No Funds in Bush Budget For Troop-Benefits Plan

[flashl]

Source: Washington Post

He Made Proposal in January Speech

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.

...

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have drawn up legislation that would remove restrictions that currently prevent most troops from transferring education benefits to family members.

Washington Post

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/08/AR2008020804136.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

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There's a lot of hand wringing about the possible $2 Billion in cost associated with the military education benefits. 'We' currently spend $2 Billion a WEEK in Iraq that vaporizes. Military spending these days, especially in Iraq, literally fails to materialize into tangibles on the ground to audit.

This issue, educating Americans adds value to our collective future, and is worth a week's expenditure in Iraq.

[Historic NY]

1. the Emperor has no clothes or a mind......................

all talk. This should be posted at Stars & Strips and other military journals.

[Donkeykick]

2. Yep!

Good Ole Dubya. He'll take care of them alright. :eyes:

[midnight]

3. The bush is talking the military familys to death-literally.

[SpiralHawk]

4. "We gots megabucks for republicon war profiteers, and shit for you soldiers." - Commander AWOL

"In fact, that's official policy for my Cabal of Republicon Homelander Chickenhawks -- and we are fully supported by famous republicon chickenhawks like: me, Dickie "Five Deferments" Cheney, Rush Draft-Dodger Limbaugh, Bill "Whimp out and never serve a day" O'Reilly, and Sean "afraid to scuff my Gucci loafers" Hannity -- all highly regarded Chickenhawks of the Republicon variety...

[east texas lib]

5. You forgot ...

Mark "Mad Dog" Levin!:)

[Thothmes]

6. This is a great idea

To bad that virtually every administration from LBJ on have ignored the recommendation to allow GI Bill benefits to be transferable to family members.

[sarcasmo]

7. Running this country in the ground, much better than Ronnie Raygun ever dreamed,

The Military is the final nail in our coffin. Our economy has been destroyed and outsourced and now our Military couldn't come close to defeating China. The only thing saving our assess is the fact that China has to much invested in us to destroy us.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. "educating Americans" - good luck. From what I've observed on this board alone

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USA is in big doo-doo

And this board is a DEMOCRATIC ONE???

114,406 user registrations and 34,431,845 posts since January 2001

and you are still fighting among yourselves?

Evil will overcome with this kind of non-unity

All the bench sitters let Bush get in TWICE.

Afraid to stick your necks out to save your body.

Well, now

you are going to lose your country's respect and power in the world.

Watch and learn