MyDD :: Why would McCain abandon his fellow veterans?

Why would McCain abandon his fellow veterans?

by Veteran75, Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:26:22 PM EST

Please add your name to the list of over 20,000 signatures demanding John McCain co-sponsor the GI Bill for the 21st century.

SIGN the petition - CLICK HERE > > > http://therealmccain.com/gibill/

This bill will help improve the benefits my fellow soldiers have earned after their brave service to our country. These benefits have not kept pace with the rising cost of living and educational expenses.

If Senator McCain cosponsors the GI Bill, it will signal other Republicans to do the same. The bill now has 52 cosponsors from both parties, and once it gets 60, it will pass to the President's desk.

This bill needs your help. Sign the petition to encourage John McCain to get on board. His support will encourage at least seven more Senators to follow suit.

Please pass the above link on to anyone you know that is concerned about how America treats our veterans. Please urge them to add their name to the growing list that support this legislation.

=============

SUMMARY

Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007 - Amends federal veterans' benefits provisions to entitle to educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill certain individuals who serve on active duty in the Armed Forces on or after September 11, 2001. Requires such individuals to complete the requirements of a secondary school diploma (or its equivalent) before applying for such assistance. Establishes the duration of such assistance (in most cases 36 months) and assistance amounts. Requires programs of education pursued with such assistance to be approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Allows for the pursuit of an approved program of education while on active duty. Allows, under such assistance, for the pursuit of: (1) programs on less than a half-time basis; (2) apprenticeship or other on-job training; (3) correspondence courses; (4) flight training; (5) tutorial assistance; and (6) licensure and certification tests.

Requires such educational assistance to be used within 15 years of the individual's discharge or release from active duty (with exceptions). Allows individuals currently under the Montgomery GI Bill educational assistance program to elect to participate in the post-9/11 educational assistance program with respect to any unused entitlement.

Current co-sponsors:

Sen Baucus, Max [MT]
Sen Bayh, Evan [IN]
Sen Biden, Joseph R., Jr. [DE]
Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM]
Sen Bond, Christopher S. [MO]
Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA]
Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH]
Sen Byrd, Robert C. [WV]
Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD]
Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA]
Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]
Sen Coleman, Norm [MN]
Sen Collins, Susan M. [ME]
Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT]
Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM]
Sen Dorgan, Byron L. [ND]
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL]
Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA]
Sen Hagel, Chuck [NE]
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA]
Sen Inhofe, James M. [OK]
Sen Inouye, Daniel K. [HI]
Sen Johnson, Tim [SD]
Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA]
Sen Kerry, John F. [MA]
Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN]
Sen Kohl, Herb [WI]
Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA]
Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ]
Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT]
Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT]
Sen Lincoln, Blanche L. [AR]
Sen Lugar, Richard G. [IN]
Sen McCaskill, Claire [MO]
Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ]
Sen Mikulski, Barbara A. [MD]
Sen Murray, Patty [WA]
Sen Nelson, Bill [FL]
Sen Obama, Barack [IL]
Sen Pryor, Mark L. [AR]
Sen Reid, Harry [NV]
Sen Rockefeller, John D., IV [WV]
Sen Salazar, Ken [CO]
Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT]
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY]
Sen Smith, Gordon H. [OR]
Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME]
Sen Stabenow, Debbie [MI]
Sen Tester, Jon [MT]
Sen Warner, John [VA]
Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI]
Sen Wyden, Ron [OR]

FULL text of the legislation: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.22:

Tags: McCain, veteran, GI Bill (all tags)

Permalink :: 13 Comments :: Post a Comment

Tip to Vets (2.00 / 3)

Tip jar for MyDD members that signed the petition!!

NO 100 year WAR, NO McConnell run Senate, & NO GOP-led Supreme Court!!!

by Veteran75 on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:28:22 PM EST

Re: Tip to Vets (none / 0)

P.S. - Try to keep comments in this diary on the topic of the legislation and McCain.

Out of respect for the vets . . . please avoid a FLAME war about how Clinton or Obama will be better than the other on Vet issues.

BOTH will do a much better job than McCain, as showed by his inability to sign on to this legislation.

