McCain is Champion of our Troops?
The senate passed the Webb-Hagel Bill. Webb is a Democrat and Hagel is a Republican. This bill is being called the GI Bill of the Twenty First Century. It will provide funds for returning Iraq GI’s to attend four years of college. And Senator John McCain is against it!
Everybody knows that college tuition is skyrocketing and the old GI Bill does not provide enough money. So Webb and Hagel got together and wrote this bill which would
…cover the full cost of in-state public tuition, room, board and supplies, while encouraging private institutions to help 21st-century vets with their education bills. In contrast, the current benefit — the Montgomery GI Bill — is capped over four years, leading critics to argue that it’s insufficient to cover the ever-rising expense of a secondary education.
Webb, has been after McCain to become a sponsor thinking that McCain would naturally agree. No luck. When I first heard that McCain would not sponsor the bill I could not believe it. After all, McCain is part of a military family, a hero who suffered as a POW, and one who touts benefits for GIs at every turn.
When he gave the reason for his opposition, I was floored:
…McCain took to the Senate floor to blast the Webb-Hagel bill (S. 22) for discouraging troop retention — a central fear for an all-volunteer military already stretched thin by two on-going conflicts.
“While I don’t think anyone disagrees with the overall intent of S. 22,” McCain said, “I believe we can and should do more to promote recruitment and retention of servicemen and women.”
So he is against helping veterans too much because this may encourage GIs to leave the service! According to him, we should treat them miserably. Then they would stay in the service, since they have no better place to go.
McCain is no champion of our troops. Evidently, he does not care about the troops but the armed services. And war itself. He is truly a war-monger.
