Kerry Shows Support for American Legion’s Educational Goals

The American Legion accepted John Kerry’s apology to those offended by his botched joke last week. I could not find a link to the initial acceptance, but there is considerable information on this in the press release when the Michigan American Legion State Commander Roger Webster echoed the acceptance:

Webster shares the sentiments of National American Legion Commander Paul A. Morin who states, “On behalf of The American Legion, we accept the senator’s apology for his intemperate remark.” Webster notes the timing of the senator’s apology is most appropriate as it comes on the eve of Veterans Day, a national holiday that he calls on all Michigan residents to celebrate. “It’s the least we can do for veterans,” he concludes.

Commander Morin further stated that, “We hope the senator will use this opportunity to join with his colleagues in both houses to pass a GI Bill that gives members of the National Guard and Reserves educational benefits equal to those received by their regular Army counterparts.” Noting that Michigan has a significant deployment of Guard and Reserve troops in Iraq and elsewhere today, Webster repeats the call to improve today’s GI Bill.

Morin explained, “Both are standing in Harm’s Way and both deserve educational benefits sufficient to pay for a first class education in a decent college. To date the Congress has been unwilling to give guardsmen and reservists the same benefits given to other servicemembers and, compounding the error, the Congress has not seen fit to award any servicemember a level of benefits sufficient to pursue an education full time. It’s time to correct this error.”

If improving the educational benefits of veterans and reservists is the measure of support for the troops, John Kerry has proven his support. Kerry is the sponsor of S.2163, the Armed Forces Education Improvement Act. More information on this act, currently in committee, is available at GovTrack. From their summary:

A bill to amend titles 10 and 38 of the United States Code, to increase and index educational benefits for veterans under the Montgomery GI bill to ensure adequate and equitable benefits for active duty members and members of the selected Reserve, and to include certain servicemembers previously excluded from such benefits.

(Thanks to Sandy of Light Up The Darkness and TayTay for assistance in the researching of this post. See Sandy’s comment for additional bills sponsored by John Kerry.)

4 Comments

  1. 1
    Sandy says:

    Well gosh Ron, thanks for the plug, but TayTay dug up the legislation. I just posted it, I didn’t know you were going to do a whole blog thing about it. Here’s some more that she dug up:

    S.138 : A bill to make improvements to the microenterprise programs administered by the Small Business Administration.
    Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 1/24/2005) Cosponsors (2)

    S.460 : A bill to expand and enhance benefits for members of the Armed Forces and their families, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 2/18/2005) Cosponsors (None)

    S.2449 : A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to reduce the age for receipt of military retired pay for nonregular service from 60 years of age to 55 years of age.
    Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 3/16/2006) Cosponsors (7)

    S.2970 : A bill to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide free credit monitoring and credit reports for veterans and others affected by the theft of veterans’ personal data, to ensure that such persons are appropriately notified of such thefts, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 5/23/2006) Cosponsors (12)

    S.3691 : A bill to amend the Small Business Act, to reform and reauthorize the National Veterans Business Development Corporation, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 7/19/2006) Cosponsors (3)

    S.3833 : A bill to authorize support for the Armed Forces Support Foundation in assisting members of the National Guard and Reserve and former members of the Armed Forces in securing employment in the private sector, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 8/3/2006) Cosponsors (None)

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    Sandy,

    Sometimes its just a matter of being in the right place at the right time–you happened to provide the specific bill when asked at DU. I’ll add a credit for TayTay also.

  3. 3
    kj says:

    Great research by Tay Tay. Great blog posts by Sandy and Ron.

    I happen to be one of many voters who think the number of National Guard troops in Iraq today is nothing short of a travesty.

  4. 4
    cyberlegion says:

    Please help welcome the American Legion National Headquarters into the 21st century with the promotion of our latest endeavor “The Legion Vision Blog” I am the new Webmaster for the Legion site. We have worked very hard to design a blog worthy of our cause and need your help bringing it to the world. All I ask is a simple “pimp” or cross post. We will be taking tips and submissions in the very near future.

    http://www.legion.org/vision/currentevents

    Thank you for your time and consideration

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