McCain Doesn’t Want to Give Veterans Increased Education Benefits
May 30, 2008 · Print This Article
Apparently, John McCain wants you to support the troops – but not too much. Wear your flag pins and display those yellow ribbons on your vehicles with pride. But don’t actually give the troops the education benefits they were promised before joining the armed forces. That would be wrong, apparently. See, a bill was recently introduced in the Senate that would expand education benefits for veterans. It’s the least we owe them for their service, right? Well, McCain quotes a study that was done on the bill that claims retention rates would decrease by 16% if soldiers were offered more money for college. The funny thing is, he failed to read the quote in the same study that showed that recruitment rates would simultaneously increase – by 16%. Now, we all know that Senator McCain is no mathematician, and I’m not either, but last time I checked, 16 minus 16 equals…. Zero.
From Yahoo News:
McCain, the all-but-nominated Republican presidential candidate, opposes a Democratic-backed bill that would significantly expand the breadth of education benefits for veterans, first adopted for those returning from World War II. Democrats want the proposal included in a war spending bill the Senate is scheduled to vote on this week.
The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, also veterans of Vietnam, would guarantee full tuition payments to veterans at any public school in their home state. Its expected cost is $52 billion over 10 years.
McCain says the legislation is too expensive and has proposed his own version, which would increase the monthly benefit available to most veterans to $1,500 from $1,100. It would not offer the equivalent of a full scholarship.
As Jon Stewart noted on the Daily Show last night, “Where did potential soldiers get the idea that the military was some kind of ‘fast-track to college’ in the first place?” Oh, right, it could be all those ads the military runs where grateful soldiers talk about the military being the only reason they were able to attend college. Nice blunder, McCain – especially when your military record was probably the biggest benefit you had on your side.
Check out a clip from last night’s Daily Show here.
Link [Yahoo News] + [Comedy Central]
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In light of the expense in Iraq this is just a disgrace. I saw Jonathan Alter in Newsweek wrote that we spend more in 6 months in Iraq than we have spent for 30 years of cancer research! Holy crap. And we can’t afford to give the soldiers the education they want?
Actually, the two 16%s aren’t equal– the 16% bump in enlistments would be good for about 30,000 more troops a year, and the 16% departure increase would mean another 7,000 soldiers leaving service early.
John McCain is using this as a political stick, because he’s under the impression that talking about Iraq is the best thing for his campaign–which, given the state of healthcare, the economy, and education, I’m inclined to agree with.
Ha! You got me there, Ben Ray. Math sure ain’t my strong point, lol, I’m a writer. Regardless, McCain shouldn’t be denying benefits to soldiers. Seems like such a dumb thing to do considering he likes to paint himself as a war hero who really cares about the troops.