Modernizing the GI Bill — where’s McCain?

April 3, 2008

The GI Bill was instrumental in helping send a generation of U.S. veterans to college and helping create the post-WWII middle class, but the law has not kept up with the times. Whereas veterans used to be able to count on the government to pay for all of their college expenses, troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are finding that the GI Bill barely scratches the surface of today’s college costs.

Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) unveiled a GI Bill modernization bill over a year ago, which would increase troop benefits to pay for their education. From a patriotic perspective, this is showing real support for the troops. From a military perspective, it might make recruiting easier if young people know they can go to college after their service for free. From an economic perspective, the country benefits when thousands of educated young people enter the workforce with degrees, as opposed to the alternative.

So hasn’t John McCain joined Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in supporting the Webb/Hagel bill? Sam Stein reports:

…Webb and Hagel’s vision (after months of consideration) is on the cusp of codification. The 21st Century G.I. Bill may be included in the language of the next Iraq war supplemental. And while, if considered separately, it could require 60 votes for passage, more than 50 Senators — including many Republicans — have already signed on as co-sponsors.

And yet, surprisingly, one of those Senators who has not yet offered his support is John McCain. How could a veteran of Vietnam and someone widely touted as Congress’ foremost champions of veterans’ affairs not sign on to a largely bipartisan, uncontroversial measure? (Both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are co-sponsors).

Last year, a member of the Student Veterans of America asked McCain why he hadn’t endorsed the bill. He said the effort seemed like “a good thing to do,” but added, “I have not had the chance to examine it carefully.”

That was several months ago. He still hasn’t signed on.

Some veterans want to know why.

“John McCain needs to be on this bill,” Webb said in a statement to The Huffington Post. “I have said to him several times that this is not a political issue — this is about providing a fair, deserved benefit to our troops. Based on his own military history and how strongly he speaks about the positive contributions of the people who have served, I hope that he will get on board and support this new GI bill.”

I realize that McCain is a little busy running for president, but Clinton and Obama are on board; there’s no reason he can’t follow their lead.

We’re waiting, senator.

Give the old codger a break, he’s been busy singing about bombing Iran. Besides, those kids won’t be going to college, he’s got a 100 year war planned out for them.

  • McCain has co-opted the Bush – Cheney attitude toward the military: “they volunteered for this … so screw ’em.” The only dollars they like seeing spent on defense are for expensive hardware or buddy contractor corporations. People? They’re expendable.

  • Maybe McCain simply doesn’t see the value in a college education. The spoiled son and grandson of four-star admirals finished 5th from the bottom of his USNA class of 899. Bush was legacy C student; Bush is even worse.

  • The GI Bill for Education never paid for more than study at a public university… and it’ll still do that.

    If veterans want to go to first tier universities, they’ll have to get a scholarship or cough up the money.

    I’m a veteran, went to public university on GI Bill… there are a lot of very good public universities. It’s not so much where you go, but what you do with it. The current GI Education Bill is fine… we just need to get veterans to use it.

  • The AG of the US Michael Mukasey blatantly LIES about a FISA law preventing eaves dropping on a foreign call from a safe house in Afghanistan to the US (which did not require a warrant to monitor) and states that is the reason (in tears) that 3000 people went to work that day and never returned home just to get telecom immunity to cover Bush’s ass yet the 9/11 commission report never mentions this. Today at Glenn Greenwald’s site at salon.com Glenn is asking us to email :
    Lee.hamilton@wilsoncenter.org.
    for a response to clarify that Mukasey is blatantly lying about the whole call incident to fear monger support for telecom immunity or the Bush administration failed to monitor this call (because they monitored all the other calls coming from that area) which may have prevented the 9/11 attacks. GG states that we need to get this story going as the MSM is slow to report it because it shows the highest law enforcement officer in the land lying and fear mongering for Bush or the incompetence of Bush who ignored this ‘most important call. Please go to
    http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

    to see the video and to respond to his request to demand that the 9/11 commission respond to Mukasey’s charges. I can’t remember the last time GG asked us to email anyone to get a story out but this is extremely important and could end up in impeaching the AG.

