No Funds in Bush Budget For Troop-Benefits
President Bush drew great applause during his State of the Union address last month when he called on Congress to allow U.S. troops to transfer their unused education benefits to family members. “Our military families serve our nation, they inspire our nation, and tonight our nation honors them,” he said.
A week later, however, when Bush submitted his $3.1 trillion federal budget to Congress, he included no funding for such an initiative, which government analysts calculate could cost $1 billion to $2 billion annually.
Bush’s proposal was added to the speech late in the process, administration officials said, after the president decided that he wanted to announce a program that would favor military families. That left little time to vet the idea, develop formal cost estimates or gauge how many people might take advantage of such a program. Some administration officials said the proposal surprised them, and they voiced concerns about how to fund it.
Some critics in Congress cite the episode as a case study of what they consider the slapdash way Bush has put together the legislative program for his final year in office. Still, the idea is generating bipartisan interest from members of Congress who are eager to assist military families coping with long-term absences of loved ones deployed to
Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Bush liked Gates’s suggestion, which eventually became one sentence in the president’s 53-minute State of the Union speech. “It is a good idea, and we are trying to determine the cost and put together a proposal,” the official said.
Not much new here. Big words filled with hot air. Bush makes a promise for veterans benefits and just happens to forget to fund it. Congress sounds excited about the plan, but, Oooops, its just a plan. Maybe the next administration will do something about it? The idea of allowing more troops to extend education benefits to family members has been percolating on
Capitol Hill for some time. Most U.S. troops who use the GI program use only about half the education benefits, Norton said, and only a tiny percentage use all of their money, so the cost of allowing family members to participate in the program would probably be high. “There is likely to be a pretty hefty price tag,” Retired Col. Robert Norton, deputy director for government relations at the Military Officers Association of America said. “We think it’s a good thing for military families. We would like to see the details.”
Great ideas are like a car with no engine.
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02-09-2008, 08:42 AM
Bush Screws Veterans Again - Empty Promises or LIES
President Bush drew great applause during his State of the Union address last month when he called on Congress to allow U.S. troops to transfer their unused education benefits to family members. “Our military families serve our nation, they inspire our nation, and tonight our nation honors them,” he said.
Bush’s proposal was added to the speech late in the process, administration officials said, after the president decided that he wanted to announce a program that would favor military families. That left little time to vet the idea, develop formal cost estimates or gauge how many people might take advantage of such a program. Some administration officials said the proposal surprised them, and they voiced concerns about how to fund it.
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