The U.S. government failed to send promised college tuition checks to tens of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before they returned to school this fall, even after being warned that it was inadequately staffed for the job.
The Veterans Affairs Department blamed a backlog of claims filed for GI Bill education benefits that has left veterans who counted on the money for tuition and books scrambling to make ends meet.
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Back to 08/4/09
Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be heading back to school in larger numbers than before. The Post 9/11-GI Bill took effect at the start of this month, providing full tuition for four years at a public university and a housing and book stipend for veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The benefits are also transferable to a service member’s children or spouse, on the condition that he or she serve another four years.
In his statement delivered at George Mason University on Monday to celebrate the launch of the program, President Obama called the benefits not just a “debt” to be repaid to service men and women, but also “an investment in our own country.” It was a precursor to his remarks a few moments later, when he struck out at the financial industry, saying:
“We have lived through an age when many people and institutions have acted irresponsibly — when service often took a back seat to short-term profits; when hard choices were put aside for somebody else, for some other time. Read More
The Government can not get benefits promised tens of thousands of veterans right. Heard on the news today that the U.S. Mail Postal Service needs a bailout, Social Security and Medicare is going broke and GM Motors had to go bankrupt after billions of dollar bailout! And now the government couldn’t get tuition checks to tens of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on time! Why would we want government to run our health care? Can someone, anyone explain to me why they think the Obama administration can run health care better than private enterprises when they couldn’t run the above agents?
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