First Victory on GI Bill Today

This afternoon, the House of Representatives made history. By an overwhelming margin, lawmakers passed the landmark new GI Bill which will make college affordable to the more than 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

As President Roosevelt said when he signed the original GI Bill for veterans of World War II,

"[The GI Bill] gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down."

The House of Representatives renewed that promise. This is a tremendous and bipartisan commitment to our troops. We've seen enough bumper sticker and lapel pin patriotism; today, we saw the real thing.

The House vote is a crucial first step, but there is more to be done to get this bill made law. The GI Bill, which passed as a part of the war supplemental funding, still has to be approved by the Senate and be signed by the President. A second step was also taken today, as the Senate Appropriations Committee moved their matching GI Bill proposal out of committee.

I'd like to take a minute to talk about the people who deserve credit for moving the GI Bill this far:

• First and foremost, the bipartisan coalition of combat veterans who introduced the new GI Bill: Senators Webb, Hagel, Warner, and Lautenberg who put partisanship aside in favor of a fair benefit for the troops who served after them.

• The veterans' organizations (led by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Military Officers Association, and IAVA) who stood united on this issue, kept up the pressure, and refused to accept compromised or watered-down benefits.

• The many other supporters of a new GI Bill -- including at least 22 governors, an array of higher education groups, and of course, thousands of regular Americans who pressured their representatives to make this bill a top priority.

What's next? The Senate floor vote that may happen as early as Monday of next week. At this point, I am convinced the GI Bill has become an unstoppable force -- but I've been disappointed by Washington before. With your help, we can ensure that the GI Bill becomes law. You can follow the new GI Bill every step of the way here.

Comments

[Mauiloa]

Yet on the very same day that this happens, a story in the Washington Post tells about a VA psychologist who advised staff members treating soldiers to "refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] straight out...but instead, "consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder."

The difference: PTSD is covered under veterans health benefits and Adjustment Disorder is not.

So while Bush will probably get his $163b war funding request through Congress--even though it's stalled for now--the soldiers who sacrificed their mental health for the man who sacrificed his golf game for the war are to be jacked around by the Veterans Administration just like they have been for the last eight years!

Have you no shame, Mr. President?

[elbzee]

It seems that the professionals and physicians of the VA need a lesson on supporting the troops. Instead, I think they're all schooled in accounting and loophole discovery. Did they come from the HMO system? They sure do business that way!

[paulfromportland]

Yes, Kudos to your fine work, Paul.

It is hoped that sanity will prevail in the Senate, although there will be, undoubtedly, a fight over the tax on the super wealthy to pay for many of the benefits. So, many of whom have made their share of lucre from this horrible mess.

The original bill paved the way to developing so many college trained members of society, as they returned from war in the '40s. The bill, also, aided those who served during Korea. There was a cut-off for Cold War service personnel, but, I believe, in '66, an extension was given as many served during a time of draft and a stand-off with the USSR. Again, it aided many, myself included, in completing college and/or graduate school.

It is long past time that this bill be updated and extended to all who serve. Double Talk reminds me of Queen Elizabeth I, who refused to pay her sailors and troops fresh from rebuffing the Spanish Armada and let them rot on the southern beaches of England.

[littlepuffycloud]

We salute you Paul.

[mamacat]

Keep up the good work, Paul.
I got GI benefits for Vietnam Era service. They eneabled us to buy our first house, and they helped pay for me to go to school. It was a big help. I have no doubt whatsoever that today's vets deserve as much.

Going into the service during a time of war is not only an act of patriotism, it is a game of roulette. Those who survive should get something more than just their discharge papers. The GI BIl is not a freebie given for time served, it is a well deserved thank you to those who have risked their lives in their nation's service, and, it also benefits the nation as a whole by helping vets to better themselves.

[julieeiluj]

The government and its so called leaders, who so eagerly send our sons and daughters, wives and husbands, parents, brothers and sisters, into harms way can never do enough for those they send, but this is a start. As someone who has extensive first hand knowledge of the v.a. health system and its workings, i can tell you that this is a nice start. There is still so much hard work to be done throughout the entire system.

[Bigeasy]

Is there anywhere I can read the bill,my neighbor is a veteran and he argues with me that McCain opposes the bill cause it has pork barrel attached to it. I checked on the net and have'nt found anything supporting this but then again my neighbor has a hard head.

[bgregs]

Go to thomas.loc.gov. You've got to know the number though, because the search engine that runs it is HORRIBLE at finding bills based on anything OTHER than the bill's number!!!

[Jander]

Hope this one works:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.5740

[Jander]

Go Here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/
and put H.R. 5740 in search box

[Jander]

You can read - H.R. 5740,
The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.5740

[GiannaX]

Paul,

You are an awesome dude!

[holleyc]

If Bush vetoes this Bill and McCain continues to oppose it, they will do nothing but dig an even deeper hole for themselves in the fall. I mean, imagine a commercial with some wounded Iraq vets talking about the difficulties they are having paying for college juxtaposed with footage of McCain explaining how it would hurt "retention". As a human being and American citizen as well as someone who is actively thinking about joining the military I hope that Bush and the GOP don't kill or water down this bill, but as a Democrat and Obama supporter I'm licking my chops.

[Bobrobert]

:-)

Nice

Remember to vote everyone.

