By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 14, 2008
Efforts in Congress to improve GI Bill educational benefits took two leaps forward Thursday, although the price may be a delay for the payment of any increases approved by lawmakers.
The first step forward came when the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman, who has been sitting on the sidelines while other lawmakers have pressed for change, announced he is now backing the most generous GI Bill legislation, the 21st Century GI Bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.
The chairman, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, is a World War II veteran who attended college using the GI Bill. He has supported the idea of improving benefits but has not, until now, backed any specific bill.
With Akaka on board, there are now 53 co-sponsors in the Senate. A similar House bill has 122 co-sponsors.
To win Akaka's support, the Webb bill - S 22 - will be modified to address some of the chairman's concerns. One of those changes is a delay - the length of which has not been determined - from the time the bill is signed into law and when the payment increases take effect, aides said. A second change would have GI Bill benefits paid directly to the school being attended, rather than to the veteran - a move Akaka thinks would decrease the risk of fraud or overpayment.
Webb's bill has undergone many revisions since it was first introduced in January 2007. In its current form, the bill promises to pay full tuition up to the cost of the most expensive four-year public college in the state where a veteran is attending school, plus a living allowance equal to the basic allowance for housing for an E-5.
Senate Democratic leaders have made passage of Webb's bill one of their top priorities for the year.
The second major development is that Rep. John Boozman of Arkansas, ranking Republican on the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on economic development, has agreed to push for the right of all service members to transfer GI Bill benefits to their spouse or children when the subcommittee votes on GI Bill legislation in May.
Boozman already supported a bipartisan bill that would increase GI Bill benefits to $1,450 a month - up from the current $1,101 - and would pay a $500 monthly stipend. He now has signed on to a GI Bill transfer rights proposal sponsored by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., who has been pushing the idea for several years.
Bartlett, happy his proposal will come to a vote in the subcommittee, said he is convinced that allowing active-duty people to share GI Bill benefits with their families will "end up saving the government money" because he thinks it makes people more likely to stay in the military for a career, avoiding the cost of recruiting and training a replacement.
The Bush administration is working on its own GI Bill transferability proposal but has not released details. The working plan being prepared by the Pentagon would limit transfer rights to people with critically needed skills who agree to serve for an undetermined additional obligation.
Bartlett said he does not think transfer rights should be limited. "If a soldier has the benefits, has earned the benefits, it should be the soldier's decision when and how to use them. Sharing with the family should be the soldier's choice," Bartlett said.
Akaka said he is "pleased that my administrative concerns have been addressed" on Webb's bill, which with the changes "closely resembles what I would have advocated for."
Webb said he hopes that with Akaka's backing "we can now move expeditiously to get this vital piece of legislation passed this year for our returning Iraq and Afghanistan service members."
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/04/military_gibill_improvements_041108w/
