 2258, the Active Duty Voluntary Acquisition of Necessary Credentials for Employment (ADVANCE) Act, was voted out of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The ADVANCE Act provides active-duty service members and reservists access to the same unique training and testing standards for commercial drivers’ licenses granted to veterans by the latest surface transportation bill, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. 

“This is a common-sense measure that will help our brave men and women find work here in the Inland Empire,” said Rep. Aguilar. He added, “While we hear every day that Washington is broken and compromised by partisan gridlock, we can clearly see that there are issues that both parties can get behind. This is about helping our heroes find job opportunities in our communities. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to see this bill through.”

The ADVANCE Act has been endorsed by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Association of the United States Navy (AUSN). According to the ATA, there is an estimated 40,000 truck driver shortage nationally. Rep. Aguilar’s bill builds on his amendment that was passed as a part of the FAST Act, which helps veterans who drove specialized vehicles in the military to transition those skills to civilian jobs driving commercial vehicles. The FAST Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2015.

Helping veterans and service members access the resources they need has been one of Rep. Aguilar’s top priorities since taking office in 2015. Pete Aguilar serves on the House Appropriations Committee and is a member of the Work for Warriors Caucus.

The markup of the bill can be viewed in full here.