I'm a veteran (56 years ago) used the GI Bill of that time...$3oo per month which was to cover everything...so I worked along while studying...first to have graduated from high school in my family (lower middle class) it opened my life for me...was fortunate to get a Masters degree and Doctorate...four children who all have a Masters Degree...thank god for the GI Bill...my family has given back what was given to me...it is a great investment for our country, as well as a good payback to those who have given so much, no matter what war they fought in...

As a Vietnam Era veteran, I obtained a 4-year degree from a state university with the help of the G.I. Bill. It essentially EITHER payed for my tuition and part of my books/lab fees, etc. OR for my housing and living expenses. Not both. So I think Jim Webb's idea of expecting "the government to pay every penny of veterans' educational costs, from tuition at a public university to books, housing and a monthly stipend" is a bit excessive. But I do agree that we need to do more than the current G.I. Bill as it stands.

A better education = better job, higher income, higher income tax paid. The government will get their money back. Pay for regular military and Reserves. As a collge instructor, I WELCOME these folks into my class!

I am a retired Navy veteran and have been a voting Republican all my adult life. In a word, the current administration sucks. They like to wrap themselves in the flag, give patriotic speeches, praise the military at every turn, talk the talk but fail to walk the walk. The senior level civilian turkeys at the pentagon do everything in their power to deny upgraded benefits to the retirees. Thanks a lot you idiots.

As a died in the wool Progressive, it pains me to say this, but the VA's stance is par for the course - regardless of administration.
When I joined in the late 1970's the post-G.I. Bill program, the Veteran's Educational Assistance Program (VEAP), was woefully inadequate. Very few people enrolled and in fact my recruiter was very honest (I know, recruiter+honest=oxymoron) about how bad the program was. When the Montgomery G.I. Bill was instituted, DoD and the VA allowed those who had signed up for VEAP to transition to the new G.I. Bill, and there have been several "grace periods" since then, but they NEVER allowed those who did not enroll in VEAP to enter the new G.I. Bill program. There were too many of them to accomodate.
As a result, only those of us "VEAP era non-participants" who were able to earn our college degrees while on active duty were able to get funding (through the Tuition Assistance Program). Since retiring, I've earned my J.D., once again without any G.I. Bill assistance.
It is a function of the bureauracy - limited budget funding... administrativve difficulties... yada yada yada - to resist sweeping program changes. It was a fact of life under the Clinton Administration as well as the Shrub Administration.

If it were up to me I'd also excuse all active duty military from paying income tax as well. Cops and firefighters too. I'd give a sizeable tax break to teachers too...like 50% at least.

Now that the election is coming up the libs appear to be supporting the vets. But they haven't been doing that for the last so many years. They were opposed to pay raises, health care and some other benefits for the military. So, who is the hypocrite here? I believe they are just doing this for political gain. After all, they don't care about the military.

Who supports the troops? Not their commander in chief that's for sure. Nor do his lackey's in congress. This is a no brainer. Just like the voting rights bill, it should not even warrant discussion. Their education should be convered 100%. Period, end of story.

I recently graduated from college using my GI Bill, the other vets and myself joked that we’d take a pay cut when we got a “real job” because a vet could receive the GI Bill, Pell Grants, and unemployment! Also I worked for the VA helping other Vets on campus for minimum wage, but it was tax free. Some politicians are just trying to get a sound bite.

I have 2 sons who are vets, my middle son was in the air force and when he went to the college to enroll, he had to pay for classes and books and everything out of his pocket, also working a full time job and supporting his daughter, it was like pulling teeth to get his GI money started to pay for school, he was at the point of just quitting, but after about 6 months the money started coming in, and if he takes a break in semesters, he would have to go through all of that again, I was at the point of starting to write and call politicians in Missouri, yes, he is getting a check now, but like I said, he should not have had to pay anything to that college out of his pocket, that GI money that was promised from his recruiters took atleast 6 months before he started getting his money, I was furious and he was too, and my youngest son was in Korea and was injured and now will have to go to therapy for his back, he won't be able to do what he wanted which was police or fire department jobs, and he is also trying to take clases on line, and the college money is the same cituation just like his brother. I can't believe that our men and women who have volunteered themselves to defend their family's and country, that they are having to put up with all of the hassell, its a discrase as far as I am concerned, colleges let the athletes in for nothing, and our kids that have done what they swore an oath to do, are getting pushed to the end of the line.

This is one of the better ideas coming from our congress - and of course, Mr Bush is against it. He is only for "supporting the troops" when they are dying to support his little war - once they come back, they have no more use for him and they are swept under the rug.
How he and his fellow repubs sleep at night, I cannot imagine. This also falls in line with him denying the extra .5% in the military pay COLA - according to him, its "not necessary" - hmmm, what a crock!
IMPEACH and get some new blood in our "representatives" - this country has slipped so badly from where we used to stand...sigh.....

Gee, 5.4 billion dollars, what's that? one day in Iraq? Two? The lie that "we can't afford it" has no more legs after the drunken spending of this administration.

The reason for their opposition is stated in the third paragraph of the article "Such a benefit was a major feature of the historic 1944 G.I. Bill, which put more than eight million U.S. soldiers through college and is now credited by historians as fueling the expansion of America's middle class in the post-war era." They have worked hard destroying the middle class, because a middle class id inconvienent to a feudal society; they are not going to approve anything that threatens their progress. What's next? Low cost loans for home ownership? All that work down the drain; oh the humanity!

Typical Bushie hypocrisy! Just as they are concerned for children only before they're born, they are SOOOOOOOOO concerned about the troops in Iraq but wash their hands of them as soon as they return stateside.

Sounds great to me but I hope that the VA won't screw it up like thay have the Veterans Health Care

Real Combat Soldiers deserve a 100% free ride. If you don't believe that they do, you are a REMF or a Republican, but you sure as heck never served in the combat infantry, artillery, engineers or other combat positions.

The government wastes more $$$ than this will cost. Make Halliburton find the $2 Billion in cash that it lost. Does that seem unfair to
the Republicans and REMFs who are reading this?

Finally, just because one or two of you made it through school just fine, every school and every state doesn't handle Vets and school in the same manner. If you don't need the money, don't take it. Simple. If you do need the money, we should pay.

This is not welfare; rather, it is workfare. Those Vets willing to finish their education before entering the workforce raise the bar for everyone in industry and the professions.

Subsidize the Vets, not the Oil Companies, Pharmaceutical Companies and Insurance Companies. When will you non-combat, Republican types open your eyes?

Sam
US Army Special Forces, 1967-72
RVN Vet, Combat Soldier

A positive reaction of the WWII veterans GI bill of rights that gave the returning veterans an opportunity to obtain a college education helped the nation to move forward with a positive of t he future, dicounting the war mongers and the war profiters

Take $5.4 billion per year from Halliburtons corporate welfare contracts... That alone will pay for the program...........Molacai

75% of tuition is huge now. Anybody noticed how much the cost has gone up?

The RNC. The GOP, and the Bush administration is against anything that is good for our society. The Vets have paid their dues and deserve our gratitude. The Bush misadministration is for Corporate America, no bid contractors, inflated contracts for his cronies. and subsidies and give-away tax cuts for the rich. The Bush misadministration is not for Justice, whether it be legal, economic, or human justice. No, no, no, is the mantra designed to crush the will of the people. The American peoples will cannot be crushed--30% are mad as hell and are willing to fight!

Hmmmmm! No education. No health care. Seems like a good reason to enlist in the U.S. military.