Controversy
Although the bill is widely considered an important piece of legislation, some flaws in the new GI Bill have been noted. Specifically, the fact that service-members who participated in the $600 Buy-up option will no longer be compensated. The Buy-Up option allows active duty members to contribute up to $600 more toward their MGIB. For every dollar the service-member contributes, the federal government contributes $8. Those who contribute the maximum ($600) will receive $5,400 in additional funds, but not until after leaving active duty. The additional contribution must be made while still on active duty. There is no provision for how Buy-up contributions will be handled under the new GI Bill, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has stated that service members electing Chapter 33 benefits will not be able to collect the additional payment and no refund will be posted for the original $600.
Although the original Bill did not include National Guard state activation, effective October 1, 2011, the law was expanded to "include Active Service performed by National Guard members under title 32 U.S.C. for the purpose of organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, or training the National Guard; or under section 502(f) for the purpose of responding to a national emergency."
Read more about this topic: Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act Of 2008
Famous quotes containing the word controversy:
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)