The president on Jan. 3 signed into law bipartisan legislation cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to ensure the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reimburses America’s military veterans for missed or underpaid GI Bill housing benefits while they’re attending institutions of higher education.
“I am proud of the work we did on a bipartisan basis to get this important legislation through Congress and signed into law,” Sen. Tillis said last week. “Thousands of veterans rely on receiving proper GI Bill housing benefits to pay their bills and we must ensure we deliver on the promise we gave them.”
The Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018, S. 3777, introduced on Dec. 18, 2018 by U.S. Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), with Sens. Tillis and Brian Schatz (D-HI) among the bill’s 10 cosponsors, addresses the VA’s failure to fully comply with updated Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates set by federal law, according to a statement released by Sen. Tillis’ office.
S. 3777 is the U.S. Senate version of the same-named H.R. 7273, introduced several days prior by U.S. Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY).
The Forever GI Bill’s expanded veteran education benefits were slated to take effect on Aug. 1, 2018, but outdated information technology systems and inefficient internal processes caused the VA to be late to pay some GI Bill recipients the money they were owed or paid them the wrong amount, according to the statement.
In turn, some student veterans experienced financial constraints because they depended on the benefits checks to pay for housing, books, transportation, and food, among other essentials, Tillis said.
The new law requires the VA to end improper payments as soon as possible; create a team of specialists to provide a report to Congress by July 2020 on how the error will be corrected, identifies how many beneficiaries were impacted and to what extent; and certifies the VA is fully compliant with federal law, among other provisions.
“I look forward to reviewing the plan from the VA to correct this error and quickly reimburse the veterans who were underpaid or did not receive payments,” said Sen. Tillis.