    from GG, “…Either Mukasey is lying about the 9/11 attacks in order to manipulate Americans into believing that FISA’s warrant requirements are what prevented discovery of the 9/11 attacks and caused 3,000 American deaths — a completely disgusting act by the Attorney General which obviously cannot be ignored. Or, Mukasey has just revealed the most damning fact yet about the Bush’s administration’s ability and failure to have prevented the attacks — facts that, until now, were apparently concealed from the 9/11 Commission and the public….”

  • McCain’s waiting for the “dump your present wife & marry a rich, younger babe” provision in the bill. He won’t sign on until that’s been added.

  • I hate to be the one who is so ignorant of Senate procedure, but why would a separate piece of legislation need 60 votes to pass?

  • Brian (9): In order to actually vote on a bill in the Senate, sixty votes are needed to stop discussion. It’s called cloture, and if cloture fails, it is often referred to as filibustering, even though that is a loose use of that word.

  • Constituents that need government help to pay for college aren’t typically among the donor base. Thus the need to examine things so very carefully.

    Here I thought McCain was running short of money. I know many members of Iraq Veterans Against The War who are scraping to go to school who are having no trouble sending $20 to Barack Obama. Add them all together and all of a sudden you have a donor base that can come up with $40 million a month without hitting their maximum donation.

  • “The GI Bill for Education never paid for more than study at a public university…”

    Not true. My uncle was from a dirt-poor family, went to Harvard on the G.I. Bill after service in WW II.

    However, I agree that many public universities are excellent, as good as the best of the private schools.

  • Why would McCain want to empower the troops? Then they would have the right to leave the military after completing their contracts. The reality is that some may not stay with the military and that is a risk McCain cannot take if he wants this war to last forever. It’s so much easier to LIE or play stupid like they have been for years. The hypocrisy is nausiating.

  • I’m in Afghanistan right now. I have 10 months left in the army. Soldiers who don’t want to re-enlist won’t wait for a better GI Bill. Transitioning back into civilian life after 6 years of being a soldier is difficult enough. How about paying a soldier back with something truely worthwhile. A decent education. The military will repay any loans that officer candidates have left from college, why not pay soldiers who have already served their term the same benefit? Today’s soldiers aren’t signing up for one or two years. They sign up for four to six. The sacrifices todays soldiers take have been downplayed. I know soldiers who have been in the army for four years and have been deployed for three of them. Our country is great because of what our fathers, and grandfathers have done in war. Those same heroes went on to get an education and become the true leaders of our country, Senators, Congressman, and businessmen. I know I’m not alone in saying that the changes to the GI Bill are long overdue. The American soldiers of today are heroes, and should be treated as such. I’ve heard people refer to the changes as a “free ride.” There’s nothing free about it. Today’s soldiers have paid in full.

  • I absolutely agree with Chris.

    At a time when the vast majority is sacrificing NOTHING to support soldiers like Chris and his mates whose lives have been disrupted to protect our freedoms, it seems appropriate payback for them to be given access to the best education for which they can intellectually qualify — there are many brilliant minds in the nation’s NCO and enlisted corps are we do ourselves a great disservice to not cultivate such intellectual horsepower just because some of them cannot afford the obscene cost of higher education.

    I’d like to take his urgings one step further – my cousin Chris, who worked his way through college as an Army reservist, was seriously wounded in Iraq when on a dismounted reconnaissance patrol he was hit by an IED. When he returned to the States for a lengthy visit to Walter Reed, his TSGLI claim was denied by the military, or should I say by the military on behalf of the insurance company that underwrote the TSGLI program. Every other wounded warrior in his brigade (yes, that’s right, brigade) has also had their TSGLI claims denied as well despite some, like Chris, with very serious injuries the pain of which will always be with them.

