WHY IS McCAIN OPPOSING THE MODERNIZATION OF THE GI BILL?

Pro-veterans Senators Webb and Hagel

A couple of weeks ago we talked about Republican war boosters, like Cheney, McCain and Cornyn, who push the troops to the limitations of endurance and then refuse to treat them like human beings when their service is through. The reprehensible Republican strategy is to make civilian life so unpalatable that the soldiers are forced to re-up for endless terms to fight Bush's endless war. That is why so many of the extremists are refusing to back the bipartisan GI Bill introduced by pro-veteran Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE).

As we saw then, McCain has an abysmal record voting record on veterans and an equally putrid voting record on the well-being of our active duty military personnel. Despite his phony rhetoric, narrow partisan considerations have always trumped the well-being of America's veterans and military personnel when John McCain has voted in the Senate.

Today the Bush-appointed hacks in the Pentagon-- and McCain-- announced they are "opposing the
bipartisan legislation that would greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan under the GI Bill." McCain and the Bush Regime say they're worried that by modernizing the GI Bill-- i.e., making it do what it has always been meant to do (and, in fact, used to do: help veterans go to college and get on the path into the middle class-- there would be "an incentive for troops to get out of the military and go to college."

Senators Webb and Hagel-- though neither of them whines about it nonstop and trumpets it from the roof tops for partisan gain the way McCain does-- also fought in the Vietnam War. Neither of them failed in their missions the way McCain did (who wound up as a prison of war and has manufactured his own mythology about that experience which he expects to ride on into the White House) but each of them has been championing U.S. military vets while McCain champions... himself.

When Webb returned to the U.S. after not being captured in Vietnam, an actual hero-- and a decorated one, like Hagel (who was also not captured)-- he wound up going to college on the GI Bill and getting a law degree from Georgetown Law School and eventually becoming Reagan's Secretary of the Navy. He's an American success story, which is what the GI Bill was meant to help vets achieve. The first legislation Senator Webb introduced after being elected in 2006 was to modernize the GI Bill so that today's vets could realize the advantages he was able to. The Republicans, lead by anti-military scumbags like Cheney, Cornyn, and Bush, as well as by self-obsessed fakers like McCain, have other plans-- destroying the GI Bill so that soldiers are forced to stay in the service. Today's Republican GI Bill is next to worthless and certainly doesn't pay for college.

Again, I have to ask, why do Republicans always claim to support the troops when their voting records clearly prove that they have nothing buy disdain for them? Last week Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org and General Wesley Clark penned a guest editorial for the L.A. Times urging McCain to stop with all the hot air and really back our servicemen and women.

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), will restore the promise of a cost-free education to those who serve in the military. The original GI Bill transformed American history, providing education for returning soldiers. The GI Bill not only recognized our nation's moral duty for the enormous sacrifices of our World War II veterans, but it helped create America's middle class and spurred decades of economic growth for our country. Economists estimate that the original bill returned anywhere between $5 and $13 for every dollar we spent on it. But the original GI Bill has become woefully outdated, to the point where the average benefit doesn't even cover half the cost of an in-state student's education at a public college.

The Post-9/11 Veterans Act, which has an estimated cost between $2.5 billion and $4 billion, is common-sense legislation. With 53 cosponsors, including nine Republicans, the three other Vietnam War veterans in the Senate and former Secretary of the Navy John Warner, the bill simply updates what the late historian Stephen Ambrose called "the best piece of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress." Yet, faced with unprecedented filibusters, it needs 60 cosponsors. As de facto leader of the party, McCain could signal to other Republicans to sign on to the bill and assure passage.

Instead, McCain has said he hasn't had time to read the bill and isn't sure if he could support it. It's hard to believe that neither he nor anyone on his staff has had time to read such an important bill, which has been around since before he started running for president. But, even if true, McCain must do the right thing now.

Our newest veterans are struggling. Jason Bensley, an Iraq war veteran from Southern California, receives $650 a month from the current GI Bill for his education. Bensley, who served in southern Iraq, Mosul and Diyala province, is in debt, trying to pay for college. "I wouldn't have the faintest idea why a member of Congress wouldn't want to support the GI Bill," he says. "Sen. McCain should know how hard it is for veterans to transition back into civilian life."

The White House has voiced concern on the bill, arguing that if returning troops are offered a good education, they will choose college over extending their service. This is as offensive as it is absurd.

First, it is morally reprehensible to fix the system so that civilian life is unappealing to service members, in an attempt to force them to re-up. Education assistance is not a handout, it is a sacred promise that we have made for generations in return for service.

Second, falling military recruitment numbers are just as serious as retention problems. To send the message that this nation will not help you make the most of your life will dissuade a large number of our best and brightest from choosing military service over other career options.

McCain has made it a point to remind audiences that service to one's nation is bigger than one's self. Indeed, there is nothing more noble than risking your life for your country. Every day, Americans are doing just that, as they serve longer and more frequent deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But just because our service members are selfless does not mean they deserve to be left to fend for themselves as they return home and try to make a better life. Indeed, as much as his service to America is responsible for making McCain who he is today, America's service to him played an invaluable role too. McCain should remember that and sign on to the "GI Bill for the 21st Century."

Although McCain and the extremists in the Bush Regime are opposing this bill, it now has 54 cosponsors. The Republican senators who have signed on include Richard Lugar (R-IN), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Kit Bond (R-MO), John Warner (R-VA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and endangered incumbents who fear if they rubber stamp this one it will cost them their re-election bids in November: Norm Coleman (R-MN), James Inhofe (R-OK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Gordon Smith (R-OR). Among the Republicans who have refused to back the bill, several do have to face the voters in November:

John Cornyn (TX)
Mitch McConnell (KY)
John Sununu (NH)
Thad Cochran (MS)
Elizabeth Dole (NC)
Lindsey Graham (SC)
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Michael Enzi (WY)
John Barrasso (WY)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Ted Stevens (AK)
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
Pat Roberts (KS)

The senators above-- plus McCain-- are the ones who are preventing the passage of this bill. I asked Blue America-endorsed Kentucky Senator candidate Greg Fischer if he could explain why McConnell, who claims he "supports the troops," was keeping this bill from passing. "Senator McConnell," Greg told me, "supports President Bush's open-ended war in Iraq 100%, but yet he won't even do anything to fix the problems this war has created for thousands of our veterans. It's just another example of how McConnell has mismanaged his leadership position."

A Republican DC insider told me that at least half a dozen Republican senators want to endorse the bill but they feel it will embarrass McCain and further diminish his chances to win the presidency. Both Sununu and Dole fear that if they don't vote in favor of the bill they will lose in November but they are too scared to do anything out of step with McCain. Both Hillary and Obama are co-sponsors of the bill. Speaking at a townhall-style meeting in Pennsylvania today, Obama explained why he's supporting the legislation: "Finally, we need to make sure that every veteran has the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the GI Bill. That's why I'm proud to co-sponsor Jim Webb's GI Bill for the 21st century. It's time to make sure that every veteran has the support they need to get an education that puts them on a pathway to their dreams. It's past time that Congress passed this bill."