The Senate is voting on the 21st century GI Bill today and will aid in deciding the fate of increased educational benefits for thousands of veterans. Last week, the House approved the Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) bill that the Associated Press said would:
“…guarantee a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for anyone who serves in the military for at least three years. It is aimed at replicating the benefits awarded veterans of World War II and would cost $52 billion over 10 years.”
However, the bill only passed the House by 90 votes, and it is expected to narrowly pass the Senate now that Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain’s watered-down version of the bill has been tabled. Republicans are against the bill for reasons beyond political, they say. The congressional Budget Office did a study that said Webb’s GI Bill would cost almost $52 billion and cause military troops to only serve one enlistment term and then leave the service because of the educational benefits.
Veterans groups advocating for the bill question this logic, though. President of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq war veteran himself, wrote in the Huffington Post:
“This bill has the extraordinary bipartisan support of 57 Senators and 278 Representatives and the endorsement of every major Veterans Service Organization from the American Legion to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). About ten pieces of legislation in Congress today have that kind of bipartisan support — and half of those bills authorize new stamps and coins. That a bill of this magnitude has such overwhelming support is almost unheard of.”
The future of the bill looks very iffy, though. Even if the Senate does pass the bill with the narrowest of margins, President Bush has said he’ll veto any spending bill that ties his hands to Iraq.
As for some speculation, once Bush defeats it, the House should have enough sponsors to override the veto, but depending on the vote today in the Senate, there’s a good chance Democrats won’t get the 60 votes needed for it to ultimately pass.
This bill is greatly needed, and Democrats need to use the Republicans’ recalcitrance to support the bill as not “supporting the troops,” which was the old attack Republicans used on Democrats. Veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve the opportunity to serve their country knowing that their country will serve them when they come home. It’s a sad day for our nation when things like GI Bills don’t come through, and our service members become statistics like this.
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