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.
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Education Best Posts in Thread: House of Reps Cut GI Bill Housing Stipend for Service Member's Children
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The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would cut, by half, the housing stipend for children of service members going to school with transferred Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.
The reduction, which would not apply to benefits already transferred or transferred within 180 days of the bill becoming law, was included to pay for other aspects of the legislation, according to a spokesman for the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
The bill, passed on a voice vote, includes measures on veterans health care, jobs and transition out of the military.
But the sharp reduction in the housing stipend, often one of the most valuable parts of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, has generated some pointed criticism and split military and veterans advocacy groups.
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Tim Walz, speaking on the House floor Tuesday, said that while the bill has "absolutely wonderful programs," paying for those by reducing a benefit that service members have been promised "is an egregious breach of trust."
"Why come to the soldiers first? There's no other place in the federal government we can find this [funding]?" Walz asked.
A House Veterans Affairs Committee spokesman noted that the cuts are less drastic than those recommended by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission, which called for a complete elimination of housing stipends for both military spouses and children using the GI Bill.
The spokesman said that while "a very small handful of Democrats" opposed cutting the stipend to pay for the bill, they didn't offer an alternative funding source, so "we are moving forward with the bill in its current form."
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The article doesn't say just how much the housing cuts were but since this article claims that in 2014 the GI would hit a total cost of 42 billion, I'd guess that the housing allowance for GI Bills transferred to troop's children falls well below that. I think a great starting point for an "alternative funding source" would be to cut this number in half:
- $6+ billion/year: Total budget for Congress' salary, retirement, benefits, security and more.
- $1.2 billion/year: Education and Social Services | Categories | ForeignAssistance.gov (yeah, 1.2 billion on education on non-Americans.
) - $2.85 billion/year: Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance | Categories | ForeignAssistance.gov
- $3.75 billion/year: Economic Development | Categories | ForeignAssistance.gov (
- $9.3 billion/year: Health | Categories | ForeignAssistance.gov
- $8.8 billion/year: Peace and Security | Categories | ForeignAssistance.gov
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