Obama Joins Fight over GI Benefits

[illinoisprogressive]

Washington, D.C. — Presidential candidate Barack Obama and the entire Iowa
congressional delegation are demanding answers from Defense Secretary Robert
Gates and President Bush as to why hundreds of Iowa National Guard members
were shortchanged on their GI Bill benefits.

The Iowans want the president to issue an executive order to immediately grant the benefits so soldiers can sign up for the spring semester. Obama said he wonders how often the same thing has happened to other Guard members.

The Guard members "have done everything we have asked of them," Obama, a
Democratic senator from Illinois campaigning in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses, wrote Gates in a letter sent today. "And at a minimum, we owe them educational benefits that are accessible and commensurate with their noble service."

A spokesman for President Bush said the White House is working with Congress on the issue, and an expedited process has been put in place. Spokesman Alex Conant said he could not speculate, however, on whether an executive order might be issued.

Soldiers from Iowa's 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry who returned from nearly two years on active duty, much of it in combat in Iraq, discovered that in some cases their service orders were written for just short of 730 days.

That meant they couldn't receive full GI Bill educational benefits that provide more reimbursement for tuition costs than those granted to reservists. Full benefits also allow those who have left the military to receive reimbursements over a longer period.

Most of the soldiers are from northeast Iowa. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Waterloo Democrat who began pressing the Army for action last week, said today he has no reason to believe the orders were written short on purpose but it does raise suspicions. "This doesn't pass the smell test," Braley said.

Rep. Tom Latham, an Ames Republican, has asked for an investigation by the
Army inspector general.

Army officials have said they're working to rectify the problem in time for the spring semester, but Obama in his letter to Gates asked for a wide review of how often such problems occur. He also asked if the Pentagon plans to provide waivers for other soldiers with similar shortchanged orders.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/NEWS/71017023/1001/BUSINESS