GI Bill Vote Within Next Few Days

[Derek Blumke]

All,

As of the events of last week, and the passage of the GI Bill through
the house, I've come down to D.C. for a last minute, "emergency"
lobbying trip. The GI Bill will be voted on within the next few days
in the senate and we need your help. We have the near 60 votes
required to override a veto (which the President has promised), but
nothing is for sure. So far SVA has been extremely successful in
advocating and garnering support from members of senate, such as with
JSVA's Regional Director John Powers and the whole Northeastern region
getting Senator's Reed and Specter to sign on as cosponsors.

Is what we nee is for you to contact your senators D.C. offices and if
they are already cosponsoring the S.22 to thank them for their
continued support of veterans and for them to vote for the S.22; and
if they are not, tell them they need to vote for the S.22 and that
this bill is the only veterans educational reform which will
adequetely take care of vets when they return from war. Please ask
your friends, family, and anyone you know willing to make a call to
make it.
Here is the url to find the number to your senators D.C. office:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

You can also use the action center on www.newgibill.org to send a
quick email. It literally takes less than a minute and can make a huge
difference.

Also, use the following arguments to help in convincing the
legislative aid you are speaking with, be sure when you call to ask to
speak with the veterans legislative aid. The bill has bipartisan
support, is supported by Collin Powell, as well as Tom Ridge (one of
Senator McCain's advisors). And is THE ONLY BILL THAT WILL PAY FOR
YOUR (OR ANOTHER VETERANS) EDUCATION. If the people calling are vets
make sure they tell him where and how many times they deployed, and
how they feel this bill is an absolute necessity to your and other
veterans futures. If you have any stories of difficulties with GI Bill
be sure to share them as well.

Finally, if they are not sponsoring the bill let them know that after
last weeks successes, it WILL pass and you would like to see them
supporting the bill when it does.

Thanks again for all of your hardwork, and again please take a few
minutes to make a phone call to your senator's D.C. office, it really
could make the difference. Hope to hear from you soon.

-Derek

Derek Blumke
President
Student Veterans of America
derek....@studentveterans.org

[Alex]

Here's the latest list of which states need more pushing (meaning that
they have at least 1 senator not cosponsoring the bill):

ALABAMA no support
ALASKA split
ARIZONA no support
COLORADO split
DELAWARE split
FLORIDA split
GEORGIA no support
IDAHO no support
IOWA split
KANSAS no support
KENTUCKY no support
LOUISIANA split
MISSISSIPPI no support
NEBRASKA split
NEVADA split
NEW HAMPSHIRE no support
NORTH CAROLINA no support
NORTH DAKOTA split
OHIO split
OKLAHOMA no support
SOUTH CAROLINA no support
SOUTH DAKOTA split
TENNESSEE no support
TEXAS no support
UTAH no support
WISCONSIN split
WYOMING no support

All other states have both senators on board.

(I edited Virginia out of my first list, because it was based on <a
href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN00022:@@@P">this</
a> site, which doesn't take Webb himself into account as a sponsor.

-Alex Page

[Alex]

Something else that was brought to my attention: some senators may
think that they're actually helping their state's vets by keeping the
current MGIB system. This applies to states with extremely low
average tuition rates, and the states where vets pay no tuition
(waived by the state, such as CT, TX, and others). Florida attendance
cost, for example, is at about $900/month, compared to the University
of Rhode Island at $2300/month (both estimates are for state
residents, and include living expenses). I'd suggest that the new
plan be made elective (to save those people who already started under
and prefer the old one), but we don't want to start an endless process
of revisions (and complicate the implementation) of S.22.

The only argument I can think of against those senators is that if
someone would get less money under the new plan, they'd just be going
from a 'great' deal down to a 'good' deal, and that S.22 would be
doing far more good for the country overall.

The states like Texas that have tuition waivers for vets may be hard
to sway - they use that waiver as an incentive to get vets to come
back and live+work there. Maybe the money they'd save by using
federal funds rather than their own to cover tuition would be a good
selling point - they could spread their savings into other veteran
benefits.