[IneptitudePrideB4Fall]

**************************
I feel terrible for even thinking this and terrible for writing it. And I feel so bad for our military sent out to a war zone to face death or horrible injuries to kill Iraqis for no reason whatsoever. But when we offer to pay for a college education in exchange for our fellow citizens signing up to help Bush wage his senseless war, we are bribing those who can't afford college to join this carnage. Is this bribe really beneficial for those who need money for college and is it beneficial for our nation to continue this war? I don't want to short-change our veterans more than they're already being taken advantage of. But I despise this evil war and I want it to end - for the despicable war itself and for the safety of our troops over there. I don't really know what's ethically and morally the right thing to do.

******************************

[Skeptiqone]

Could you possibly imagine that George Bush might have the Audacity of Hopelessness to veto this???
The very least we can do to the people that have sacrificed so much is give them a chance for a brighter day.

[egal]

Considering he's the reason our military hospitals are in such poor shape (he cut their funding), the soldiers aren't getting raises suficient to even account for inflation (the greatly-foreigner-employing contractors get most of the money meant for our military, yet another outsourced job market), and the psychologically and military necessary length of rests between deployments has been done away with, I doubt he cares in the least what happens to the soldiers he has so irresponsibly engaged in Iraq, as long as he gets his war.

[obamagal]

Oh, but didn't you hear? He gave up golf!

[IngeniousGirl]

Bush will veto this bill and then it's showdown for the republicans, who have recently seen defeat. This will be an interesting dilemna.

[bgregs]

The problem is that the Dems have attached it to the war's spending budget. There ain't no way that he'll veto the whole thing. Course, the repubs have been desperately trying to get this removed from that bill!!

[IngeniousGirl]

Paul, thank you for pushing and nurturing this important step to provide parity for our Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans with WWII Benefits. As I've told you before I've called my Congressman/women and am at this moment check to see how they voted, as well as my 2 Senators. I will be writing letters of thanks to those in the House who made this happen and applaud this significant victory and accomplishment for our men and women in harms way.

A Blue Star Mom

[tinkaboutit]

I think the troops are war criminals. They know it was morally and legally wrong to go into Iraq. But they did it anyway. Just following orders is no excuse. We all know where that concept came from, right?

Naturally the troops should get medical care if they're injured, but we should be focusing our attention and energy on getting them and the Bush crime family into international criminal court.

[researcher]

wow very few in america see what you see. nationalism has not overwhelmed your rational mind.

in their hearts most americans are imperialists and many are war mongers.

never thought in my youth i would come to say that. born on a farm loved being an american. helped to defeat germany. now we are the imperialists and fascists.

look at the corp fascist media. have brainwashed americans that they will kill others in an illegal war and we call them war heros. upside down world. right is wrong and wrong is right to americans.

[jagoneely]

Many Americans can see the war is wrong, but the bulk of our soldiers are not war criminals. I wonder what you would do, at age 18 or 19 after watching your friends head get blown off. It doesn't excuse the crimes, but it explains them to an extent. War is an pseudo-reality of sorts. War as a first option is discusting, and most Americans I talk to agree about that. To say that the soldiers "knew" it was "morally and legally" wrong to go into Iraq is laughable. They knew no such thing. I believe the soldiers who enlisted in the beginning were mis-led. Many thought they were going into Afganistan to get BinLaden. The ones who enlist now do so for many reasons, but it's not with full understanding. It's usually a nieve belief that America is right because Mommy/Daddy say so. I hate when people group all soldiers, all Americans together and label us like we are all the same, with all the same beliefs and thoughts. Bushco is NOT America. Nationalism is an issue here, that's true; but I think it's only a negative issue when Americans do not hold our government accountable when it errs due to nationalism and ignorance. To call most Americans imperialists is a stretch. How are we ever to know what "most" Americans think anyway when Nobody really cares to find out - certainly not the "corp fascist media".

[bgregs]

I am a veteran of the United States Navy. I am opposed to this war. However, while I was active duty we went to this war, and I was ranked as an E-5. This is the most numerous rank in the Navy, but NOBODY asks people at that rank to make decisions about policy. The POTUS is a war criminal for ordering us to war. The generals who advised him are war criminals for not stopping us going to war. The troops on the ground who have no more decision making authority than a flea are NOT war criminals, any more than the grunts in the German Army during WWII were. There are some who have committed specific war crimes, such as those who were active at Abu Ghraib, but the VAST majority are allowed to use the defense that they were simply following orders, since they had no other choice!!

[bgregs]

Actually, the GENERALS need to be considered war criminals. The TROOPS who actually commit war crimes (e.g. Abu Ghraib) need to be considered war criminals. However, the vast majority of our troops are NOT war criminals, any more than the troops who worked in the German Army were war criminals! When you are so low ranked that your only decision is what brand of razor to buy, then you cannot make such a choice, and to place that burden on their shoulders is immoral!

[AdobePhsyko]

You've written this Obscene ,Heartless position on here before tinkaboutit.
How dare you call these brave young people "war criminals".
Obviously ,You've never done ANYTHING for our country and your position on this is Disgusting. Go back under the rock you came from.

[madmaggie57]

Paul, Keep up the great work for our troops. I signed the petition & checked to make sure my reprsentatives were on the Yay side. McCain continues to deny everything he is supposed to stand for. We need to get his voting record on veterans bills, & POW/MIA bills out to educate the public. If the chief asshole vetoes this bill, he should not ever again be able to show his face in public. This inane, empty slogan of "Supporting the Troops" by the Repugnants & this administration, in reality means nothing to the criminals that spew the words from their oral orifices, yet back it up with nothing but more blood & deaths..

[Citizen54]

Kudos to Paul and the IAVA!

There's a list here of those "representatives" who voted against the new GI bill. Keep them in mind when they come up for re-election.

http://www.iava.org/component/option,com_/Itemid,105/option,content/task,view/id,2741/