Jim Webb

IAVA just emailed their supporters announcing that tomorrow congress will vote on the new GI Bill. They are asking all members to call their representative. Here's the link to their action tool:

The House of Representatives faces a historic choice tomorrow when it votes on whether or not to pass the New GI Bill. This vote decides whether our nation will honor its newest generation of veterans and invest in the future of the men and women who have been serving in harm's way. We need your help today.

At this crucial point in the process, please take a minute to call your representative in the House and tell them to vote for the New GI Bill.

Click here to find your representative's contact information. We've included talking points below that you can use on the call.

Thanks to IAVA supporters like you, the momentum for a 21st Century GI Bill has been incredible. The widespread support among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle proves that caring for our nation's veterans is not a partisan issue. However, we still need your help before tomorrow's vote.

Your representative will decide whether or not the New GI Bill is funded. Please take a minute today to call him or her and make sure they vote in favor of the New GI Bill. You can use the talking points below.

Click here to find your representative's contact information. After you do, please take a minute to let us know how the call went by clicking here.
It's time we give our troops the benefits they deserve. Thank you for making your voice heard.

Speaker Pelosi's office has put out a statement noting that in a press conference at the Rose Garden earlier this week, President Bush threatened to veto the Iraq War Supplemental if Sen. Webb's GI Bill was attached to it:

Bush Administration Rejects Bipartisan Veterans Measure

Opposes New GI BILL to Restore a Free College Education to Veterans,

Grow the Middle Class, and Invest in our Economic Future

As a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress came together with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to press for a new GI Bill to provide full college scholarships to returning service members yesterday, the Bush Administration said no.

In a letter, Defense Secretary Gates declared his opposition: “Gates also restated long-standing Pentagon opposition to GI Bill educational benefits that are too generous, making it more likely for service members to leave the military to attend college. “Serious” retention issues are expected if benefits exceed the average monthly cost for a four-year public college, including tuition, room, board and fees, Gates said.” [Army Times, 4/30/08]

President Bush also warned at a Rose Garden news conference that he would veto any additions to the Iraq Supplemental spending bill, even as Democratic leaders consider whether to include the GI Bill as an amendment to Mr. Bush's $108 billion supplemental request for 2008 war spending. "I will not accept a supplemental over [$108 billion] or a supplemental that micromanages the war," he said.

Republican Former Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner calls the Pentagon's opposition "very thin and tenuous." "The flip side of that is putting a big piece of cheese out there will induce more qualified people to join just to get this. It should be a tremendous incentive for recruitment.” [Politico, 4/ 30/08]

This measure will offer the 1.7 million brave men and women who have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan educational benefits, on par with those provided to veterans of the World War II era -- making military service more attractive, and strengthening our sagging economy. The original GI Bill launched millions of families on a course of prosperity and toward achieving the American Dream—and set the American economy on the right course after a draining war.

Once Again, Bush Administration Turns its Back on Veterans:

President Bush has a long record of opposing efforts to help our veterans:

• Opposed A Bigger Military Pay Raise. Last year, the Bush Administration opposed the House-passed Defense Authorization bill – objecting to a range of provisions including those that increased military pay by 3.5 percent calling it “unnecessary.” (The Administration proposed a 3 percent increase.) Ultimately, Congress enacted this increase into law.

• Opposed Ending the Disabled Veterans Tax. In 2003, President Bush threatened to veto the National Defense Authorization Act over this provision. That year, the White House was forced to drop its opposition, as Congress passed legislation that took a first step in ending the disabled military retirees.
• Opposed TRICARE for Reservists. In 2003, Secretary Rumsfeld recommended that the President veto the defense bill if TRICARE for Reserve forces was included. In 2006, the Defense bill finally included TRICARE for Reservists.

Jim Webb and John McCain are throwing down over the new GI Bill. From the Politico:

There are fundamental differences,” McCain told Politico. “He creates a new bureaucracy and new rules. His bill offers the same benefits whether you stay three years or longer. We want to have a sliding scale to increase retention. I haven’t been in Washington, but my staff there said that his has not been eager to negotiate.”

“He’s so full of it,” Webb said in response. “I have personally talked to John three times. I made a personal call to [McCain aide] Mark Salter months ago asking that they look at this.”

Here's Webb's side of the story:

“I’ve been doing veterans law for 30 years. The GI bill is designed as a readjustment benefit for people who leave the military,” Webb said. For the Marines and the Army — which account for the brunt of the fighting — he estimates as many as 70 percent to 75 percent rotate out after a single four-year enlistment.

Webb’s new GI education benefits would apply, then, to anyone who has served up to 36 months of qualified active duty beginning at the same time as or after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “These are the people who answered the call,” Webb said at the rally Tuesday. “These are the people who moved willingly forward toward the sound of the guns.”

Here's McCain and Def. Secretary Gates counter-argument:

By contrast, Gates wrote in his letter that “our first objective is to strengthen the All-Volunteer Force” and “re-enlistments (and longer service) are critical to the success of the All-Volunteer Force.” From this vantage point, a too-generous GI Bill is counterproductive, and the defense secretary warns that “serious retention issues could arise” if the benefit were extended above the average costs for a public four-year college.

Don't know about you, but I'm with Webb. We should reward people who answered the call. The GI Bill was a huge boon to the "Greatest Generation" and the American economy after World War II. It can be the same for Millennials returning from two, three, or more tours of duty Iraq and Afghanistan. We owe them that. As a veteran, Senator McCain should know that.

Update: Speaker Pelosi issued a statement at a press conference in support of the bill earlier today. And up in Alaska, Matt Browner-Hamlin informs me that Mark Begich, who is running against Sen. "Series of Tubes" Stevens, also came out in strong support of the bill.
-------------------------------

Rumor has it that Sen. Jim Webb's new GI Bill is likely come up for a vote in the next two weeks as part of the Iraq War supplemental, and a number of organizations are running campaigns in support. Most recently, YDA's Veterans Caucus started a petition in support of the bill. You can join their action here.

For those who haven't been following this, the new GI Bill would provide the following:

• Make benefits available to all members of the military who have served on active duty since 9/11/2001, including activated reservists and National Guard.
• Provide benefits for tuition, housing, and books for up to 36 months of education for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
• Link amount of benefits to amount of time served on active duty.
• Increase amount of time after leaving active duty to collect educational assistance to fifteen years compared to ten.
• Allows additional payments for tutorial assistance as well as licensure and certification tests.
• Create a new program in which the government will agree to match, dollar for dollar, any voluntary additional contributions to veterans from institutions whose tuition is more expensive than the maximum assistance provided.

The bill is opposed by John McCain, who has put forth his own, weaker version that would primarily benefit career officers at the expense of the enlisted force. Vote Vets is currently running a campaign to pressure Sen. McCain into supporting the Webb bill.

I'll post more about the bill's progress as I get it.