The House unanimously approved a legislative package that aims to expand GI Bill education benefits for veterans and their beneficiaries on Monday with support from U.S. Reps. Susan Brooks (R-IN), Mimi Walters (R-CA) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN).
Under the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2017, H.R. 3218, there would be no statute of limitations on education benefits. In addition, veterans could use those benefits for non-traditional technology courses, and national guardsmen and reservists would have access to GI Bill benefits, as well.
“(Monday’s) action by the House of Representatives illustrates our deep bipartisan commitment to improving the lives of our nation’s heroes and their families,” Walters said. “We owe our returning veterans the support they’ve earned through service to our nation. An improved GI Bill is an essential part of this promise.”
H.R. 3218, also known as the Forever GI Bill, includes 28 provisions. Among them was a measure led by Brooks to expand veterans’ access to tests like the SAT, Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), and licensing and certification tests.
“Current law requires veterans to use a full month of eligibility to be reimbursed for such tests,” Brooks said. “Given the relatively low cost of many tests, it often simply isn’t worth it for veterans to lose potential reimbursement for an entire month of other educational expenses, like tuition. This provision fixes that: veterans will be reimbursed for the amount of the test and can still utilize remaining eligibility to cover other educational expenses incurred that month.”
The provision, Brooks continued, will help curb the number of jobless veterans while giving them opportunities to use skills they learned during their time in service to advance their education and career.
“Our vets have the skills and experience that universities and employers are looking for, but face challenges that their civilian counterparts do not,” Brooks said. “This common sense provision will give our veterans the tools they need to compete in the job market and help address veteran under- and unemployment. It allows them to take what they learned prior to and during service and use the benefits they have earned to advance their education and career.”
The Forever GI Bill also includes a provision led by Walorski directing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to review previously denied claims for benefits by World War II veterans who were subjected to mustard gas and lewisite testing.
The U.S. military secretly conducted chemical weapons testing on American troops during World War II, exposing 60,000 servicemembers to mustard agents and swearing them to secrecy until that oath was lifted in the 1990s. Since then, lawmakers said the VA failed to adequately notify affected veterans of their eligibility for benefits or to provide proper treatment for those exposed to the toxic agents. Over the last 10 years, the VA has denied roughly 90 percent of benefits claims, Walorski said.
“We owe our freedom to the American heroes who served in World War II, and it is simply unacceptable that veterans exposed to mustard gas are being denied the benefits they deserve,” Walorski said. “Today, we took an important step toward righting this wrong and taking care of these brave veterans who risked everything for our country.”