COLUMNS

Ensuring Our Veterans Have Education Benefits They Deserve
By Senator John Sununu
May 26, 2008

This Memorial Day, as it has been for well over a century, a grateful nation comes together in tributes large and small to recall and honor the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in defense of self-evident truths and unalienable rights. We thank the men and women of our nation’s Armed Services with parades, and we mark the loss of those who did not return with solemn ceremonies at memorials and cemeteries across America. To each, we owe a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.

Today, the men and women who wear the uniform are all volunteers; and each has made a personal commitment to protect our nation’s security. They are provided with pay and benefits, and perhaps the most important of these are the education incentives in the GI Bill.  First created to assist the “Greatest Generation,” the GI Bill has played an important role in helping America maintain the strongest and most capable military in the world. But in order to ensure that today’s service members are given the same prospects for success as those past, it is essential that we update, expand, and reform the GI Bill in several key areas.

First, we must raise the basic benefit to meet the rising costs of higher education. As every family in America knows, the cost of college has consistently increased faster than the pace of overall inflation. Currently, service members receive $1,100 per month - this should be immediately raised to reflect today’s cost of education at a public college or university. A benefit is of little value if it is insufficient to attain the objective for which it was intended.

Second, service members should have the ability to transfer accumulated education benefits to a family member.  This reform would dramatically increase the support we provide to military families and serve as a vital tool in strengthening our all volunteer force by encouraging retention.  Last January, I cosponsored legislation that gives service members the freedom to shift their benefits to a daughter, son, or spouse.

Finally, we should provide greater incentives for those who commit to longer periods of service, and work to encourage reenlistment and retention.  As our military becomes ever more reliant on high performing systems and technology, the accumulated skill base becomes more important to maintaining high levels of efficiency and performance. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other military leaders have indicated that retention is crucial to maintaining a robust and talented fighting force into the future.  

Two significant bills have been introduced to modify and update GI education benefits. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) has introduced a bill that substantially strengthens the monthly benefit.  This is a very important step forward, but we need to do even more. Unfortunately, the bill does not expand the ability of service members to transfer benefits.  Moreover, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would result in a 16 percent decline in reenlistment rates. 

A second bill, authored by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), addresses these issues by including language that allows benefits to be transferred with increasing value and flexibility over time.  This bill also immediately increases the monthly benefit for anyone who has served at least three years to $1,500 and rewards those who serve longer, with a maximum benefit of $2,000 for those who serve twelve or more years. 

On Thursday, I was one of 75 Senators to support Senator Webb’s legislation as part of a national security spending package.  This bill now heads to the House of Representatives where it is my hope that House leadership will take the appropriate steps to ensure transferability, higher benefits for longer service, and incentives for retention are part of any final bill.

This Memorial Day, my prayers for a safe return go out to our nation’s service members on active duty, the Guard, and Reserve who continue to persevere in support of the mission abroad.  I join with millions as well to thank their families for the daily sacrifices they endure to support that most valuable service. And together we honor all those Americans in our 232-year-history who have given “the last full measure of devotion” to secure our liberty.

###