Can't find the thread on the GI Bill issue so

[mlurp]

If you care you might want to send an e-mail to the W.H.

The W.H. contact: Contacting the White House

The American Legion Online Update Story: The American Legion Online Update Story | American Legion

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Congress passes GI Bill, but what happens next?
Did you hear that Congress passed a new GI Bill earlier this month? It gives our returning veterans a lot more educational benefits - enough for them to actually attend college without going into debt up to their eyeballs. The only problem is, the new benefits package was attached to the war funding bill, which President Bush is likely to veto. If and when that happens, the question remains: will Congress be able to deliver the new GI Bill this year? Or will our soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan be forced to wait another year - or several more years - to get the educational benefits they so richly deserve?

"I'm hoping we can work out a compromise on the GI Bill," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. "This is our best chance to get it done. I'm concerned that this issue could go to the sidelines, so I want to move it now if we can." King supports legislation in the House, H.R. 5740, that was introduced by Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz. His bill is a companion to S.22, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. Both pieces of legislation are endorsed by The American Legion.

In the Senate, King's concerns were echoed by Sen. John Warner, R-Va. "The country really needs a strong improvement in the GI Bill," he said, and noted that the cost for increasing veterans educational benefits is a cost of war.

"But why are we even talking about cost? America has benefited greatly from the education that my generation received for our military service. And that same argument applies today." Warner, a World War II veteran who earned two college degrees with his GI Bill benefits, is retiring from the Senate after 30 years as a legislator.

In the House, Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, believes that if President Bush vetoes the bill - overwhelmingly passed by the House and Senate - "there's going to be a powerful grassroots backlash, not just from veterans, but also from citizens who have a deep respect for those who serve our country."

Edwards said that vetoing a bill that honors the service of veterans with greater educational benefits would be "the worst mistake this administration could make. There would be a tidal wave of opposition."

King believes President Bush will veto the war funding bill - with the GI Bill attached - if it includes any language that will restrict White House options in managing the Iraq war. "One way or the other, I want to get it through," King said about the GI Bill, and he wants to see it passed as part of the war funding legislation, "because we have to provide funding for the troops, so this is a vehicle that we know is going to move."

Although King supports H.R. 5740, he has introduced his own version of a new GI Bill, the "Returning Soldiers' Bill of Rights Act." Besides providing generous educational benefits to veterans, it also offers increased funding for veteran employment programs and for home loans. "A housing crunch is affecting the whole country," King said. "And it's really going to affect GIs coming home without a lot of money in the bank."

For the time being, Congress is focused on reinvigorating a GI Bill that used to cover all educational costs for returning veterans. Whether it is vetoed or not, if it is resubmitted as separate legislation or part of another bill, is anybody's guess. "I'm not sure anyone can give a good hypothesis on that," Warner said. But he points out that his generation "could go to any university or college. That's not true today. And yet these people are fighting just as valiantly, just a courageously - and they and their families are making the ultimate sacrifice in many cases."

To see a video clip of Sen. Warner and other Congress members commenting on the need for a new GI Bill, click on the link below.


GI BILL RALLY VIDEO: see site for the video.

[Chan]

You didn't look very hard. It's here: McCain AWOL from GI bill vote today

[mlurp]

Thanks Chan...But there are so many new threads daily some get buried. OE found it for me but after I posted it here. I prefer to keep them in one thread.

I hope you read the post and might give the W.H. your opinion.

[Chan]

Originally Posted by mlurp

Thanks Chan...But there are so many new threads daily some get buried. OE found it for me but after I posted it here. I prefer to keep them in one thread.

I hope you read the post and might give the W.H. your opinion.

My opinion is that we need to get out of debt, bring the troops home and stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries (not necessarily in that order).

[dc2ga]

Originally Posted by mlurp

If you care you might want to send an e-mail to the W.H.

why bother? bush doesnt really care what most of the voters think. hasnt for a long, long time. just wait til nov. and let the voters do the talking

[mlurp]

Hummmm, so that is your opinion. great. Mine is a bit different. If that is great with you too. lol

I agree chan. But that does go more to the post of dc2ga than what I posted. But I agree we need to stop being the police force for the world, do more here at home and get out of debt and change the policies that have hampered our real source the people, to grow.