Why don't the republicans want Americans -- especially our military men and women -- to have an education?????

Obama '08!

I have a lot of respect for people who serve this country.

Let me tell you, they currently have a lot of benefits. I work with a person who served for about 3 years and he is getting almost $50K in free education.

I do not mind giving them more benefits but do not want it to be a free money. I agree with McCain, get more with more years of service.

OK...lets look at McSame's WATERED DOWN GI BILL:

stay with me here:

1) The McCain-Graham-Burr legislation creates a flat education benefit, not taking into account the cost of state colleges where veterans live. This would mean veterans in states where the cost of education is higher than the benefit would have go to into debt to get an education, or uproot themselves and their families to move to a place where the benefit would cover college. The Webb-Hagel Bill determines the education benefit based on the highest state college tuition in a veterans' home state, allowing veterans to come home and attend college, without upheaval in their lives.

2) The McCain-Graham-Burr legislation creates second-class veterans, by offering those who serve in the military for 12 years the chance to transfer their education benefits to their children. This says to a veteran who serves for two years and loses both of his legs in combat that his service isn't as valuable as someone who has served for longer.

3) The McCain-Graham-Burr legislation leaves the National Guard and Reserve out in the cold. In the current conflicts, the National Guard and Reserve have served faithfully alongside their active duty compatriots, and deserve equal benefits. Yet, the McCain bill does nothing to reward our Guard and Reservists for their cumulative service. Under the McCain bill, over 160,000 members of the Guard and Reserves who have done more than one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan would get no credit towards an education for their additional sacrifice.

ummm yeeeehhh...I think the Webb-Hagel bill pretty much BLOWS this one out the water...

Obama/Webb 08

I served my military honorably and must say, McCain couldn't be any more wrong on this issue. If we had a retention problem before, wait and see what happens when this new G.I. Bill is shot down. This shows how out of touch this McCain is. It's not about having served in the military, it's the wisdom, stupid!

McCain is right. There has to be someway to tie the benefits to encouraging members to stay. Otherwise, who is going to stay in the military. Plus, currently, milary members already have GI bills.

McCain is right. Obama saying he doesn't understand McCain's position is either simply playing typical politics or is faking ignorance. Hey! Maybe he really doesn't understand! Humm!

No Jane, it's the decision to give the military more money without more service is stupid. Again, you already have GI bills. If there are more money to be given to you then you should commit longer. We are having a 2 wars. If most of members attend schools, then who is going serve?? With all due respects, people in general want to give the military members more benefits but then we don't want them to go fight the wars. Then what is the point of giving the benefits and having the military.

While McCain frets that aiding our veterans will reduce enlistments....it's good to know
that honorable, reasonable people are working to give back a measure of what the vets have given to us.

>>Again, you already have GI bills.<<

Have you read the current GI Bill? It has been decimated over the years. This new version RESTORES what has been taken away from our veterans.

I spent 25 years in the military. I am a disabled veterand and yes I have education benefits among others. I also served during the military's gutting at the hands of President Clinton. We don't need McCain doing the same thing. Every day in the military is dangerous simply because we work in an environment that is hazardous. Those who have never served simply do not understand!!

Seems like we're spread pretty thin these days with our military. Where would we have been without the horrible Stop Loss program? So what are our choices? Make it more lucrative to enlist or institute the draft. As the mother of a 21-year-old son and three potentially draft-eligible daughters, I'd prefer to make enlistment more appealing!

John McCain's foreign policy is grounded in the nightmare of his Viet-Nam experience as he continues to relive it even today.

Just ask him and he will tell you that even though we lost over 47,000 brave American military and suffered nearly 250,000 casualtiies and despite killing over 2,000,000 Vietnamese in the process, that we could have "won" in that tiny southeast Asian country ( who by the way, was no threat to the United States,) if we had just stayed another 100 years or so. " The light at the end of the tunnel."

This man is a relic of the past and has no business (except his corporate friend's interests) of leading our country in a new direction. He is a mean spirited, angry old man who would better serve us by retiring to his luxurious ranch and tending to his barbecue and horses.

Not this time. We can't afford the neanderthal Supreme Court Justices that he is sure to appoint, and the continued failed policies of the disaster named George Bush.

hannah,

we could cut back on fighting wars to keep the costs down. time to let some other people fight their own wars, too.

Obama '08!

McCain doesn't mind cashing his $4,500 military retirement benefit every month, so why does he begrudge an education incentive for the young people risking their lives every day in Iraq?

McCain should have supported the Webb GI Bill.

I hope that an Obama-Webb ticket happens and they BLAST McCain to high heaven.

Not having studied S.22 more deeply I can quickly conclude that this bill was more generous in the amount of proposed educational benefits. It should be noted that this is not a “GI Bill” per se but is actually entitled “Post 9-11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” covering only educational and housing benefits therein.

McCain’s bill provided transferability of benefits to spouses and children for members of the armed services that served six years while Webb’s bill does not address the issue of transferability of educational benefits. It also doesn’t account for the stark reality of retention of service members due to the three year qualification. The requirement in S.22 is that “veterans must have served at least three to thirty-six months of qualified active duty, beginning on or after September 11, 2001.” Notwithstanding the retention argument it could be said that McCain’s bill could have cost more due to the transferability feature to spouses and children.

Regardless, given the publicity surrounding S.22 and the associated title of “GI Bill” as well as the inability of the voting public to educate themselves on congressional matters, it seems as though Senator McCain should have withdrawn his bill in favor of Webb’s followed by a yea vote.

If you serve in a combat zone, you should get all of the benefits being a vet offers. If you put time in grade, you deserve more. But regardless of time in grade or duty location, the fact is education benefits everyone.

The GI bill (old one that is) helped educate millions of Americans, bringing them a better standard of living, better health care, better housing. The single-most beneficial thing you can do to a human being is educate them - and at only $50,000 per person (the cost of two years base pay), the benefits in greater tax revenues from higher incomes for better educated citizens far outweigh the costs.

Add to this the stimulation for recruitment and retention, getting REAL, tangible reward for serving (above the patriotic stuff which many don't buy into anyhow), and the knowledge that the government actually WILL do as much for you as you do for it makes a HUGE amount of sense given the lack of interest the government has shown in meeting the needs of the most needy returning vets - the walking wounded, TBI cases and even healthy ones going to facilities that couldn't legally house animals, let alone human beings.

If the government wants to stimulate recruitment, this is an excellent way to do it. In the long run, it will more than pay for itself. It remains to be seen if the government cares enough about the quality of its armed forces to do it.

Other political articles on this website garner comments by the hundreds, yet this controversial article has only gotten a handful. I saw several thoughtful comments from Hil08 posted and then deleted. What is up with this? I'm pretty sure a lot of people have passionate feelings about this bill, particularly on Memorial Day.

We cannot give away the bank. When all the money has been paid back that the US owes we will be a poor nation ourselves. Rev Wright has a 10 million dollar mansion and big expense account and he is Obama's spiritual advisor and is like an uncle. Obama doesn't understand about the budget.

I think we should give money to homeless people 1st and if there is any left give it for education.