Sen. Webb & The New GI Bill

McCain Defends Opposition to Veterans Bill

Sen. John McCain used Memorial Day to defend his opposition to a Senate bill that vastly expands education benefits for veterans. The bill passed the Senate last week 75-22 over the objections of Sen. McCain, and President Bush, both of whom argued the benefits were too generous and likely to discourage reenlistment. “I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans,” Sen. McCain said at the Memorial Day commemoration at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial, on a sunny day with picturesque mountains serving as backdrop.

The main argument that the WSJ noted was that the GI bill does not differentiate between troops that have served multiple tours versus those that have only served a single tour. McCain opposes any bill that allows those darned freeloading troops who only serve one tour and are lucky enough not to be stop-lossed and sent for further tours.

A more disingenuous arguement that McCain raised was that the passage of this bill would reduce retainment rates by as much as sixteen percent. This figure comes from a Congressional Budget Office report on the proposed benefit increase. McCain just conveniently forgets that the same report predicts an equal increase in enlistment rates, which the New York Times was quick to point out in an editorial.

NYTimes Editorial: Mr. Bush and the G.I. Bill

They [John McCain and President Bush] have seized on a prediction by the Congressional Budget Office that new, better benefits would decrease re-enlistments by 16 percent, which sounds ominous if you are trying — as Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain are — to defend a never-ending war at a time when extended tours of duty have sapped morale and strained recruiting to the breaking point. Their reasoning is flawed since the C.B.O. has also predicted that the bill would offset the re-enlistment decline by increasing new recruits — by 16 percent. The chance of a real shot at a college education turns out to be as strong a lure as ever. This is good news for our punishingly overburdened volunteer army, which needs all the smart, ambitious strivers it can get.

I was watching the nightly news, in which they covered John McCain’s speech to veterans and I thought to myself that it is disgusting to watch McCain deliver a speech to thousands of veterans who received benefits from the original GI Bill justifying why he would not treat veterans of current conflicts with the same respect.