09-11-2009, 01:24 AM
This is from an article I read a long time back, my cousin is a marine and asked about it. Not everything is Obama's fault although for some people it's hard to believe.
President George W. Bush opposes a new GI Bill of Rights. He worries that if the traditional path to college for service members since World War II is improved and expanded for the post-Sept. 11 generation, too many people will take it.
He is wrong, but at least he is 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.
He does this on the ground that the bill is too generous and may discourage re-enlistment, further weakening the military he has done so much to break.
Thankfully, the new GI Bill has strong bipartisan support in Congress. The House passed it by a veto-proof margin this month, and last week the Senate followed suit.
Obama's take on it....
Reporting from Washington - President Obama on Monday called a new GI Bill offering college tuition assistance to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "an investment in our own country."
The new law is expected to offer veterans $78 billion in benefits over the coming decade. It is the most comprehensive education benefit offered to veterans since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the original GI Bill for World War II veterans in 1944.
The new GI Bill is "not simply a debt that we are repaying to the remarkable men and women who have served," Obama said at a ceremony at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "It is an investment in our own country."
The maximum benefit available under a law that took effect Saturday will cover the full tuition at a public college or university for four years for each eligible veteran, reservist and National Guard member. It also offers a monthly housing stipend and as much as $1,000 a year for books.
President George W. Bush opposes a new GI Bill of Rights. He worries that if the traditional path to college for service members since World War II is improved and expanded for the post-Sept. 11 generation, too many people will take it.
He is wrong, but at least he is 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.
He does this on the ground that the bill is too generous and may discourage re-enlistment, further weakening the military he has done so much to break.
Thankfully, the new GI Bill has strong bipartisan support in Congress. The House passed it by a veto-proof margin this month, and last week the Senate followed suit.
Obama's take on it....
Reporting from Washington - President Obama on Monday called a new GI Bill offering college tuition assistance to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "an investment in our own country."
The new law is expected to offer veterans $78 billion in benefits over the coming decade. It is the most comprehensive education benefit offered to veterans since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the original GI Bill for World War II veterans in 1944.
The new GI Bill is "not simply a debt that we are repaying to the remarkable men and women who have served," Obama said at a ceremony at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "It is an investment in our own country."
The maximum benefit available under a law that took effect Saturday will cover the full tuition at a public college or university for four years for each eligible veteran, reservist and National Guard member. It also offers a monthly housing stipend and as much as $1,000 a year for books.