President signs Barr’s VA STEM scholarship bill into law

Bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) to improve access for America’s military veterans to STEM scholarships became law on July 31 with the president’s signature. 

“I am honored that my first bill as a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee has been signed into law by President Donald Trump, and I am thankful to my House and Senate colleagues for their bipartisan work in making this happen,” Rep. Barr said.

Rep. Barr in April introduced H.R. 2196 to reduce the credit hour requirement for the Edith Nourse Rogers Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Scholarship program overseen by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The U.S. Senate on July 30 presented H.R. 2196 to President Donald Trump for his signature following its July 25 approval of the bill. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2196 on June 24.

Previous law prohibited many student veterans from using the Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship program because few undergraduate programs met the current 128 credit hour requirement, according to Rep. Barr’s office.

H.R 2196 amends the credit hour requirement of the scholarship program in the Forever GI Bill by lowering it to 120 semester (or 180 quarter) credit hours from the previous 128 semester (or 192 quarter) credit hours.

“Providing student veterans in the Sixth District and across the country with more flexibility to use their Forever GI Bill benefits will help them better take advantage of the education benefits they are owed,” said Rep. Barr. 

In addition to thanking his colleagues for supporting the bill, Rep. Barr thanked the country’s military veterans for their service, and specifically thanked “the members of Kentucky’s Sixth District Veterans Coalition for the work they do in bringing to my attention issues that are important to our veterans.”