McCain Won’t Back The New GI Bill
By Dyre42 | Related entries in General Politics, McCain, NewsBut he is crafting a similar version of his own…
From The Daily Press:
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has suggested he would oppose a bipartisan measure by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to expand college tuition benefits for military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
McCain told reporters Monday he was working on alternative legislation aimed at ensuring that troops do not leave the military earlier than planned to go to college.
“We are working on proposals of our own,” McCain said on his campaign plane, according to ABC News. “I’m a consistent supporter of educational benefits for the men and women of the military. I want to make sure that we have incentives for people to remain in the military, as well as for people to join the military.”
McCain’s new move comes as a blow to Webb, a freshman Democrat and former Navy secretary who had been quietly building bipartisan support for months.
Webb’s GI Bill, a centerpiece of his 2006 campaign, would pay the college tuition of many military veterans who have served since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The amount of tuition paid would not exceed the cost of the most expensive state school in a veteran’s home state, in most cases.
The current Montgomery GI Bill pays only a small fraction of the cost of college today.
Why won’t he just support the current bill? Odds are given the administration’s resistance to it because it could conceivably reduce retention goals McCain may sense a veto on the horizon. Although I find the retention argument against this bill to be weak. In my opinion those that want to leave the military will and the additional few that might leave solely to go to go to college because of this bill will be offset by the few that join the military during war time to solely go to college. Should W veto the bill in its current form McCain’s will make an excellent plan B to ensure that our servicemen get the quality education they deserve however the logic behind W’s and McCain’s reticence to support the bill in its current form escapes me.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 and is filed under General Politics, McCain, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:05 am
He’s pandering to partisans on the right who don’t like that he seems cozy with the dems
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:00 am
The possibility also exists that the DOD only wants benefits that will increase “indentured servitude” to the military. So things like very easy credit at the BX/PX and easy car credit work perfectly with that mindset. An inclusive educational benefits plan means people will have incentive to walk away from the military and become civilians again.
Currently the military has college courses and degree programs on Post. The cost is typically at 80-90% off regular cost per credit hour and the books are covered with things like Pell Grants - and room and board are already paid for. So a degree can realistically cost nothing if the person remains on active duty and gets their degree at night - but most people don’t have the time for it unfortunately. Soldiers, airmen, seamen and marines stay in the services, go to night school, get their degrees if they can - but they don’t get out. I’m sure that’s what McCain is looking for - that type of arrangement fits with McCainism’s from the past.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
This has tipped my vote from the right to the left. I will not vote for John McCain because he does not support this bill. Nor does “we have something better approach” work for me because there is nothing that he has unveiled. This is a primary platform issue for me. I am sorry Senator McCain but I cannot as a veteran vote for someone who does not support those who have served their country outside of the service. The least John McCain could have said would be to say that there are some ways to improve Webb’s bill or that he is working with Webb to improve the bill as it currently sits. Heck tie, tuition amounts and stipend amounts from GIBILL to time in service or other step up service extension stipulations. I would have stayed in the service 10 years more had I known I could get all of my tuition, all my fees, dormitory, stipend and even possibly my graduate level education covered by GIBILL. As it stands now, people are trying to get education covered by Voc Rehab. Bottom line education is the engine by which the WWII veterans propelled this nation to its greatness and now we will do nothing and produce nothing from veterans who are not going to be able to receive a valuable education only because they can only afford to goto a community college or Vo-Tech type school. The veterans coming back will now be a liability for us as a society to support as opposed to productive and contributing if not growth base source from which we grow this country again. How shortsighted are we as a country that we did not learn the lessons of WWI and value of our zenith as a superpower after WWII. I weep.