U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he introduced bipartisan legislation this week 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.
“Reports of veteran students receiving delayed or inadequate GI Bill payments are concerning, and this misstep should be corrected as soon as possible,” said Sen. Tillis, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Among the lawmakers joining Sen. Tillis in introducing the legislation were U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), according to a Dec. 11 statement released by Tillis’ office, which said the proposed legislation aims to address the VA’s failure to fully comply with updated Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates set by the federal Forever GI Bill.
The Forever GI Bill’s expanded veteran education benefits were set to take effect on Aug. 1, but outdated information technology systems and inefficient internal processes caused the VA to be late to pay some GI Bill recipients the money they were owed or paid them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, the statement says.
In turn, some student veterans have faced financial constraints because they depend on the benefits checks to pay for housing, books, transportation, and food, among other essentials, according to lawmakers.
Specifically, according to Sen. Tillis, the Forever GI Bill authorizes the VA to calculate BAH rates based on the ZIP codes where student veterans reside, rather than on the ZIP codes where the school’s main campus is located.
This requirement, coupled with a realignment of VA and U.S. Department of Defense housing allowance rates, created the delayed and improper payments for student veterans, the senator said.
“While the VA has already started taking important steps to address this ongoing issue, it is important for Congress to continue exercising rigorous oversight to ensure that all GI Bill beneficiaries are made whole,” he added.
Sen. Tillis’ bill would require the VA to end the improper payments as soon as possible; establish a team of specialists who will create a correction plan and present it to Congress; provide a report to Congress by July 2020 on the number of beneficiaries impacted and to what extent; and certify that the VA is fully compliant with federal law, according to a summary provided by his office.
“To clear up any confusion, I want to make clear that each and every post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiary will be made 100 percent whole, retroactively if need be, for their housing benefits for this academic year based on Forever GI Bill rates and not on post-9/11 GI Bill rates,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie this week in a related statement on the housing benefit payments.
“Although VA has encountered issues with implementing the Forever GI Bill on Congress’ timeline, we will work with lawmakers to ensure that, once VA is in a position to process education claims in accordance with the new law, each and every beneficiary will receive retroactively the exact benefits to which they are entitled under that law,” the secretary added.
Sen. Schatz, the main sponsor of the new Senate bill, said on Tuesday, “Secretary Wilkie may be saying the right things, but until the VA has a plan and invests money to address the ongoing staffing and IT challenges facing the claims backlog, our veterans will remain robbed of the benefits they were promised.”
The senator, who is ranking member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, also noted that the bill “will hold the VA accountable and make sure every veteran that was short-changed is made whole.”