(Picture: Virginia Pilot)
I don't cover the Presidential race that often, because I often feel like I am taking crazy pills when it comes to the Presidential race. That being said, I want to say kudos to Senator Webb who introduced, shortly after he was sworn in, the Post- 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007. In short, it would inject a large amount of funds into the monies the GI Bill pays out to veterans who have served for specific periods of time, post 9-11. He campaigned on it, and has been a vocal supporter of it. He has fifty some senators, including Senator Warner, soon to be replace by another Warner. You would think this would be a no brainer issue, since we all support the troops and want to provide them with the same opportunity as our WWII veterans. But, the administration and Department of Defense have pushed back, claiming it will cost too much, and we can't "encourage some people to go to college rather than stay in uniform, but
payments to people with critical skills would be lower under the
proposal than what is available today." Read the Army Times article here. Sen. Webb is putting the pressure on SecDef Gates as well, and Sen. Warner is certainly backing him up, both having served in the Marine Corps, and realizing the debt we owe veterans. What surprises me is that for all of the cheer leading many in the Republican party do for the military, there hasn't been much support for it in the Senate. Sen. Webb has specifically focused on Sen. McCain, who you would assume would be behind this legislation. I would like to know his reasoning as to why not. I don't think any argument relating to costs would be a valid one, considering we are spending several billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this program is predicted to cost $2.5 billion a year.
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