Tag: GI Bill

New GI Bill Becomes Law

Pres. Obama has signed into law the new GI Bill that would benefit veterans with their educational pursuits.  As reported in the WSJ:

Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, people with at least 90 days of military service on or after Sept. 11, 2001, can receive up to 100% of their tuition paid for. They also will receive a monthly housing allowance and a stipend for books and school supplies.

The Department of Veterans Affairs began distributing tuition payments to participating schools on Aug. 1. The benefit will be available to the children of military men and women, based on their length of service.

Mr. Obama said he hopes the new benefit can be as successful as the original GI Bill, under which nearly 8 million people — including the president’s grandfather — were educated. The new beneficiaries, he said, can help rebuild the economy and become the “the backbone of a growing American middle class.”

President Bush actually signed the new GI Bill last year, but it did not take effect until Saturday. It basically gives college financial assistance to veterans of the war on terrorism, post 9/11, including those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and their families. The bill also covers reservists and National Guard members.

The GI Bill is designed to give Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans enough of a financial boost to finance four-years at a public college. The plan would cost $51 billion over a 10 year period. The Democrats say the bill “runs afoul of a rule” that is designed to prevent new benefit programs from causing the deficit to spiral, many veterans are shocked that after approving so much war funding under Bush, these same Democrats would turn their backs on education.

Who were these Dems?  You have only to think about the question to get the answer.

The Blue Dogs have created the pay-as-you-go rule. It requires the costs of new mandatory spending or tax cuts to be fully offset. The Blue Digs argue that attaching the veterans’ educational benefits to an emergency spending bill violates that pay-as-you-go principle of responsible spending that Democrats have heralded as proof that they are fiscally responsible.

According to CQpolitics.com, the Blue Dogs are troubled that the spending package includes enhanced education benefits for veterans not offset by other spending reductions. They warned mid last week that they may vote against the rule for debate over the measure, something that no Republicans were expected to support. If the rule isn’t adopted, a carefully designed plan from the Democratic leadership for adopting the overall package would ultimately collapse.

That is right…my fav bunch of Repubs in Dem clothing…the Blue Dogs.  Someone needs to bring this type of antic up wherever these people are running for re-election….they need to held responsible for their lack of concern for the returning vets…the country asked them to give so much and we OWE them more than we could ever repay.

Where is all the right wing clap trap about the deficit?  I mean if  there is gonna be money added to the deficit should not it be brought up by those whining puppies on conservative talk radio?  Do not fret…they will be silent on this one……audience and all that.

Contents Of The War Funding Bill

Highlights of legislation scheduled for House action on Thursday to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, extend unemployment benefits, provide flood aid, boost GI Bill college benefits and provide flood aid to the Midwest.

War funding — $162 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, enough to fund the war into next year.

GI Bill — $63 billion over ten years for increased college aid for military service members who serve after Sept. 11, 2001. The new benefit would provide tuition up to in-state tuition and fees for enrollment in a public college; a monthly housing stipend; and $1,000 per year for books and supplies. People who serve three years would receive the full benefit; those with shorter enrollments would receive between 40 and 90 percent of the benefit. The benefits could be transfered to a service member’s spouse or children.

Unemployment insurance — $12.5 billion over two years to provide 13 additional weeks of unemployment benefits for people whose 26-week benefits have run out. People must have worked 20 weeks to be eligible. 10-year cost: $8.2 billion.

Flood aid — $2.7 to replenish various disaster aid accounts in the aftermath of widespread flooding in the Midwest.

Medicaid rules — Blocks six of seven new Medicaid regulations sought by the Bush administration to curb program costs and combat waste and abuse.

Other spending — $10.1 billion for various foreign aid programs, including $1.9 billion for international food aid and $465 million for Mexico to combat drug trafficking; $5.8 billion for Louisiana levee repairs and construction; $4.6 billion for military base construction; $400 million for “competitiveness” programs, energy research and medical research; and $210 million to address cost overruns involving the 2010 Census.

Dems Give In On War Funding

The agreement on the war funding bill, announced by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, also paves the way for a quick infusion of emergency flood relief for the Midwest, an extension of unemployment payments for the jobless and a big boost in GI Bill college for veterans.

The agreement would require that the Senate would agree to drop most of the more than $10 billion it added last month for programs such as heating subsidies for the poor, wildfire fighting, road and bridge repair and help for the Gulf Coast.

The House is slated to pass the measure Thursday, but the Senate won’t turn to it until next week, Manley said.

The agreement drops restrictions on Bush’s ability to conduct the war and gives him almost all of the funding he sought well over a year ago for Iraq and Afghanistan. But he also backed away from veto threats he issued earlier over Democrats’ insistence on using the Iraq funding bill to carry a generous boost in the GI Bill and a 13-week extension of unemployment payments for people whose benefits have run out.

Democrats dropped a provision to extend unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks in states with particularly high unemployment rates.

Looks like the Dems are more concerned with having a success before they face the people back home, than doing what is right.

Editorial: Hypocrisy On Veterans

I found this editorial while surfing this morning and thought I would post it here for all my readers to see.  It was posted on the website for the People’s Weekly World.

This Memorial Day, we think about the more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead and the tens of thousands wounded in body and mind in a war based on lies, pushed by a clique of right-wing militarists and their corporate backers.

After 9/11, many Americans signed up for military service, wanting to serve their country and defend it from terrorism. Instead, they were sent to invade Iraq, to serve a right-wing/corporate agenda.

So it’s shocking to look at the congressional vote May 15 on a “Post-9/11 GI Bill” — a World War II-style GI Bill for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republicans pushed the Iraq war and now refuse to end it. Yet only 32 of them voted for the GI Bill. One hundred and fifty-nine GOP House members, including their entire leadership, voted against the bill, which would substantially increase educational benefits for post-9/11 veterans. The bill is backed by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and every leading veterans organization.
Perhaps the Republicans objected to the fact that the bill also extends unemployment benefits for jobless workers who have used up their current benefits? Or maybe the warhawks didn’t like funding New Orleans levees? We’d like to point out that most veterans are workers, and many are jobless too. And building and repairing levees, and other parts of our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, would provide a lot of good jobs.

President Bush has threatened to veto the bill, especially complaining that the GI benefits would be funded by a tiny tax hike for the rich.

Despite the Republicans, the measure passed the House and is now before the Senate. Veterans are demanding that veteran Sen. John McCain vote for the new GI Bill. McCain, who hopes his military service will propel him into the White House, has wrapped himself in Bush’s disastrous war and economic policies.

A good way to mark Memorial Day would be to get this bill passed and signed into law.

The New GI Bill

I was fortunate enough after Vietnam to use the GI Bill to help pay for my education and I think that the new bill offered by Sen. Webb of Virginia has lots of merit and something that needs the American peoples support.  we owe a debt of gratitude to all the troops that do their duty.

— Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb has introduced legislation that would expand the GI Bill.

Webb’s proposal would cover the costs of tuition at any public college in the veteran’s state, as well as pay a monthly stipend equal to area housing costs.

— U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, is the co-sponsor of a companion House bill, which is expected to be voted on this week.

— President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation, if passed, because he says it is too expensive. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the proposal would cost

$51.8 billion over 10 years.

— U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, also opposes Webb’s bill, saying that such benefits could harm military retention efforts by coercing military members to leave the service so they can use their benefits.

— McCain has introduced his own GI Bill plan, which he said would encourage troops to stay in the military by offering increased benefits for serving 12 years or more. McCain’s proposal would allow benefits to be passed on to family members

Read this carefully and see if those opposed to this bill are worthy enough to be called “patriots”.  I say NO!  They are not!