Obama Jumps On The GI Bill Issue

The Webb GI Bill could come up for a vote this week, and it's putting Republicans in a tough spot. The least we can do for all the veterans we've created during the Bush Administration is give them a full ride to the public university of their choice. It's most definitely part of the cost of war. The Pentagon and some Republicans consider it too expensive. How is a veteran supposed to feel when they her that their service is not worth a big enough dollar amount to educate them?

The dodge that John McCain and others are using is that this will reduce the size of the volunteer army because vets will go scurrying to use the benefits instead of making the military a career. It's an extension of the "welfare queen" argument. Because Republicans are so greedy, they can't imagine not taking advantage of an opportunity immediately. But there's a 15-year time horizon in the bill to use the benefits, enough of a spread to manage that concern. Also, typically the way the world works is that incentives and benefits ENCOURAGE people to join, as the American Legion understands.

“This bill would encourage young men and women to join the military,” [National Commander Marty] Conatser said. “As far as retention goes, the CBO estimates that a simple $8,000 bonus to personnel at their first enlistment point would increase reenlistments by 2 percentage points. Another way to encourage mid-level servicemembers to stay in the military is to transfer GI Bill benefits to family members so the servicemember can remain in the military and still benefit from the program.”

This debate has now jumped into the Presidential race. John McCain, a product of the GI Bill who attended the Naval Academy at taxpayer expense, has tried to weasel out of the bill by endorsing a far more modest version. This puts him on the wrong side of the public (look at all of those op-eds), and in the crosshairs of Barack Obama, who hit McCain hard on this yesterday.

And when our loved ones do come home, it is time for the United States of America to offer this generation of returning heroes the same thanks we offered that earlier, Greatest Generation – by giving every veteran the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the GI Bill.

There is no reason we shouldn’t pass the 21st Century GI Bill that is being debated in Congress right now. It was introduced by my friend Senator Jim Webb, a Marine who served as Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan.. His plan has widespread support from Republicans and Democrats. It would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention.

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.

Now, this of course is being packaged with continued war funding into the next Presidency, so it's a bitter pill. But in theory, the men and women serving in Iraq and elsewhere deserve these benefits. McCain Republicans are denying them. It's a pretty simple construction.