Senate considers Webb's GI Bill proposal

WASHINGTON

Senators opened what is expected to be a protracted struggle Tuesday over Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's plan for a revamped GI Bill to underwrite college expenses for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I can't think of a piece of legislation in which I've had a greater emotional involvement," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a key Webb ally in the debate. "I don't know of any time I've felt more strongly the need to do something."

Their "Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act" would give each of today's vets a monthly stipend to help cover college living expenses, plus tuition aid up to the level of the highest in-state tuition at a public college in the veteran's home state.

The new benefit would cost more than $50 billion over 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. To cover the cost, the House of Representatives voted last week to impose a surtax on individuals earning more than $500,000 annually.

The Bush administration has indicated it prefers a cheaper and less generous alternative that would tie at least some benefit increases to a veteran's re-enlistment. Defense Secretary Robert Gates repeatedly has warned lawmakers the Webb plan could give experienced and needed troops an incentive to leave the military.

Webb took on that argument Tuesday by citing statistics indicating that more than half of the ground troops enduring the worst of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan already are leaving after just one enlistment.

"These are the people who have not been taken care of" while uniformed leaders are focused on the career force, he said. "They deserve to have a first-class education in order to move them into the future."

Warner meanwhile, sought to blunt another administration objection, announcing that he and Webb have agreed to add provisions allowing veterans to transfer at least part of their college aid to their spouses or children.

Exact details of that proposal were not released Tuesday. But Warner said it would permit service members with four years in uniform who agree to extend their enlistments for another six years to shift their GI bill benefits to their children or spouse.

Though majorities in both houses of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors, passage of the Webb proposal is far from assured. On Tuesday, Republicans held their fire - as of Tuesday evening, none had spoken against the bill - but debate is scheduled to continue today. The legislation is part of a larger bill appropriating $180 billion for the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Bush has threatened to veto anything other than a "clean" war appropriations bill, one limited to military funding. The administration also is committed to blocking all tax increases.

Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com