May 30, 2008
New York Times - Putting the Republicans on Defense Over G.I. Bill
WASHINGTON - As John Adler, a promising Democratic congressional candidate in New Jersey, ended an appearance at a fund-raiser on Thursday with Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, one guest posed a question: Would Congress override any presidential veto of a new plan to pay the college costs of post-Sept. 11 veterans?
It was a telling moment for Mr. Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, who has been advocating that Democrats emphasize the veterans education program developed by Senator James Webb of Virginia as a political rallying cry this summer.
He and other Democrats say the proposal strikes a deep chord with a public fed up with an unpopular war and anxious about their own economic future.
The measure not only reminds voters of the human costs of the war in Iraq, they say, but it gets them thinking about the nation’s colossal investment there during difficult economic times here. And it can reinforce the sense that the Bush administration has sometimes dropped the ball when it comes to caring for returning members of the armed forces, i.e. Walter Reed.
“It is all about taking care of your own,” Mr. Emanuel said.
Mr. Webb, a veteran and former Navy secretary, made the bill his calling card after arriving in the Senate in 2007. At times, he seems uncomfortable with the way it is being used to draw a political dividing line, with him on one side and Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate and fellow Vietnam veteran, on the other. And some Democrats were initially skeptical. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi seized on the idea and Democrats moved ahead.
Under the Webb plan, anyone who has served at least three years on active duty would be eligible for what amounts to four years at a state college along with help with housing and books. The overall cost is estimated at $52 billion over 10 years.
Republicans recognize the political dangers posed by the bill. Before leaving for Memorial Day, 25 Republican senators broke with the White House and their leadership to back the proposal as part of a larger spending package. Thirty-two House Republicans supported it as well, even though the House version was paid for by a new income tax on very affluent Americans.
In addition, Congressional Republicans have come up with an alternative to the Webb measure that has the blessing of President Bush, the Pentagon and Mr. McCain. It is less expansive than the Webb plan, would be more generous to those who stay in the military longer and would allow those who do their duty to share the education rewards with spouses and children – a concept known as transferability. Supporters of the alternative fear the Webb plan is so enticing it will hurt their efforts to retain experienced military personnel they have invested in through training.
Republicans bristle at the idea that they are stinting on veterans as evidenced by the angry reaction from Mr. McCain when Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, his likely presidential rival, took him to task for opposing the bill. Mr. McCain retorted that Mr. Obama had no standing to question his commitment to veterans, noting the Democrat’s lack of time in uniform. And the White House challenged a Memorial Day editorial in the New York Times that hit Mr. Bush for his opposition to the Webb proposal.
In a statement, the White House pointed to Mr. Bush’s “strong commitment to strengthening and expanding support for America’s service members and their families.” It said he had led the way to respond to “service members’ request that they be able to transfer their GI Bill benefits to their spouses and children.”
Yet many Republicans concede they feel boxed in by the veterans proposal. They say it is hard to explain why they are not willing to invest $50 billion in college aid for returning combat troops when the nation is spending at least that much rebuilding Iraq. House Republicans also feel their brethren in the Senate hung them out to dry by embracing the measure after so many in the House rejected it, leaving them open to charges that they are standing in the way of new help for veterans.
Democrats jumped at the opportunity. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been running radio ads on the G.I. bill in various locales and paying for automated phone calls from retired General Wesley Clark, who is telling voters in select districts that their Republican representative is “leaving our veterans behind.”
Republican groups are pushing back. The organization Freedom’s Watch paid for automatic phone calls in two dozen Democratic districts, with a young veteran from Afghanistan criticizing Democrats for failing to get a war spending bill done before the Memorial Day break. “I don’t want to see my buddies hurt because Congress put its vacation ahead of the needs of our soldiers,” the vet says in the call.
But Democrats have managed to confound the opposition on what is typically a signature Republican issue. In what already looms as a tough year, it should be doubly troubling for Republicans to find themselves on defense over defense.
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