GI Bill Passes House, Despite McCain’s Opposition

by Mike Hall, Jun 20, 2008

The nation’s post-Sept. 11 military veterans are set to get a big hand to help them pay the soaring costs of college. The supplemental funding bill for the Iraq war the U.S. House approved last night included a new GI bill for Iraq-era veterans.

The war spending bill—which also includes an extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term jobless—is expected to be approved by the U.S. Senate next week, and President Bush is expected to sign the legislation.

The current GI bill now covers only a portion of the rising cost of education for today’s returning veterans. Service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan are finding they can’t cover the cost of attending a college or university.

The veterans’ education bill was first introduced in the Senate last year by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and was included in an earlier version of the supplemental war spending bill last month.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) opposed the Webb bill, saying it would damage military retention rates. McCain had proposed a less generous alternative, which the Senate rejected.

Says Webb:

It has now been nearly seven years since 9/11—seven years since those who have been serving in our military began earning the right for a proper wartime GI Bill. The [bill] will pay for a veteran’s tuition, books, and a monthly stipend, along the lines of the benefits given to those who returned from World War II. It will provide today’s veterans with the opportunity to move forward into an absolutely first-class future.

Last month in Denver, several union members who are war veterans said they respect McCain’s military record but expressed concern about his opposition to the new GI bill and other veterans’ issues. Vietnam-era veteran Mike Coulter, who attended college on the GI bill, said:

I’m concerned because 25 of McCain’s fellow Republican senators thought the bill was a good idea. McCain didn’t. I’m here on behalf of those veterans. My college education came because of the G.I. benefits.

Lance Stewart, who served nine years in the military, said McCain’s support of privatizing some Veterans Affairs (VA) services and votes against VA funding are troublesome.

McCain has systematically voted against veterans. He voted against funding for the VA. I think this sort of outsourcing of veterans’ issues is much the same as the outsourcing of our American families’ working needs and issues.

Click here to take a look at McCain’s record on veterans’ issues.

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