Showing real support for the troops
Posted: May 30, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
? 2008
It's one thing to brag about supporting the troops. It's another to do so. And George Bush and John McCain are braggers.
The GI Bill is one of the most importantgovernment programs ever created, right up there with Social Security and Medicare. It was first passed by Congress in 1944 and signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt as the final program of his New Deal. FDR wanted to avoid a repeat of the Great Depression that followed World War I and did not want WWII veterans to suffer the same fate as veterans of the Great War, who were given little more than $60 and a train ticket home.
Under terms of the first GI Bill, World War II vets who had served a minimum of two years were eligible for government assistance in getting a college education, with grants covering the cost of books, fees and tuition up to $500 a year. The program was enormously successful. College enrollment exploded. In 10 years, 7.8 million of 16 million World War II vets had taken advantage of the program. And economists estimated that, for every one government dollar spent on educating GIs, seven new dollars were pumped into the American economy.
What worked so well for World War II veterans should not have been limited to them, and it wasn't. Congress made the same educational opportunities available to veterans of the Korean War and, later, the war in Vietnam. Eventually, an even higher percentage of Vietnam vets than World War II vets took advantage of the benefits of the GI Bill. And now two Vietnam vets have moved to extend the program even further.
(Column continues below)
In a rare display of bipartisanship, Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., both decorated veterans of Vietnam, are sponsoring legislation to upgrade the GI bill and make it available to veterans of today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To qualify, veterans must have served since Sept. 11 in any branch of the military including the National Guard and Reserves. Depending on their length of service, veterans could receive payments covering up to four years' tuition at the most expensive in-state public college, plus a monthly housing stipend.
Surely most Americans agree that helping vets get a college education and start a new career is the least we can do to honor those who stepped up to defend our country in the aftermath of Sept. 11. The Webb-Hagel legislation, in fact, passed the Senate 75-22. Only the most hard-hearted could oppose it, and for only the flimsiest of reasons.
But Bush and McCain say they oppose offering benefits of the GI Bill to today's veterans because it's too expensive and because it will discourage troops from re-enlisting. Poppycock. True, the expanded program would cost about $2 billion a year. That's a lot of money, but it's less than the cost of one week of the war in Iraq.
It's also true, as McCain regularly points out, that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new GI Bill would cause a 16 percent drop in re-enlistment rates across all four branches of the military. But McCain fails to mention that the very same study predicts a 16 percent uptick in new recruits, who would be attracted to join the military by the same educational opportunities. Hypocrisy, thy name is McCain.
There is simply no excuse for denying veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan the same benefits enjoyed by veterans of earlier wars. But this is not the first time that McCain, who prides himself on his family's three generations of duty, has double-crossed his fellow veterans. In Congress, he's voted for veterans' benefits only 30 percent of the time, according to the scorecard of the Disabled Americans for America.
And for George Bush, this is just one more example of saying one thing and doing another. He even had the audacity to honor the troops on Memorial Day while threatening to veto the educational benefits millions of them are counting on. At least, observed the New York Times, he's consistent: "Having saddled the military with a botched, unwinnable war, having squandered soldiers' lives and failed them in so many ways, the commander in chief now resists giving the troops a chance at better futures out of uniform."
One thing is for sure: If Bush and McCain have any questions about the merits of the GI Bill, they don't have to go far for answers. McCain could ask fellow Sens. Frank Lautenberg, Ted Stevens, John Warner and Jim Webb, all of whom got their college education thanks to the GI Bill. And George Bush could ask his own father.
Had he listened to his father five years ago, Bush might not have sent young Americans to risk their lives in an unnecessary war. Had he listened to him today, he might not deny them the opportunity to improve their lives, if they're lucky enough to come back home alive.
Posted: May 30, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
? 2008
It's one thing to brag about supporting the troops. It's another to do so. And George Bush and John McCain are braggers.
The GI Bill is one of the most importantgovernment programs ever created, right up there with Social Security and Medicare. It was first passed by Congress in 1944 and signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt as the final program of his New Deal. FDR wanted to avoid a repeat of the Great Depression that followed World War I and did not want WWII veterans to suffer the same fate as veterans of the Great War, who were given little more than $60 and a train ticket home.
Under terms of the first GI Bill, World War II vets who had served a minimum of two years were eligible for government assistance in getting a college education, with grants covering the cost of books, fees and tuition up to $500 a year. The program was enormously successful. College enrollment exploded. In 10 years, 7.8 million of 16 million World War II vets had taken advantage of the program. And economists estimated that, for every one government dollar spent on educating GIs, seven new dollars were pumped into the American economy.
What worked so well for World War II veterans should not have been limited to them, and it wasn't. Congress made the same educational opportunities available to veterans of the Korean War and, later, the war in Vietnam. Eventually, an even higher percentage of Vietnam vets than World War II vets took advantage of the benefits of the GI Bill. And now two Vietnam vets have moved to extend the program even further.
(Column continues below)
In a rare display of bipartisanship, Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., both decorated veterans of Vietnam, are sponsoring legislation to upgrade the GI bill and make it available to veterans of today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To qualify, veterans must have served since Sept. 11 in any branch of the military including the National Guard and Reserves. Depending on their length of service, veterans could receive payments covering up to four years' tuition at the most expensive in-state public college, plus a monthly housing stipend.
Surely most Americans agree that helping vets get a college education and start a new career is the least we can do to honor those who stepped up to defend our country in the aftermath of Sept. 11. The Webb-Hagel legislation, in fact, passed the Senate 75-22. Only the most hard-hearted could oppose it, and for only the flimsiest of reasons.
But Bush and McCain say they oppose offering benefits of the GI Bill to today's veterans because it's too expensive and because it will discourage troops from re-enlisting. Poppycock. True, the expanded program would cost about $2 billion a year. That's a lot of money, but it's less than the cost of one week of the war in Iraq.
It's also true, as McCain regularly points out, that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new GI Bill would cause a 16 percent drop in re-enlistment rates across all four branches of the military. But McCain fails to mention that the very same study predicts a 16 percent uptick in new recruits, who would be attracted to join the military by the same educational opportunities. Hypocrisy, thy name is McCain.
There is simply no excuse for denying veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan the same benefits enjoyed by veterans of earlier wars. But this is not the first time that McCain, who prides himself on his family's three generations of duty, has double-crossed his fellow veterans. In Congress, he's voted for veterans' benefits only 30 percent of the time, according to the scorecard of the Disabled Americans for America.
And for George Bush, this is just one more example of saying one thing and doing another. He even had the audacity to honor the troops on Memorial Day while threatening to veto the educational benefits millions of them are counting on. At least, observed the New York Times, he's consistent: "Having saddled the military with a botched, unwinnable war, having squandered soldiers' lives and failed them in so many ways, the commander in chief now resists giving the troops a chance at better futures out of uniform."
One thing is for sure: If Bush and McCain have any questions about the merits of the GI Bill, they don't have to go far for answers. McCain could ask fellow Sens. Frank Lautenberg, Ted Stevens, John Warner and Jim Webb, all of whom got their college education thanks to the GI Bill. And George Bush could ask his own father.
Had he listened to his father five years ago, Bush might not have sent young Americans to risk their lives in an unnecessary war. Had he listened to him today, he might not deny them the opportunity to improve their lives, if they're lucky enough to come back home alive.
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