GI Benefits Returned Because of Bad Actors?

Posted on October 21, 2015October 5, 2016

Last week, The Defense Department’s chief of voluntary education, Dawn Bilodeau, recently placed the chain of for-profit colleges on probation and said no new active duty service members can enroll under its tuition assistance program. The University of Phoenix is the most popular destination for Post-9/11 GI Bill college goers. This prohibition could be a hot topic today as an education advisory committee to the Veterans Affairs Department Secretary gathers for a two-day meeting starting today. Bilodeau sits on the advisory committee and the University of Phoenix has RSVP’d for the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Education Department has been working with the Defense and Justice departments on an ongoing investigation. University of Phoenix President Timothy Slottow recently wrote to hundreds of thousands of alumni and students to defend the schools’ track record.

The Defense Department’s action does not affect veterans using the GI Bill. And yet, some veterans advocacy groups say the VA should be more aggressive about cutting off GI Bill dollars when schools have deceived students.

It is possible that the meeting will address whether GI Bill recipients, who attended the now-defunct chain of Corinthian schools, should have their benefits reset, which would require congressional action.

Senate Passes VA and Transportation Bill

Posted on July 31, 2014August 1, 2014

The Senate has passed two key pieces of legislation clearing them for the President’s signature.

The Senate has passed legislation overhauling the scandalized Department of Veterans Affairs, by a vote of 91-3. The House considered the measure earlier in the week. The measure contains provisions expanding Graduate Medical Education at VA Hospitals as well as requiring public universities to offer in-state tuition to active duty servicemembers, their spouses, and dependents.

Also, the Senate has cleared, by a vote of 81-13, an $11 billion bill to keep highway and transit programs funded through May, acting quickly following House passage of the bill earlier today. Tonight’s vote heads off the possibility of states having federal money for transportation projects throttled starting tomorrow.

House Passes VA Conference Report

Posted on July 30, 2014

The conference report to accompany H.R. 3230 (reported earlier on the Federal Affairs Blog) was adopted by the House – 420 Yeas, 5 Nays.

The Senate is expected to pass it later this week.

House Considers VA Conference Report

Posted on July 30, 2014

Both the House and Senate intend to bring to the floor this week a conference agreement to reform the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and increase transparency and services in the Department of Veterans Administration (VA). The House will be the first to consider, what has been a delicate and sometimes contentious agreement to create, the conference committee report this afternoon.

The legislation (conference report to accompany H.R. 3230, the Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014) primarily deals with care at veteran medical facilities.

Provisions of interest to UW include:

The conference report requires the VA to establish medical residency programs, or to ensure that sufficient residency positions exist at facilities with programs in specialties facing a shortage of physicians or located in a community that is designated as a health professional shortage area. It increases by up to 1,500 the number of graduate medical education residents over a five-year period, with a priority for primary care, mental health and other specialties as VA determines is appropriate.
It also expands certain educational benefits to the spouses of servicemembers who die in the line of duty, including those who died since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and it requires colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition to veterans under the Post-9/11 GI Bill regardless of how long they have lived in the state.

After whistleblowers revealed that some employees of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department were falsifying wait-time records for medical appointments and keeping many patients on unofficial waitlists to create the appearance that they were reaching wait time targets, there has been nearly universal Congressional support to make the VA more accountable.

A Congressional Budget Office estimate released late Tuesday stated the agreement would be a net increase to the deficit by about $10 billion through FY 2024.

The House is expected to pass the measure today and the Senate is expected to consider it later in the week.

Senate VA Reform Agreement Includes In-State Tuition Provisions

Posted on June 9, 2014June 9, 2014

Late last week, Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and John McCain (R-AZ) announced a deal to salvage sought-after Veterans Administration reform in the wake of the on-going VA scandal. The legislation would allow for the reform the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand veterans’ access to health care and make it easier to fire VA officials for misconduct.

Also included, the measure would provide some educational benefits to veterans by providing in-state tuition for all veterans at public colleges and universities, GI Bill tuition benefits to the spouses of troops killed in the line of duty and increased access to health care for sexual assault victims.

The provision mirrors a measure, HR 357 – the GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act, which passed the House earlier this year with a vote of 390-0.

The Senate may consider the bill later in the week.