[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13065]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCING LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE THE POST 9/11 VETERANS EDUCATION 
                   ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (P.L. 110-252)

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GWEN MOORE

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 14, 2010

  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise today to 
introduce legislation that would help improve one of the major new 
benefit programs--the Post 9/11 Veterans Education Assistance program 
(P.L. 110-252)--better known as the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill that Congress 
created in recognition of the continuing sacrifice of the men and women 
in our Armed Forces.
  This new law provides veterans with active duty service after Sept. 
11, 2001 with enhanced educational benefits to cover more expenses 
including a living allowance and money for books. Just over 2 years 
ago--June 30, 2008--this legislation was signed into law and the first 
benefit checks were disbursed in August 2009. While there have been 
problems at the startup of this program which I hope have now been 
largely resolved, hundreds of thousands of veterans are now attending 
classes using the post-9/11 GI bill.
  One of the new benefits available for our men and women in uniform is 
a provision allowing servicemembers to transfer unused benefits to 
their spouses and dependent children. Children can use these benefits 
up until age 26 to pursue higher education. This provision was included 
in recognition of the invaluable and uncompensated sacrifices made by 
the families of members of the Armed Forces, and in particular their 
children, who provide unconditional love and support to their loved 
ones serving in the Armed Forces. The Department of Defense June 2007 
Mental Health Task Force report noted that ``The well-being of service 
members is inextricably linked to the well-being of their families.''
  The legislation that I am introducing today--the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill 
Dependent Coverage Improvement Act--would make this transferable 
benefit useful for more families. The current Post-9/11 G.I. bill 
statute allows children of servicemembers to use these transferred 
benefits up until age 26 but regulations essentially require that 
transfer to take place prior to that child turning age 23.
  Mr. Speaker, I can find no valid policy reason for this gap. My bill 
would close this gap and allow children of servicemembers to be 
transferred these benefits up to the current limit on when they can use 
those benefits, age 26. This change is written in a way so that its 
impact is limited to just this program.
  This gap was brought to my attention by a constituent, a veteran of 
multiple wars, who tried to transfer his Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to 
his daughter only to be blocked by the age limitation. I can only 
imagine his disappointment at finding out that he could not pass these 
hard earned benefits to the daughter he has loved and supported her 
whole life.
  Age 26 is now widely recognized as a critical age up to which other 
important benefits for dependent children are being tied, including 
under the new health care reform law. Earlier this month, the FY 2011 
National Defense Authorization Act that this House passed would extend 
coverage under TRICARE for dependent children up to age 26 to match the 
requirement in the health reform law. If this fix was appropriate for 
health care benefits, it certainly ought to be appropriate for 
education benefits.
  When the Post-9/11 GI bill was passed we were primarily concerned 
with increasing the benefits available to our brave servicemen and 
servicewomen, not putting up more barriers to keep them from accessing 
them. Unfortunately, this oversight limits the scope of these new 
benefits in a way that was certainly unintended. With this legislation, 
we can correct this so all eligible dependents are provided access to 
the benefits this bill provides. I urge my colleagues to join me in 
this effort.

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