NO 100 year WAR, NO McConnell run Senate, & NO GOP-led Supreme Court!!!

by Veteran75 on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:30:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Tip to Vets (none / 0)

SIGNED!

by FOB92 on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:40:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Tip to Vets (none / 0)

done and rec'ed

by zerosumgame on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 11:49:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

you truly don't know his past (2.00 / 1)

abandoning the vets is nothing new to John McCain see http://vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain. com/ fits his political profile as flip flop and panderer in chief.

"there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right in America"-William Jefferson Clinton, forty-second President of the United States

by DiamondJay on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:33:25 PM EST

Re: you truly don't know his past (2.00 / 0)

I know his past, but the General Electorate does not!

Veterans will not forget McCain's decision on this legislation in November.

NO 100 year WAR, NO McConnell run Senate, & NO GOP-led Supreme Court!!!

by Veteran75 on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:36:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Ambition. (2.00 / 0)

"I hope the two wings of the Democratic Party may flap together." - William Jennings Bryan

by pinche tejano on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:51:09 PM EST

Re: Ambition. (2.00 / 0)

I think Lindsey Graham is giving McCain the bad advice that comes from the White House on this issue. Bush thinks that this package is too good for us, and would cause retention rates to drop.

That is a slap in the face to most of us that re-enlisted because we love our country . . . not because we thought we were trapped by a weak GI BILL.

NO 100 year WAR, NO McConnell run Senate, & NO GOP-led Supreme Court!!!

by Veteran75 on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 05:56:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Ambition. (2.00 / 1)

I still cant believe Navy hands are being refitted to Army duty.

That's almost as bad the stop loss.

And forget the GI Bill, how is a camel pack not standard issue in a desert theater?

Oh we could bitch all day, but men like McCain don't care, and I fearing neither do the others on the armed services committee.

The only thing the perfume princes learned from Vietnam was not to have a draft.

"I hope the two wings of the Democratic Party may flap together." - William Jennings Bryan

by pinche tejano on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 06:06:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Ambition. (2.00 / 1)

What surprises me more is that Senator Akaka, The democratic chairman of the Senate VA Committee is not on Webb's bill as a co-sponsor.

by Justwords on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 06:28:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Why would McCain abandon his fellow veterans? (2.00 / 0)

As a civilian with no military experience, I just want to thank all of the vets for the service they have given to our country.

You deserve to have a chance to go to school afterwards. I signed the GI bill, and both my CT Senators have co-sponsored the bill.

Glad to see that both Obama and Hillary have signed on as well.

by Kiku on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 06:14:17 PM EST

Re: Why would McCain abandon his fellow veterans? (2.00 / 1)

For the five years that John McCain remained in a POW camp in Vietnam when he could have left earlier, I commend him. That was heroic.

That being said, that does not qualify him as president. Senator McCain is not regular military; he is military elite, from birth. He attended Annapolis . . . and graduated at the bottom of his class; he wrecked a number of expensive (we're talking millions) planes- rather higher than the number for any U.S. Pilots and was never really brought up short the way other pilots might have been.

Now he is saying that America's longstanding agreement with our military, who are often severly affected by their service, will not include the GI bill. He, and Bush, feel that this will deter folks from joining the military. I would also point out that "military as solution to massive unemployment" appears to fit in with the corporate agenda at world dominance. Our job, accordding to them, as Americans, is to serve as IED/sniper fodder for an endless list of trumped up issues to make war over, so that the elite can continue to profit from other countries labor and resources.

This lack of support and value for our military is obscene and its consistent with a bunch of hawkish frat boys who see themselves as being of greater human worth than other Americans.

This is yet another betrayal of our military, their families, and all our citizenry of a very corrupt and coldly greedy administration, and further evidence of why John McCain has always been a follower of chain of command when it is no longer appropriate or a job requirement.

by URKnot on Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 06:27:06 PM EST

May be Too Salty for Some (none / 0)

John McCain can kiss my enlisted ass. I don't commend jack shit to this prick. He's made a career out of exploiting his hardship in service...It takes an ego the size of Arizona to do that. Kerry doesn't get a free pass either..he too can kiss my enlisted ass.

These dipshits are the most vile creatures to walk the streets of Washington...for them the military wasn't about duty or country..its about ambition

"Let them eat cake"

by NCDEM29 on Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 01:48:27 AM EST

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