John Salazar

Candidate for Congress

Colorado (CO-03)

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Colorado Congressman John Salazar Joins House Dems in backing revised GI Bill

October 18, 2006
By JOE HANEL | CHIEFTAIN WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan would get a package of new benefits if the GI Bill for the 21st century introduced Tuesday wins passage.

Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark at a Capitol press conference to promote the bill.

Salazar said the new legislation would do more than offer "lip service" to veterans by increasing benefits for people who serve in the military. He joined Pelosi and 13 other House Democrats in offering the measure.

The new GI Bill would:

• Pay the full cost of college plus three years of living expenses during school. The current GI Bill pays about two-thirds the cost of college, sponsors said.
• Boost health care spending for veterans by $3.2 billion a year and offer better mental health care.
• Allow veterans to keep both their disability pay and their full pensions.
• Increase survivor benefits for spouses and children.
• Protect National Guard and Reserve troops who face a pay cut when they are called up.

Many families of guardsmen "have actually lost their homes because of the cut in pay from serving abroad," Salazar said.

The bill also seeks to increase the size of the military to "adequate" levels, adding perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 new troops. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., made increasing troop levels a key part of his failed presidential bid last year.

"Our military is now overextended, and our troops are having to spend extended stays in Iraq," said Salazar, who served in the Army from 1973 to 1976.

At the press conference, Salazar read the names of some of the troops from Colorado killed in action in Iraq, including Marine Cpl. Randy Rosacker, Sgt. 1st Class Randall Rehn, Capt. Russell Rippetoe and Lance Corporal Thomas Slocum.

"The (new) GI Bill increases survivor benefits for those who have no father and no breadwinner," Salazar said.

The American Legion, which drafted the original GI Bill in 1944, supports the new version. Supporters of the new legislation credited the 1944 measure as one of the most important laws Congress ever passed.

Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the current generation of veterans could rival the World War II generation, which returned home from the war to build the American middle class.

"It's my prediction that if we treat them right through this GI Bill - do more than put a bumper sticker on your SUV - that they, too, will become another ‘Greatest Generation,’ ” Skelton said.