    Along with a better GI bill, we also need some honesty about what’s going on with disability payments, TSGLI claims payments and other aspects of the CONTRACTS made between soldiers and the military — contracts that the soldiers have respected in full, and now expect the military (and the vast array of businesses that profit off the military) to also honor.

    Stay pure, Chris.

  • The Webb/Hagel bill is a great step towards providing those returning soldiers the support they need. We owe them our gratitude and we should certainly be willing to provide for a good education.

  • As USAF Veteran I went to school on my GIBILL, a scholarship and loans. I did not have enough to goto graduate school. I attended a small private college for undergrad and top tier grad school. I must say I benefited from the GIBILL but I would also say IT IS NOT ENOUGH – regardless of state school or private school. I know several veterans attending state school who still can not afford state school with the GIBILL. The issue is that GIBILL pays out monthly and schools charge per semester or per year. Where are you going to finance or front the money to goto a school when the tuition is due up front and the GIBILL only pays out monthly after the fact? I totally agree with this bill and feel that it has become the primary platform from which my vote is cast. If McCain doesn’t support this. He doesn’t get my vote bottom line. Education is key in remaking the veterans into a valuable part of the economy instead of outcasts to a society who believe that war is essentially bad but necessary and a people who hide their fears in those that fight but are not willing to acknowledge we are at war and should honor those returning enough to give them a valued education. The GIBILL fueled the economic boom of the 50’s. What can we expect to do with the veterans returning home now? How do we expect to fuel or pull ourselves from an impending recession / depression? – Education will be the bulwark from which our country does not need to constantly seek offshore talent to fuel our leadership in technology, industry and other sectors. But rather build upon the brains and experience of our veterans who have lived a lifetime overseas exposed to what a “oil-rich” country can become when education becomes a tertiary concern at best. Veterans have given too much for this country to send them into lifelong debt. Senator / President elect McCain – SUPPORT THIS BILL!

  • Jim G, you are completely wrong on this one.

    I’m an enlisted Marine coming up on the end of my contract. I have been accepted to a very good private graduate school – one of the best ones in the nation, in fact – and it is expensive. It’s obscenely expensive. Tuition is $35k – almost 40% more than I make annually. I am extremely fortunate to have been offered a decent scholarship, but it’s still going to cost an arm and a leg to attend this school because it’s in one of the most obscenely expensive cities in the country.

    The current GI Bill barely covers the cost of living in many places, and doesn’t even come close to covering tuition. If I go to Stanford, it won’t cover my expenses. If I go to UCLA, it won’t cover my expenses. Hell, if I go to San Diego State, it won’t cover my expenses. In fact, it’ll barely cover my expenses if I go to a local community college – none of which are credentialed to offer Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees.

    Let’s put it this way – if an enlisted service member serves honorably and is accepted by a top-tier school, public OR private, he ought to rate full coverage. Send that NCO to a good school, not some fly-by-night BS factory. NCOs of today have incredible leadership skills. They are gutsy risk-takers who kick down the door when opportunity knocks. They are outspoken, opinionated, aggressive, and ambitious.

    “Hooking people up” is a common theme in the military. I guarantee that if we hook these NCOs up with a great education, then the return – both socially and economically – will be absolutely invaluable. Given the risks they face every day, they deserve it.

    This bill should be passed and implemented immediately.

    As far as naysayers are concerned, retention rates probably aren’t going to change very much (the war is doing more than enough to kill retention, and huge re-enlistment bonuses are going out now to counter that). I’d put money on the fact that if this bill passes, recruiters will find more and better qualified people than they’ve ever had before.

    Jim G, don’t fall into that trap of “well, it sucked for me and I made it work, so it ought to be good enough for anybody.” Only stupid and complacent people operate that way. You ought to be fighting to hook up your troops.

  • As a veteran, I find McBush’s refusal to support this GI Bill for our soldiers unforgivable. It’s just another example of why I have left the republican party.

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