Archives » Thursday, May 15, 2008
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David Botti
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May 15, 2008 11:45 AM
Discussion over proposed GI Bill overhauls is front and center on the
House floor as lawmakers debate an add-on to President Bush's request
for more war funding. The goal of the add-on is to update the WWII-era
GI Bill which allows veterans to receive money for attending college.
Under the current proposal, Iraq and Afghanistan vets would be allowed
to attend any four-year public university after having served at least
three years in the active-duty military. To pay for this, the plan
calls for a surtax on people making over $500,000, or couples with a
combined income of $1 million. The Associated Press has reactions from both sides of the debate:
"We are talking about people who are making over $1 million
to pay a small sacrifice for this war where our military families are
paying a huge sacrifice," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.
The White House weighed in with an official veto promise Thursday that also attacked the Democratic plan for increasing taxes.
"The president has been clear that tax increases are unacceptable," the White House statement said.
The
overall war spending bill proposal calls for $163 billion to fight the
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while the GI Bill add-on expects to raise
$54 billion over the next 10 years through the surtax. The bill would
also allow veterans 15 years to use the benefits, whereas currently the
limit is 10 years.
In the Senate Wednesday, Sen. McCain's
proposal for a GI Bill overhaul lost in a 55-42 vote to a counter
proposal by Sen. Jim Webb. MSNBC summarized the differences between the two:
In the simplest terms, the Webb bill would effectively pay for tuition
and housing at a four-year public college for those serving at least
three years of active duty. The McCain measure isn't as generous, as it
increases existing education benefits by $400 a month for the same time
served: from $1,100 to $1,500.
After the vote, McCain had this reaction [via ABC News]:
“My job is to get people to stay in the military, not only to join, but
to stay as well,” McCain said, although he added that he will be
sitting down with Webb to try to work out a compromise. He wants to
make sure to include a component of his bill which is not in Webb bill
that would allow for transferability of benefits to family members.
Talk
of McCain's proposal also entered the presidential campaigns when
Barack Obama criticized his potential opponent's unwillingness to
expand more veterans benefits. McCain's camp countered by saying it
was absurd for Obama to criticize McCain's commitment to veterans. In
Obama's words [via USA Today]:
I have great respect for John McCain's service to this country and
I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of
the few senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks
it's too generous. I couldn't disagree more. At a time when the
skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a
college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men
and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to
pursue the American Dream.
Also in military benefits news, the House Armed Services Committee approved next year's defense spending bill which includes a 3.9 percent pay raise for members of the military.
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