Web Posted : 06/20/2001 

WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday unanimously endorsed one of the biggest increases for a program that has helped millions of veterans get college educations since the end of World War II.

Some lawmakers said the boost, to cost $9 billion over 10 years, still was too small to keep pace with rising higher education costs.

The bill still needs Senate consideration.

Under the legislation, which the House passed 416-0, education and training benefits available to a veteran with three years' service would increase over the next three years from $650 a month to $1,100. 

For vets with two years of service or reservists who have served four years, the maximum benefit would go up from $528 to $894 over three years.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the education benefit, when fully phased in, would rise from today's $23,400 to $39,600, an amount he said would cover the costs for a commuter student at a four-year public college.

Smith estimated that with the 70 percent rise in benefits, the number of veterans using the program would increase from 266,000 today to about 375,000 in 10 years. It's a "historic opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to veterans," he said.

Almost 21 million veterans have taken advantage of the GI Bill, enacted in 1944 and revised several times over the years. Its twin purposes were to help veterans make the transition to civilian life and, more recently, to help the services recruit personnel.

The Veterans Affairs Department says about 55 percent of veterans have taken advantage of the program since it began, including 8 million each from World War II and the Vietnam War eras.

Almost 1 million have received benefits since 1985, when the Montgomery GI Bill, named after former Rep. G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery, D-Miss., went into effect.

Sid Daniels, deputy legislative director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said he was able to attend Florida A&M after serving in Vietnam because of the GI Bill.

But he said incremental benefit increases in recent years — former President Clinton signed into law the last increase last November — haven't kept pace with rising education costs.

As a result, Daniels said, many veterans are not using the benefit or looking elsewhere for financial aid. 

"This is the first legislation that puts the veteran in the ballpark," he said.

The Bush administration said in a statement it supports the bill "because of its great importance to veterans and the nation."

It added, however, that the program must "be accommodated within the overall budget limits agreed to by the president and Congress."

While there was widespread support for the legislation, the ranking Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Rep. Lane Evans of Illinois, expressed unhappiness over not getting a chance to offer a substitute that would have authorized $24 billion over 10 years for the program, enough, he said, to cover all education costs for veterans.

Members had been stripped of their rights to vote for more spending, Evans said.

"I'm forced to conclude the leadership of this Congress is too timid and not willing to take that important step."

The bill was moved to the floor without a committee vote and under a procedure that does not allow amendments.

06/20/2001