Warner Joins Webb on GI Bill

NEIL H. SIMON
Media General News Service
Published: February 28, 2008

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Warner Thursday endorsed a proposal to revamp the GI bill to make the costs of attending private colleges and universities more affordable for veterans.
Private school tuition is “beyond the reach of the American GI stepping out of uniform, unless we make this change,“ said Warner, a Virginia Republican, at a news conference.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., reintroduced a bill Thursday that would modernize the veterans’ education plan. The latest version strips out benefits that would have covered room and board costs and adds federal funding to match contributions private schools make towards veterans’ tuition.
Warner and Webb, standing with fellow combat veteran senators, urged Congress to pass the bill this year.
“It’s late,“ Webb said. “This bill should have been in place years ago.“
Webb had no cost estimate for the revised bill, but staff said they thought it would cost about the same as his earlier version - roughly $2 billion more than the current GI bill each year.
“This is a cost of war,“ Webb said. The additional annual spending to modernize the World War II-era benefit would still be less than the government spends in one week in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s time for the GI Bill to catch up with the reality of what our men and women have been doing since 9/11,“ Webb said.
Webb said Warner’s endorsement would give the bill added credibility.
Warner and Webb are both former secretaries of the U.S. Navy who earned degrees using GI educational benefits.
“I would not be a United States senator today had it not been for the GI bill,“ Warner said on the Senate floor.
Warner said he did not support the bill earlier because it took time to negotiate a formula for private institutions to take part in the programs.
The current GI Bill pays an average of about $6,000 a year per veteran, an amount that covers about half the annual cost of a public college education, Webb said.
The new GI bill would give veterans vouchers to cover their tuition at any public or private university in the country. The benefit would max out at an amount equal to in-state tuition at a public university in the same state.
The recent revisions would also bring educational benefits for activated reservists in line with benefits for full-time active-duty service members.
More service members—ROTC and armed service academy graduates—would also qualify for the tuition assistance under the new bill. But no service members could double-dip, or get the same benefit twice.
Webb said Senate leaders have told him the Senate will take up the bill this year.
Warner said on the Senate floor, “There may be changes, but we will prevail.“