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Washington, D.C.—The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs this week unanimously passed H.R. 5684, a bipartisan bill to update and modernize the Montgomery GI Bill for a new generation of American veterans.
Congressman Steve Buyer (IN-04) included language in H.R. 5684 to benefit Guardsmen and reservists who are serving multiple active duty tours—increasing their accessibility to GI Bill benefits.
“The change from three ‘consecutive years’ of service to three ‘cumulative years’ of service benefits Guardsman and reservists who are serving multiple active duty tours such as Indiana’s National Guard 76th Brigade that has been called for duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and back to Iraq in the last five years. The break in active duty service is an inequity in present law which denies them of their full GI Bill benefits,” said Buyer.
H.R. 5684, introduced by Economic Opportunity Subcommittee Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.), includes landmark improvements to the education and training benefits for active duty service members and members of the National Guard and Reserves.
H.R. 5684, also known as the Veterans Education Improvement Act, increases the basic active duty education benefit to $1,450 per month and adds a $500 monthly stipend, bringing the total school year payment to a veteran to roughly equal to the cost of attending a 4-year public institution. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that the current education benefit under the Montgomery GI Bill covers just 73% of the cost of a four year public university. This deficit in coverage has led to a significant number of servicemembers who qualify for education benefits but don't use them. The Veterans Education Improvement Act would help address this shortfall, along with other important improvements, including:
- Dramatically expands the opportunity for servicemembers to enroll for the benefits, even if they are beyond the initial opportunity for automatic enrollment
- Broadens the types of education and training eligible for benefit payments
- Allows the overall assistance to be used for both business courses and licensing and certification exams, and authhorizes benefits to repay up to $6,000 per year in federal student loans
- Allows a veteran to enroll in the GI Bill at any time during an enlistment.
Increases payments to On the Job Training (OJT) and apprenticeship participants
- Modifies upward the rate of reimbursement for State Approving Agencies, an important partner in administering the benefits with the VA
- Authorizes benefits for veterans who received a general discharge under honorable conditions
- Increases administrative payments to schools
- Expands the types of work study positions on campuses
- Adds VA staff
- Funds education information technology
- Overhaul advance pay procedures
Extend the time to use dependents’ education benefits to 20 years, more fully accommodating the transition from military to civilian life.
“The Guard and Reserves are no longer a strategic reserve. They are now an operational force and we must provide them with benefits that are equitable compared to their active duty counterparts,” Buyer said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to address the funding requirements of these critically important education benefits.”
“I am optimistic that there is growing support for a bill that addresses necessary changes to veterans’ education benefits, and I’ll keep working toward that goal this year,” Herseth Sandlin added. “I am grateful for the bipartisan support this bill has received, including from the Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member, who serves as a Colonel in the Army Reserve, Rep. Steve Buyer.”
Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin offered an amendment to a Buyer amendment that resulted in raising the basic education benefit payment for members of the Selected Reserves to 47 percent of the active duty benefit. The Buyer amendment also increased payments to Selected Reserve members based on the cumulative time they are ordered to active duty. The first tier would provide 50 percent of the active duty benefit for 90 to 179 days of active service increasing to 100 percent of active duty GI Bill benefits for three or more years of cumulative service.
"Improved education benefits for our veterans is an investment for America. The return will be a better educated workforce and an improved economy. The Reserve Officers Association applauds such educational improvements, and The Veterans' Education Improvement Act of 2008, accomplishes this," said Lieutenant General Dennis McCarthy, USMC (Ret) Executive Director, Reserve Officers Association.
“Thirty percent of veterans don’t use their GI Bill benefits and I am very pleased that the improvements to the GI Bill we are making today should go a long way to reducing that number,” noted Congressman Boozman.
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