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McCAIN WON'T SUPPORT SENATOR WEBB'S NEW G.I. BILL --

Echoed concern voiced by some in the Pentagon who worry

that the promise of full college tuition could entice many troops

to leave the military sooner than they otherwise might.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

For more about the G.I. Bill, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=g.i.+bill&op=ph

Story here... http://www.dailypress.com/news/loca
l/dp-local_mccainwebbbill_0416apr16,0,3534674.story

Story below:

-------------------------

McCain won't back Webb's GI Bill plan

Presidential hopeful wants to keep troops from leaving military for a college education.

By DAVID LERMAN
202-824-8224

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has suggested he would oppose a bipartisan measure by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to expand college tuition benefits for military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

McCain told reporters Monday he was working on alternative legislation aimed at ensuring that troops do not leave the military earlier than planned to go to college.

"We are working on proposals of our own," McCain said on his campaign plane, according to ABC News. "I'm a consistent supporter of educational benefits for the men and women of the military. I want to make sure that we have incentives for people to remain in the military, as well as for people to join the military."

McCain's new move comes as a blow to Webb, a freshman Democrat and former Navy secretary who had been quietly building bipartisan support for months.

Webb's GI Bill, a centerpiece of his 2006 campaign, would pay the college tuition of many military veterans who have served since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The amount of tuition paid would not exceed the cost of the most expensive state school in a veteran's home state, in most cases.

The current Montgomery GI Bill pays only a small fraction of the cost of college today.

Just last week, Webb hailed the growing bipartisan support for his bill, which has attracted more than 170 co-sponsors in the House and 54 in the Senate.

Unlike last year, when he first introduced the measure, Webb now claims at least 10 Republican senators as co-sponsors. Chief among them is his Virginia colleague, Sen. John Warner, a former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an early McCain backer.

"I think we have a very good shot at getting this bill done this year," Webb told reporters.

But McCain echoed the concern voiced by some in the Defense Department who worry that the promise of full college tuition could entice many troops to leave the military sooner than they otherwise might at a time of war.

Webb has bristled at that criticism, saying a college education should be viewed as "a cost of war" that is owed to veterans. Webb himself, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, used the GI bill to pay for his law school degree.

"There are too many people in the Pentagon who are seeing a good GI Bill as affecting retention rather than rewarding service," Webb said last week on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

"So we need to get at those — politics aside, we need to get at those issues to help our troops," he said.

Defense officials have expressed concern about the price tag of Webb's measure as they struggle to pay for two wars and repair broken equipment.

Webb put the cost of his bill at $2.5 billion to $4 billion a year. House backers of his measure said last week they hope to attach the measure to a war-spending bill that is expected to reach the House and Senate in coming weeks for a vote.

"It's truly a bipartisan effort and something that's long overdue," said Rep Peter King, R-N.Y. "We have to bring GI benefits into the 21st century."

-------------------------

posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

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