[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 12, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   GI EDUCATION BENEFITS FAIRNESS ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I introduced a bill this week that would 
fix a small problem with the Post-9/11 GI bill that is creating big 
problems for some servicemember and veteran families.
  In 2010, SFC Angela Dees sent her son, Christopher Webb, to the 
University of Illinois at Chicago after receiving approval from DOD 
that she could transfer her GI benefits to pay for his education.
  Dees first enlisted in the Army in 1998. At the time, she was 
married, and Christopher was her stepson. But after a divorce, she went 
to court and obtained sole legal custody, raising him from a 2-year-old 
into a young man. Since she never formally adopted him he was legally 
considered her ward.
  But no matter how you slice it, Angela Dees is Chris's mother, and he 
is her son.
  But halfway through Chris's first year at UIC, he received a letter 
from the VA telling him that he could no longer use his mother's GI 
benefits. The letter explained that he needed to repay the first year's 
benefits, $30,000.
  What happened?
  It turns out they were caught in a bureaucratic wrinkle with enormous 
implications for this family. Foster children and legal wards like 
Chris are considered dependents by the Department of Defense, but not 
by the VA.
  Servicemembers can pass along their GI Bill benefits to their spouses 
or children if they re-up for 4 more years. So Angela did that. In good 
faith, she signed an Army contract for 4 more years so that she could 
give her son a college education.
  But the left hand of government did not know what the right hand of 
government was doing. So when it came time for the VA to pay Chris's 
tuition bill, VA said no. In their case, neither of them had the money 
to repay the VA, so Chris had to drop out of school and get a job in 
order to pay it back.
  According to DOD, at least 25 students are in the same boat--approved 
by DOD, they enrolled in school only to have their benefits revoked by 
the VA when the bill came due.
  It is an expensive bureaucratic nightmare for these families, and it 
should be fixed.
  The Post-9/11 GI bill is the most comprehensive education benefits 
package for servicemembers since 1944. It was the first time we granted 
servicemembers the opportunity to transfer some or all of their earned 
benefits to family members.
  But in this small way it is clear that the benefit does not match our 
intent.
  The GI Education Benefits Fairness Act, S. 2014, will fix that.
  This bill is very simple: it will align the definition of an 
``eligible child'' at the DOD and the VA so that wards and foster 
children also qualify, and it will offer retroactive payment to those 
whose benefits were revoked because of the original discrepancy.
  The bill has the support of many veteran and military advocacy 
groups: the Military Officers Association of America, Veterans of 
Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Student Veterans of America, the 
National Military Family Association, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans 
of America, the Association of the United States Navy, and the Foster 
Parent Association of America.
  In the House, Representatives Bill Foster and Cathy McMorris Rodgers 
are leading a companion bill in a bipartisan effort.
  These servicemembers have made good on their obligations to our 
country. And the GI Education Benefits Fairness Act allows us to make 
good on the promises we have made to them.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this important bill.

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