21st Century GI Bill Rally and Press Conference

21^st Century GI Bill Rally and Press Conference

By Sean O’Keefe

The U.S Military Veterans of Columbia University in collaboration with 27 other veteran organizations from a crossed the country converged at Capital Hill last Tuesday. Their goal was to help support Senator Jim Webb’s ‘21^st Century G.I. Bill’ (S-22) which will reform the out of date G.I. Bill to better assists returning veterans.

Presently, veteran education benefits provide prior service members with approximately 1000 dollars a month to pay for college. However, students need to pay a majority of their tuition, books, and other fees at the start of the semester, not month to month. Also the amount of the G.I. Bill has hardly kept up with inflation. As one World War Two veteran at the rally stating he received his BA and law degree from Stanford University without paying a dime because of the G.I. Bill in the 1950’s.

The G.I. Bill was originally created because of returning veterans from World War Two. Policymakers realized the need to provide a smooth transition from soldier to civilian and found it in the form of education. The payoff of educated veterans provided returns in tax revenues at a rate of 7 dollars for every 1 dollar spent during the years following World War Two. Today, with the massive amounts of retiring veterans from the War against Terror, a new form of job allocation will be needed.

The rally was perceived as a success to the U.S. Military Veterans of Columbia University with many of its members speaking directly to their house and senate representatives. Although, President Bush has stated he will veto any bill that will reform GI benefits because of concerns that it will hurt military retention. The current bill is gaining steam through out Washington with a strong bi-partisan support with 57 cosponsors in the Senate and 241 cosponsors in the House. Senator Jim Webb expressed that he expects the bill to be passed by the end of the year.

House members who attended the rally were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senators Jim Webb (D-VA), John Warner (R-VA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), and Representatives Harry Mitchell (D-AZ), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), Pete King (R-NY), and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA).

If you would like to assist reforming the G.I. Bill please contact your representatives to express your concern.

Or for more information please contact the U.S Military Veterans of Columbia University at milvets@gmail.com.