Education House of Reps Cut GI Bill Housing Stipend for Service Member's Children

I was able to buy my first house through the GI Bill back in 1973, could not have been able to buy without it. Also, used the GI Bill to go to college which I could not otherwise afford to go while struggling raising a family.
I imagine the majority of politicians voting to pass the cuts and screw over the veterans never served and struggled to start a life after serving. Let's see what the new administration will do. Support our vets.

 

Don't get me started on this Post 9/11 GI Bill crap.

I could write several pages on HOW the VA AND Congress is giving Vets a royal screwing up the arse without benefit of Crisco over this housing stipend. And that's just for starters.

They are all in the pockets of the BANKSTERS. BANKSTERS need to keep every student in debt, to include Vets who fight and die on behalf of these Wall-Streeters and the Gucci shoe pavement pounders on Capital Hill.

I'm gonna vomit all over their shoes the next time one of these guys comes up to me and says "Thank-you for your service."

Maybe I should say, "Thanks. And F*** You for yours!"

I'm just so cussed mad right now, I could spit nails.

These BAS***** ought to get their pay AND benefits cut and go to jail for fraud and misrepresentation.

Sorry, but I'm out of printable words, and my butt hurts.

nwlivewire

 

You are correct Pat "18.7% of the total membership are veterans" in 114th congress 2015/2016 See: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43869.pdf Page 8.

From Summary:
The average age of Members of the House at the beginning of the 114 th Congress was 57.0 years;
of Senators, 61.0 years. The overwhelming majority of Members of Congress have
a college education. The dominant professions of Members are public service/politics, business, and law.
Most Members identify as Christians, and Protestants collectively constitute the majority
religious affiliation. Roman Catholics account for the largest single religious denomination, and
numerous other affiliations are represented

 

My quick read on this is that congress wishes to cut benefits to a veterans child. They are willing to pay for tuition and books. But will cut the housing allowance by 50%. I do not find this truly objectionable. I have served in the military, and I put my own child through college. The post 911 GI Bill put me through college, with no student loan debt. I used the housing allowance that I received to pay expenses for my daughter while she was in school. I earned the benefit by serving in the military and I earned the housing allowance by going to school.

My point of view is that this is a benefit that the veteran earned. If this was offered as a reenlistment incentive then anyone who did so in the expectation that they would be able to transfer it to their children and save tens of thousands of dollars that is one thing. If not then I think that the benefits earned by the service member should be retained by the service member for their personal use.

 

I am not 100% sure, but I was working with the belief that this for the children of veterans who lost their life in the service of their country??? Could someone verify that???

If that is true (not 100% sure) then I do NOT want to see the benefit changed one IOTA unless it is to improve the benefit for surviving children.

DaveD

 

You are referring to the Survivor's and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) program which benefits surviving families as well as families of those rated service connected 100% permanent and total disabled.

The program discussed here is the 2009 addition to the post 911 GI Bill that allows the transfer of your education benefits to your kids or spouse. The proposed cut maintains the transferable education assistance (tuition/books), focusing only on the transferred housing allowance.

 

My thought on this is:

If the Veteran survives a war injury, good on him and her!

So what if he/she has a "minor" issue with TBI, is missing an arm or a leg, is severely facially burned, has fecal and/or urinary incontinence, or is confined to a lifetime of crutches or a wheelchair.

By golly, they can overcome anything - and so can their perfectly healthy children.

Anyone can get a family-wage job doing a thousand different things with these "minor" injuries.

A surviving Veteran should NEVER, EVER, be able to "gift" his or her children one red cent of his/her "earned" Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits under ANY circumstances short of death while in service to this nation.

**********

I'm sure you know by now that I don't agree with this in any way whatsoever.

Veterans who have a greater than a 60% VA-rated issue DO have HUGH barriers to employable, family-wage paying jobs.

The VA has a rating called "IU"

Individual Unemployability - Compensation

**********

Again, I say that a Veteran who is unable to use this benefit due to his/her military, service-connected disabilities, ought to be able to pass this down to his/her minor children under the current transfer of eligibility rules.

The Veteran is no longer able to earn a sustainable income for his/her family - income that would have provided for his child's education. The military injuries that he/she survived from basically took that option away from him/her.

**********

This bill is nothing more than another empty platitude of "Thank-you for your service" - with a kick in the A$$ to go with it.

The way things are going with Congress and Veteran issues, it's getting to the point where the only good Veteran is a dead Veteran.

***********

"Thank-you for your service."

You just gotta love the Banksters....

nwlivewire

 

Military retirees and veterans can transfer their post 911 GI Bill benefits to either spouse or children. I'm not one hundred per cent sure what the cut off date was but at one time there was a date which you needed to be on active duty in order to do this.

 

Just for clarity, I think you are mixing two completely different programs. The Bill has nothing to do with changing the Survivor's and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) program for service connected disabled and deceased servicemembers.

The change is to the post 911 GI Bill (we had VEAP when I served) which was never transferable to dependents until a change in 2009. So the change is taking a little back from what was added in 2009.