[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 19, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WELCOME HOME GI BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, at the President's second inaugural, last 
January, he said, ``A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in 
this cause, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. 
We will always honor their names and their sacrifice.''
  The other day I introduced a bill called the Welcome Home GI Bill, to 
recognize the returning veterans of Iraq's and Afghanistan's theaters 
of war, to give them the type of compensation that they have deserved.
  Now, a little history. We all know about the GI Bill. The fact is 
that the GI Bill was passed approximately 11 months before the end of 
World War II, signed by the President of the United States. Even before 
the war was concluded, the GIs from that war knew what the GI Bill was 
going to be.
  And it helped them on health care and education and buying a home. It 
helped them put themselves on the road to their civilian life, but also 
put America back on the road coming home from that war.
  And the truth is that every Congress, every Congress, at the end of 
hostilities has had a package of compensation for its veterans. Going 
back to the War of Independence, disabled veterans received a pension. 
There has not been a military engagement that the United States 
Congress, as the voice of the American people, has not designed a 
package for its returning vets; and it is high time that the 109th 
Congress follow the great tradition of every Congress before and begin 
to think what we will do for the vets returning from Iraq and 
Afghanistan.
  Two weeks ago I met the Marine Corps 2nd Battalion 21st Regiment. I 
had seen them off 7 months earlier, and greeted them at Rosemont 
Horizon Arena in the Chicago suburbs, and saw those families. And one 
father said to me in a very poignant way, that this reception was a lot 
different from the reception he received about 35 years ago when he 
came home.
  Now, what I have done in this package, which we have put together now 
with 15 sponsors, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Illinois 
Chapter has endorsed and supported, is three parts: education, health 
care and housing.
  In the area of education, today, full benefits would be around 
$36,000 in 3 years under the Montgomery GI educational benefits, and 
you would have to pay $1,800 to get that $35,000.
  The Welcome Home GI Bill is 75,000 over 4 years, and you do not have 
to pay $1,800 to get that educational benefit because, in the view of 
the legislation, your service is your contribution. You do not have to 
pay $1,800 to receive an educational benefit, whether that is for 
college, 4 years of education, whether it is for job training, whether 
it is for postgraduate work, that benefit you earned by your service.
  Second, if when you come back, your place of employment does not 
provide health care; or if because you went off to war, when you came 
back your health care was canceled, you and your family will get 5 
years of TRICARE health care, the gold standard and the gold-plated 
health care that you are provided on active duty.
  Today, vets get, if obviously if they are hurt or are in poverty, 
they get the veterans health care system. We are going to provide them 
the TRICARE system that they get as if they were active duty, for them 
and their families.

                              {time}  2000

  Third, we provide today a mortgage insurance for a home. The hardest 
part of getting a home is actually the down payment. It would be a 
$5,000 contribution towards the down payment on their home. TRICARE 
health care for 5 years if your employment does not provide it or you 
lost it for you and your family, $75,000 for 4 years of education to 
pursue job training and education and you do not have to contribute 
$1,800 to get that. Your service provided that. And, lastly, $5,000 for 
a down payment on a home. That is in my view the minimum of what we can 
do for the returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is provide them 
that sense of compensation. It is a welcome home for the GIs. Every 
Congress has done it in the past.
  Lastly and more importantly, today we have a disparity between the 
benefits between National Guard and Reserve and regular enlistees. We 
eliminate that disparity between Reserve and active duty because you 
saw the same experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. So Reserve and 
National Guard get the same benefits as the regular enlistees have 
received. It eliminates that discrimination.
  As I always say, we do not owe our veterans a favor, we just have to 
repay one. The Welcome Home GI Bill has now received the support of the 
Illinois chapter of the VFW. I look forward to the support of others. 
We will be submitting the bill next week.

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